ALLERGY
How to say it: AL-ER-JEE
An allergy is something that makes
our body do something funny. You
might have rolled around in the
grass and had your eyes go all red
and your nose all runny. That's
because you have an allergy to
grass. Some people have allergies to
animals, some foods or plants. Its
important that if the person who you
are caring for has any allergies to
things like medicine that their
doctors know. It might be a good
idea to jot them down. |
ANTIBIOTICS
How to say it: AN-TEE-BYE-O-TICK
An antibiotic is a medication that
attacks germs and bacteria in your
body and clears up any infections.
Believe it or not but quite often
they are made out of penicillin,
which is a type of mould! Though
they are often great at clearing
things up sometimes people have an
allergic reaction to them - so again
its important for you to know if
this is the case. Make sure you find
out. |
CARER:
CARE-RA"
A carer is someone who looks after
or helps look after someone who is
sick or disabled. They might help
with giving medicines, cleaning,
cooking, looking after, cheering up
and supporting. They are people who
"care for" those they "care about". |
DIAGNOSIS
How to say it: DIE-AG-NO-SIS
A diagnosis is when a doctor finds
that a person has a certain medical
problem or disease. |
DISABILITY
How to say it: DISS-A-BILL-A-TEE
A disability is something that can
make parts of our lives a little
harder. For example, someone who is
blind can't see which keeps them
from being able to read a book in a
way that others might. Someone who
is in a wheelchair might not be able
to go some places where others can
because there aren't ramps. As
anyone who lives with or knows
someone who is "disabled" knows,
though, people with disabilities
have heaps of abilities that most of
us don't - many blind people can
read Braille and often have
incredible hearing and some people
in wheelchairs can get around and
play basketball better than a lot of
us ever could. That's why lots of
people don't like the word
"disabled" anymore - we just need to
come up with a better one. |
FEVER:
How to say it: FEE-VA
When someone's body is hotter than
it should be inside then usually it
means that they have a fever. They
feel hot on the outside, they might
be sweating and feeling generally
ill. This happens because the body
is trying to get rid of any germs
that are floating around or deal
with other problems. If the person
you are caring for has a fever, then
its probably a good idea to check to
make sure that they don't need some
medical help. It's always OK to ring
someone like HealthFirst for more
information. |
ILLNESS
How to say it: ILL-NESS (that's
hard, hey!)
When someone talks about an illness,
they're talking about something
happening in the body that shouldn't
be. For example, cancer is an
illness that attacks your body and
stops it from doing what it should.
Schizophrenia is a mental illness
which means that its making your
brain do things it shouldn't. There
are a lot of different illnesses -
each describing what's happening in
the body. |
IMMUNISATION
How to say it: Im-Mew-Ny-Zay-Shon
To prepare it for an infection,
sometimes doctors give the body a
tiny amount of a germ so that it can
build up cells that can fight it if
it comes along as a big problem.
Usually this is as an injection, or
needle! Ask your doctor for more
information. |
INFECTION
An infection occurs when germs or
bacteria get into the body and start
attacking it. It's then that the
body responds by sending thousands
of T-cells which try to deal with
these invaders. Sometimes, though,
the body needs help - it needs
medication that's taken as a tablet
or injection, or as a cream or wash
on the outside. It's important that
an infection is cleared up quickly
or else it can spread through the
body and do some terrible things. |
NAUSEA
How to say it: NOR-ZEE-YA
Really, nausea is the feeling in
your stomach that you're going to be
sick. It can be brought on because
you've eaten something that wasn't
quite right, that something isn't
working quite right or because
you're feeling stressed, or nervous,
or scared or afraid. It's your
body's way of saying that
something's wrong - and that it
should be checked out. |
YOUNG CARER
How to
Say it: "YUNG CARE-RA"
A young carer is a carer who is
under 18 and looks after someone in
their family with an illness or
disability. See
CARER
for more info. |
