Monthly Archives: June 2012
How dementia can turn our loved ones into strangers
Most of us think of dementia as a disease of the elderly, where you just get forgetful.
DEMENTIA Awareness Week was from May 21 to 27 and I was saddened to notice that the media did not rise to the challenge to do their bit to promote and highlight the daily problems encountered by those touched by this very cruel disease.
Unfortunately it coincided with, and got buried under, coverage of the Olympic Torch, Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, Leveson Inquiry and the pasty and caravan tax U-turns.
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CRUEL DISEASE: Sandra Pember, right, lost her mother to Alzheimer’s a year ago.
It seemed shameful that the price of a pasty or caravan should have generated more coverage than promoting the plight of those suffering from dementia and those supporting them.
Most of us have heard the name dementia, and will know someone who has got it but until you have had personal experience of exactly what that diagnosis means, the full impact upon the lives of that person, their family and close friends cannot be fully appreciated or understood.
60,000 grandparents forced to give up work to bring up grandchildren
An estimated 60,000 grandparents have had to give up work to bring up their grandchildren to stop them being taken into care by social services, a study suggests.
8:28AM BST 12 Jun 2012
Every year around 9,000 grandparents abandon their careers to look after grandchildren only to face a lack of support and recognition from the Government, according to the research.
Unlike new parents or adoptive parents, working age grandparents and family carers are not entitled to paid leave from work or financial help from their local authority and are forced to rely on benefits or their own savings to make ends meet.
This awareness week will let other carers know that there is support available
The work of those who dedicate their lives to caring for others is being highlighted as part of an awareness- raising week.
Carers’ Week runs from Thursday, June 14 until Friday, June 22, and is being marked with a variety of events across North Lincolnshire.
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Carer Marion Hirst, who works at the Carer Support Centre in Brigg
The last census results revealed there were 16,000 carers in the region although the figure is now estimated to be even higher.
Now, in the run-up to the week, carers have shared their experiences.
Marion Hirst, 51, of Goxhill, has been a carer for the past 12 years.
She said: “I originally became a carer to look after my mum, who had dementia and mobility problems.”
Since her mother passed away, Marion now looks after her father, Cecil Hardy, 87, who has diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and a prostate problem which means he needs a catheter.
