By Courtney O’Brien
CARERS are being celebrated this week with a number of events being held locally to raise awareness of and acknowledge the unpaid caring work that over three million Australians undertake.
Leongatha Community House will be running a gratitude lunch for carers on Friday, October 18 and the Foster Hospital will host a carers afternoon tea on Wednesday, October 16.
Iris Gailard, Events Support Coordinator, La Trobe Community Health, is responsible for organising and running programs and events for carers and will be presenting at the Carers Lunch in Leongatha.
The service provides about 90 events throughout the year, across Gippsland.
“These events can be just about the carers taking a break from their caring role, because all audits have demonstrated the first reason why people go to residential care is because their carers couldn’t do it anymore,” explained Iris.
“Carers stress and burnout is a real issue in the community. Having a program like care events just allows them to take a little break.”
The events can be purely social such as having lunch or brunch together with other carers, a cup of tea or a chat, or going to see a show or watch a movie just to give them the opportunity to do something else. There are also respite care options for carers and fitness opportunities offered with organised group runs, walks and exercise classes.
There are also social events combined with educational initiatives that can help support carers in their caring role, with other organisations such as Dementia Australia invited to present on topics that might fit the carer’s needs.
Another arm of the program supports carers to help them access Aged Care Packages which can include receiving additional help such as cleaning, gardening, personal care or help with shopping and transport.
“It’s important to recognise that carers need to be supported and that they are entitled to support and social engagement, and even though they are caring in a quite hands-on full-time basis for their care recipient, they can also still have a life themselves,” said Iris.
“People can reach out, that may be a carer, like someone looking after a friend or family member who’s got a medical condition or mental health issues or disability. They do not need to hesitate to reach out.”
For more information about the Leongatha carers event call 5662 3962 and for the Foster carers event call 5683 9777.
Carers amongst us
CARERS often get little acknowledgement for the unpaid hours they spend caring for another, but this week we celebrate and pay gratitude to these unsung heroes.
Based on data collected in 2015 it was estimated that 1.9 billion hours of unpaid care is provided each year, valued at $60.3 billion per year, based on the replacement cost of the care.
Nearly 30 per cent of all primary carers are aged over 65 years of age and can spend more than 40 hours a week providing care and 40 per cent of all carers, care for a partner.
David Burnett lives in Leongatha and became a carer for his wife Lynette in 2018 after she suffered two strokes which left her with left-sided weakness and some short-term memory loss.
“It’s a seven-day-a-week job and most days. You don’t get much of a break,” said David.
“It’s just something that I do because of who I am and what I am with Lynette.”
The couple were living in Maffra but moved a couple of years ago to South Gippsland to a smaller property, as David was finding it difficult to maintain and they could also be closer to family and specialists.
David has also joined a carers group in Wonthaggi which he finds helpful for social support.
“I think she’s better off here too, we find that we’re closer to the great grandkids and we can just go and visit for the day if we want to.”
While Lynette can move around and do things for herself inside their home when they are outside and on uneven surfaces Lynette finds it difficult to maintain her balance.
“She really needs good concrete to walk on or she can really get into big trouble,” explains David.
They also have a whiteboard where they write all their appointments and events so they can both keep track of what they’ve got on.
David said the most challenging aspect of being a carer is that Lynette’s energy can fluctuate on a day-to-day basis therefore making and keeping plans can sometimes be difficult.
“Some days she’s better than others. Sometimes she can wake up and she doesn’t want to do much at all. If you’ve got things planned, and if it’s important, you’ve got to sort of push her a little bit to try and get those things done. But if it’s not important, I’ll just let her go at her own pace,” said David.
Lynette generally gets very tired in the afternoon so David does most of the cooking and cleaning in the evenings.
“I wouldn’t say I’m a fantastic cook, but neither of us are fading away and I just try and do as much as I can, particularly in the afternoons,” said David.
“We’ve got things we can do together and other things that we’ve got to do individually, but we still try and help each other.”
National Carers Week runs from Sunday, October 13 to Saturday, October 19.