This week is Carers Week, an annual campaign to raise awareness of caring, highlight the challenges unpaid carers face and recognise the contribution they make to families and communities. It also helps people who don’t think of themselves as having caring responsibilities to identify as carers and access much-needed support.
A carer is anyone who looks after a family member or friend who has a disability, mental or physical illness, addiction, or who needs extra help as they grow older.
Homes in Sedgemoor would like to thank Carers across the district for their selfless hard work for others.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a monumental impact on unpaid carers’ lives, not only because of the increased amount of care that many provided but because of the far-reaching effect that providing this level of care has had on unpaid carers. Research released for Carers Week 20 revealed that 84 per cent of the general public thinks that the UK government should provide additional support to unpaid carers including increased financial support and investment in care and support services so that unpaid carers can have a break. Only 3% disagreed.
Carers give much to others, and ask very little in return and Carers Week is intended to help people come together to make caring visible, valued and supported. Commenting on behalf of Carers Week charities, Helen Walker, Chief Executive of Carers UK said:
“Clearly, whilst society has opened up for many people, it’s a very different picture for significant numbers of carers. So many have sacrificed their physical and mental health caring for their loved ones over the last two years and as this report clearly shows, it is essential that carers get the support they need to stay well to be able to continue to care for their loved ones, that working carers are helped to stay in employment and that all carers can feel visible, valued and supported.”
Caring’s impact on all aspects of life from relationships and health to finances and work can be significant.
Homes in Sedgemoor staff work closely with many carers in the district.
Handyman Geoff Butler added:
“I have worked with carers and they tend to tell me when things need doing, like a broken gate or a threshold carpet gripper that needs screwing back down to stop it being a trip hazard. Some carers actively look for me to give me jobs or discuss what could be done to help make a tenant’s life easier and how to go about getting it done. Sometimes the call outs can be real emergencies and the carers know we are there to support them.”
Kate Williams, Homecheck Coordinator, said:
We work very closely with family members, GPs, care/microproviders, adult social care, village agents and many others.”
Ed Morris from Way Ahead care said:
“We pride ourselves on being a team and our tenants are part of that team, supporting them is why we come to work every day. It can often feel that as carers we are under appreciated so we will be supporting carers week here at Elizabeth Court to highlight both paid and unpaid carers, professional and family carers. There is a great privilege working as a carer in extra care housing that is unique when compared to other settings, to see the difference in people that feel safe and secure knowing that there is 24 hour support whilst they are able to remain independent.”
There is a Carers Group in Bridgwater that meets at The Hub, Angel Place, Bridgwater on the fourth Thursday of the month from 10.30 am-noon and a group in Burnham on Sea, organised by Michael and Doreen Velleman, that meets at Burnham on Sea Community Centre, Berrow Road TA8 2ET. Michael says that the Burnham group has around twenty members, both current and past carers who meet at the centre on the last Tuesday of each month from 10 am-noon.
Carers can find additional support at somersetcarers.org.