Campaign to boost charity that helps Wiltshire's unpaid carers
88 year old says Carer Support Wiltshire provides crucial break for her
Last updated 11th Dec 2021
The charity Carer Support Wiltshire is celebrating it's 10th anniversary of helping unpaid carers in Wiltshire.
It helps people like 88 year old Ros whose huband has dementia giving her a much needed break along with vital support.
“I notice I have to help him more with things and he has totally lost his short term memory.
“I help him in the shower and I need to be on hand to help when he gets dressed and undressed. He couldn’t prepare a meal or feed himself now. He wouldn’t remember where the coffee or tea is. I’m 88 now and I’m happy to be able to help him.
“I have never felt vulnerable in my life but I have during Covid. I’m diabetic and obviously we’re classed as vulnerable anyway due to age. I haven’t gone back to using public transport yet.
“I miss my freedom. I used to belong to a few things – I played bridge and bowls and sang in a choir. I can’t do them anymore. Now things are returning to normal I know others are back doing those things and I feel left behind.”
Carer Support Wiltshire offers many services for unpaid carers, including professional counselling, regular cafes – in person and online – for carers to meet up and access support, and a befriending service called Here to Talk.
Vital support
Alex who lives in Salisbury looked after his wife Eileen who has dementia at home for three and half years.
She is now in a care home and Alex travels twice a day to be with her and help her to eat.
Alex has received support from Carer Support Wiltshire, which has enabled him to talk with someone about his situation and assess some care for Eileen to enable him to take respite.
“The care home is 14 miles away and I go twice a day, every day. I’m constantly in planning mode – how am I going to fit all of this together. I always promised Eileen that I would look after her at home. I didn’t know any better at the time not foreseeing how the house would need modifying and how it became almost impossible to keep Eileen safe single handed.
“The only time I’ve felt really alone is at 1am when Eileen would get up and get dressed and try to head to town. Or the three months when she didn’t know who I was at all. She thought she was being held in a different house and couldn’t work out why her belongings were here. What do I do? I was worried she would be sectioned. You slog it out on your own. There was a period of time when I was getting no sleep at all. She was asking me endless questions through the night.”
Over the last 10 years, Carer Support Wiltshire have expanded over the border to Dorset. and set up a number of schemes, including Home from Hospital, which helped unpaid carers in the early days after a loved one was discharged from hospital, and the GP accreditation scheme, which sets minimum standards for the services GP practices in Wiltshire provide unpaid carers.
Plea to support charity
This Christmas, the charity are asking for your support – whether it’s in the form of volunteering, donating or fundraising – to ensure that unpaid carers in Wiltshire can access services that support them, such as befriending, counselling and carer cafes.
Leanne Hubbard is Head of Fundraising and Partnerships at Carer Support Wiltshire. She said:
“The work that unpaid carers do hasn’t changed over the last 10 years. We have this incredible army of people doing, often unseen work, to selflessly care for their loved ones.
“But the landscape has changed for them, particularly since the pandemic began. Unpaid carers need to be seen and supported more than ever today, because while the rest of us can return largely to normal this Christmas, many carers continue to shield for the sake of loved ones. They are less able than ever to be able to take respite due to closure of services and fear of exposing the person they care for unnecessarily to risk.”