Monthly Archives: March 2016

Putting carers first

This call for evidence will help us do more

It’s one of the privileges of social work that we are able to offer support and guidance during the very personal – and often hidden – struggles of individuals and their families.

Caring for and protecting those closest to you can be difficult and is often the case that carers do not put themselves first. As a result, their own health and wellbeing can suffer, often affecting those they are caring for. In airline safety demonstrations, there’s a reason why the air crew advise passengers to attach their own oxygen masks before helping others!

Norfolk carers charity close to £750,000 milestone

A remarkable milestone is set to be passed by a Norfolk charity dedicated to making life better for the thousands of unpaid carers of all ages in the county.

Paddy Seligman is chairman of the Norfolk Millennium Trust for Carers.

The Norfolk Millennium Trust for Carers has given grants to no fewer than 2,413 individual carers and 51 groups during its 15-year existence and the total amount of money paid out is set to top £750,000 by the end of April.

More than £500,000 has come from the income from investments, while the rest is money donated for specific items like laptops for young carers and wheelchair power packs.

Problems faced when caring for someone with Dementia

Guest blog by Rev Eric Lomax
I live in Lincolnshire, and my parents Valerie and Eric Lomax, are elderly, and live on the Wirral. My mother, Valerie has been steadily declining with Alzheimer’s, for the lat two years, and this has made life very difficult for my father. She would stand at the window and stare out at people, and then demand to go out, looking for her family. Often she would hit my father, while he was driving the car, even on the motorway, and demand that he stop the car. Alternatively, she would get out the passenger side at traffic lights, or bang on the window of other cars. This was dangerous, and I saw  a steady decline in his health as a result of this.
For him, there was constant anxiety over what care would cost, and the fear that he would lose the money he had invested in his home. There was a real lack of information out there, and when I eventually persuaded him to seek advice, institutions would randomly use terms like ‘you will have to pay for her,’ without qualifying that, or explaining what this meant. For this reason, he resolved to struggle on.