“I love talking about CF now”—Rebekah on CF and work
For CFStrong Rebekah shares her experience of working as a teacher and how she manages her work and CF, including how she approaches conversations about CF with her employers and colleagues.
”I think my primary concern if I had any in regards to my health and working was just getting time off to go to clinic. Because growing up you just took an afternoon or a morning or whatever you needed off school and that was normally fine. There was always a medical certificate, and I thought, "How is that going to work as a teacher who's responsible for teaching children if I have to go and to clinics every couple of months, how's that going to work? Are they going to be able to cover me? Am I going to have to do it in the school holidays? How's that all going to work?"
”I love talking about CF now. I guess it's 'cause I can see how it benefits other people to learn about it. So as part of my healthcare plan last year we actually put together a box primarily for my type 1 diabetes. But there's also a few things in there if I get dehydrated. And I took that down to our communication meeting one morning and just showed them the box, talked about what CF and type 1 diabetes are, and went through what they can do to help me… So it's been really good to have colleagues, I guess, that are really receptive and happy to talk about that kind of thing. But also really encouraging as well.
The experiences and views shared in this video are not medical advice and may not be reflective of Cystic Fibrosis Community Care viewpoints. You should always follow the advice of your clinic team regarding your health.
This video has been developed by Cystic Fibrosis Community Care (CFCC) and Cystic Fibrosis Western Australia (CFWA) and funded by the Australian Government. Thank you to Rebekah and all those who have contributed to this video.
This video was published in October 2022. If you would like to share your story, please contact us at admin@cfcc.org.au. We’d love to hear from you and so would our listeners.
