Monthly Archives: August 2012
Limbless swimmer Philippe Croizon links continents
Philippe Croizon said he wanted to be an inspiration to other disabled people
18 August 2012 Last updated at 11:53
A Frenchman who lost all his limbs in an electrocution accident has completed a swim to link five continents.
Using tailor-made flippers, Philippe Croizon finished his quest by crossing between the US island of Little Diomede and Great Diomede in Russia, joining Asia and the Americas.
The 44-year-old has swum three other straits since May.
Reaching shore, he said the icy waters had been a challenge.
“This was the hardest swim of my life, with a water temperature of four degrees Celsius (39 degrees Fahrenheit) and strong currents,” he told AFP news agency. “We made it.”
He swam the 4.3km (2.7 miles) stretch in the Bering Strait in one hour and 20 minutes, accompanied by friend and long-distance swimmer Arnaud Chassery.
Benefit reforms ‘will hit disabled’
Low-income families and the disabled will be among the hardest hit by the pending abolition of housing benefit, a report has claimed.
Social tenants will “lose hundreds of millions of pounds” as a result of the UK Government’s welfare reforms, according to the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA).
Housing benefit will be phased out from April 2013 and substituted with the new universal credit, a single payment which will replace the current range of working age benefits. But the new order could result in “significant financial losses” to tenants on low incomes living in housing association and co-operative properties, the SFHA said.
Elderly cancer patients denied financial advice because nurses assume they are well-off
Elderly cancer patients are routinely denied information about the financial help they could receive because hospital staff believe pensioners do not need the support, a government report finds today.
7:00AM BST 17 Aug 2012
The over-75s are among the least satisfied groups of cancer patients with the standards of care and support from doctors and nurses, according to the Department of Health study.
Fewer than half of the age group reported being given information on their eligibility to benefits for the disabled and other types of financial assistance.
