Leo [voiceover]: My name is Leo. I am 39 years old.
I would like to say that I'm achieving the goals and dreams I had in my early twenties,
working in the finance sector, but in reality I work part time in my family's re-upholstery
business. I've got a degree that I haven't used
since 2005. In that year I was discharged from Brisbane
hospital where I had been treated for what I later accepted was a psychotic episode.
The doctors thought I had suffered an anxiety attack possibly due to my epilepsy which had
started, um, four years earlier, after I had hurt my head in a car accident.
I was diagnosed with schizophrenia about 6 months later. I had been very low and was
in hospital again having suffered a bad reaction to medication I was taking at the time, and
at one point was experiencing suicidal thoughts. It's been very hard on mum and dad. I've
been in some very dark places.
Maria: It was difficult, the in and out of hospitals.
So many different doctors, different tablets...
Leo: At times I guess you must have wondered if
I would ever get better... get stronger. I know I did.
[Doorbell rings]
Maria: Coffee? Biscotti?
Jay: Well... Okay... Thanks Maria.
Leo: You never go hungry in an Italian household.
Leo [voiceover]: Jay is my peer support worker. He's helping
me put together a recovery plan. A couple of years ago I thought it would be hopeless
to try and move out of my parent's home, to restart my career, or even just to organise
my life. But things are starting to come together. My GP first raised it with me, explained the
benefits of bringing all my health information together.
And then Jay went through with me how to best use the eHealth record, how to put information
in, how to use the access controls and how to decide which services have access.
Leo talking to Jay: I was speaking to my psychiatrist yesterday.
I'm better than I have been in about 3 years or so.
Anyway, I told him you'd helped me set up an eHealth record and I gave him access.
Jay: Yeah, I think you were sold on the idea when
you realised you were in control of your healthcare information.
Leo: Well, it's all about me.
[Speaking Italian]
Leo [voiceover]: I have my regrets, but I'm no longer consumed
with guilt over what I haven't achieved. I am able to set new goals for myself.
I used to say I'm schizophrenic but I won't be defined by that anymore. It's just an
illness I have to manage like any other. The fact is I have a number of physical health
issues too; epilepsy, sleep apnoea, to name a few.
And having those issues noted on my eHealth record means the health services I interact
with, well, we're all on the same page. And if anyone new becomes involved in my healthcare,
I don't have to tell my story over again and try to remember everything.
Jay [direct to camera]: I was able to use my experience of having
an eHealth record to help Leo with his. I went in to Medicare to register but I helped
Leo set his up on-line. That's what my job is, to support and advocate for other people
living with a mental illness, and this is just another part of what I do.
Maria [direct to camera]: It was all so hard to keep track of everything,
of Leonardo's doctors, his medications. This eHealth record it's ah, Leonardo keeps
it all in one place, and he lets me see it. He can manage it. If he needs my help I can
help him. It's good. It's been very good.
Leo: Jay has helped me get into a share house.
I'll only be living a suburb away from my parents but still it's a pretty big move
for me. I've also joined a cycle club, so hopefully, together, that'll provide me
with a new network of friends and I can begin to feel connected with the world again. I've
been upfront about my mental illness. It's just one of the things they know about me.
Wait till they find out what a great cook I am.