The unique app supporting Wiltshire's unpaid carers
The Yurtle app is changing the lives of care givers in the county
A unique app is changing the lives of unpaid cares in Wiltshire.
It's called Yurtle and acts as a database for to share the workload for those with share caring responsibilities.
It's providing support for unpaid carers where local authorities can't, amid growing demand and spiralling costs.
The app, which launched in 2021, is a personal mission for founder and CEO Antonio Ribiero, as the apps origins stem from his grandmother living with dementia.
"Yurtle was actually a way to lighten the load on my mum, who was primarily responsible for delivering companionship care for my grandma, and then also trying to address the issue of isolation," he told us.
He added: "We began Yurtle was actually trying to convert digital to physical postcards and reminiscence therapy postcards in order to alleviate some of the symptoms of dementia, but then also provided the company and the updates, and also to pull in other family members who would otherwise struggle to fit into their routine."
After seeing it's powerful impact on his grandmother, the app was created in order to support other care givers across the country.
Yurtle's Carer Experience Lead, Aaron Dryden, said many carers are often thrust into the role without a huge amount of support from local bodies.
He told Greatest Hits Radio that the app allows a care team to be easily created, with tasks shared simply.
He said: "It enables the care sharing and that's a great behaviour for an unpaid carer to exhibit as opposed to taking it all on board as an individual, because that can mean that caring has an impact on their other relationships, other aspects of their life, which obviously can include work as well."
Revitalising job prospects and reducing fear of letting go
Antonio highlighted that many women are having to sacrifice job prospects as caring responsibilities often fall to them.
"I feel very passionately about the fact that a lot of women are ultimately being stripped of their right to work. I think is one very fair interpretation of this when they're having to reduce their working hours or they're having to find different jobs that are more local or less intense so that they can calibrate everything with care and with work."
But this is being addressed, alongside other primary concerns carers have, to allow them to live their own life as well as care for a loved one.
"When I've spoken with carers in the past about their anxieties around sharing the care, it's that something will be missed, you know, somebody will drop the ball at some point and that can be a real barrier to carers letting go of sort of full ownership of somebody's care responsibilities and needs,"Aaron said
But he said the app encourages care sharing: "It's sort of encourages you to be able to do that. Has resources that, can that speak to that in the app that people can use to reflect on, but then also puts the solution there of the calendar that's shared with people."
Yurtle is working with Carer Support Wiltshire to aid their caring efforts as well as helping develop the app to further improve support.
Aaron said the response so far has been 'extremely positive'.