covid-19 policy
Please visit this page to see our latest updates of our clinic's covid-19 policy.
Rebecca, Sandi, Cindy and the rest of the team at Health Healing Life are dedicated to providing high-quality service and standards in infection control. This remains unchanged during this time, with additional precautions being put in place to ensure the highest standards of hygiene.
This infection has been present in the South East Queensland region including Brisbane. Many people are naturally concerned about the virus, the health impacts, economic impacts and the impact to our health system. We are also entering the normal cold and flu season, and the recent drop in temperatures means that we are all far more likely to catch the regular viruses of the autumn and winter seasons. If you would like to check the media releases from the department of health you can do so here: https://www.health.qld.gov.au/news-events/doh-media-releases.
Symptoms of Covid-19
From the Department of Health Website.
Symptoms related to Covid-19:
- fever
- cough
- sore throat
- shortness of breath
- and other symptoms
In more severe cases infection can cause:
- pneumonia with severe acute respiratory distress
* This link provides information about the Corona virus from the QLD Department of Health.
* Please call your doctor and seek their advice if you develop any of the symptoms listed above.
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We are contacting everyone who has booked in with us to ask whether they have travelled internationally in the past 2 weeks or if they have any of the symptoms of viral infection. We will ask people who answer either question in the affirmative to reschedule their appointment to an online consult. You can respect to receive a text with a link to a screening form before every appointment.
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We are aware of symptoms of the virus and will not see clients in-person should we develop these symptoms. This may mean we need to reschedule your treatment or move it to an online consult. We apologise for any inconvenience and will give you as much notice as possible of changes to your booking.
- Our hand hygiene practices are currently excellent. We wash our hands regularly and in accordance with Hand Hygiene Australia.
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We will be cleaning our waiting room surfaces, door handles and chairs regularly throughout the day – between every client whenever possible.
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We will be cleaning our reception area between every client. This includes pens, the mouse and keyboard. Please feel free to use your own pen if you prefer.
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You will notice that we have no magazines in the waiting room. We have removed them to reduce the risk of transmission of infection.
- We have also moved to individual seating within our reception area to maintain social distancing.
- If you have returned from overseas travel the recommended isolation time after your return is two weeks. Please let us know and we can either cancel your appointment or change your appointment to an online appointment. We are able to offer online appointments for Healing Consults, Relationship Counselling and Naturopathic consults.
- Please move your appointment to an online consult if you develop any of the following symptoms: fever, cough, runny nose, shortness of breath. Please consult your G.P.
- Hand rub is available in the waiting room. We ask that you use it on arrival and departure from the clinic. Handwash is available if you prefer.
- Do you have an underlying lung condition or a low immune system? At this stage we suggest you attend your appointment as an online appointment to reduce any risk of infection.
- Read the below information on supporting your general immunity.
- If you require supplements or herbal remedies, please email us and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Our contact form is at the bottom of this page.
There are many things we can do to be supporting our immune systems to help bolster resistance to infections - of any sort and variety. On top of good hygiene practices, adequate sleep, sunshine, good hydration, exercise and reducing stress have a huge role to play in immune health.
Digestion / Gut Health
Digestive health plays a big role in supporting our immune system and things like poor diet, stress, medications such as antibiotics and pathogens (think parasites and worms) can really throw our gut health off, undermining immunity. Probiotics may be warranted, as may prebiotics, alongside identifying and removing any causes (parasites, poor diet, food sensitivities and more).
Did you know up to 80% of our immune cells are within our gut?
Supporting with supplements
While a healthy diet is essential (we can’t supplement our way out of a bad diet) at times it may not be enough. Stress, current infections, increased exposure, certain medications and growth spurts in children all place additional demands on our nutrient requirements and we know fighting infections requires a lot more nutritional power.
Some of the key nutritional players for immunity are Zinc, Iron, Vitamin C along with Vitamin A and D. This is by no means exhaustive but are some of the big guys we look in to and consider additional supplements for.
Eating for Immune Resilience
The ideal immune building diet is one that takes it back to basics. Picture a diet loaded with fresh vegetables, salad, herbs, spices, perhaps with some nuts, seeds and fruit if tolerated and you are off to a flying start. Combine that brilliant foundation with some quality protein and adequate healthy fats, cut out (or at least cut down) the sugar, optimise hydration and you’re well on the way to immune resilience.
Vitamin A
Find it in: Liver, cod liver oil, meat, fish. Betacarotene can be found in sweet potato, capsicum, mango, carrot, tomato, apricot, kale and spinach. We can convert some betacarotene to Vitamin A in the body, although not everyone can do this efficiently.
Healing with herbs
We are very blessed to have a large range of liquid herbs within our dispensary that we use for customising personalised herbal formulas. Different herbs are use as general immune tonics compared to when we are treating an active infection.
Vitamin C
Find it in: Kiwi, strawberries, capsicum, guava, broccoli, oranges, lemon, lime, rockmelon, kadadu plum and acerola cherries.
How to choose the right herbs
Herb choices will vary dependent on whether it is viral or bacterial and which system of the body is it most affecting- respiratory, digestive, skin etc. The choice of herbs within your personalised herbal formula is always made based on a careful consideration of your current health and symptoms and designed specifically for you.
Vitamin D
Find it in: Sunshine, liver, cod liver oil, oily fish such as wild salmon, herring and sardines, caviar, oysters, eggs (yolks) from pastured hens, and prawns.
Our favourite immune herbs
Some of our favourite Immune herbs include echinacea, astragalus, elderberry, codonopsis, reishi and thyme. Depending on the circumstances we may combine these with lung supportive herbs like ribworb, grindelia and licorice or with herbs for congestion and phlegm.
Zinc
Find it in: Oysters, mussels, crab, beef, lamb, lobster, chicken, eggs, nuts, seeds and legumes.
"It has been on our mind for a while to offer clients a 15 minute Acute Health consult. This latest public health crisis has prompted us to finally take action. There is a lot that we can all do to ensure that our body is as healthy as possible. If you are an existing Naturopathic client and feel you require more individualised advice than what we mentioned above, you can now book a 15 minute Acute Health consult. If you are not an existing Naturopathic client or you have a complex condition or chronic illness, we encourage you to book a 30 minute Acute Health consult to ensure we offer you the highest standard of care."
– Health Healing Life Team
If you are looking for some quality advice, (and to be sure you are sourcing effective supplements) you can book an acute consult with one of our Naturopaths.
This can be preferable to choosing something off the shelf yourself from your chemist or health food store. They will chat with you briefly about what it is you need and check for any issues with contraindications of medications. The supplements we offer in the clinic are mostly practitioner-only products. These higher quality (and often higher strength) supplements require a consultation for us to be able to prescribe them to you. Our practitioner only supplements have less fillers / additives, are made from quality ingredients and are often a higher strength and / or not available over the counter.
Acute Consults are not suitable for . . .
- Chronic (long-term) conditions
- For regular clients discussing ongoing health concerns or pathology results.
- Hormonal concerns
- Digestive complaints
* Please feel free to contact us at the clinic if you are unsure if an acute consult is ok for you.
Reducing your stress supports immunity and helps with good decision making
Here are some questions that I am hearing from clients and others around me.
- What will the health implications be for those closest to me and also the greater community?
- What job security do people have?
- How will the economy be effected?
- What is the reliability of our supply of food and groceries?
- How long will this go on for?
- What are the longer term implications for schools?
"I would be lying if I said none of the above bothered me. It does, it is a complete social disruption to the way we live our lives and so much is unknown. However, what I do know is that a disruption to the norm will always present an opportunity to reflect, take stock and take a renewed approach."
What's important at this time is to ask yourself:
- What is this moment offering me?
- Is there a challenge that is going to grow me?
- Is there something more I can offer or contribute?
- What are my priorities?
- What has been working and / or not working in my life?
- What is the quality of my relationships?
- What is the quality of my relationship with myself?
If the above resonates with you and you would like to explore ways that you can reduce your stress, then I have something for you. I have created a 2-Day Reboot Program that is available for you to access for free. Sign up below and step yourself through the program.
- Rebecca Poole
clinic owner
Thanks for subscribing! Please check your email for further instructions.
You can use our online booking system to make your next appointment
Booking an appointment is easy and we are flexible with how you decide to work with our practitioners to support your health. Once you book your 1st appointment there is never any obligation to continue seeing our practitioners and we encourage you to only continue with us if you feel 100% comfortable with what we are offering. We will offer the experience of what has worked for our many clients but we will never be imposing as understanding health issues is always a partnership between Naturopath and client.
If you are unable to travel to our clinic, we can support you with online appointments.