Campaign To Help Unpaid Carers In Yorks & N Lincs
It's as new research reveals many won't get to go on any kind of holiday this year.
A campaign's started to help give unpaid carers in Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire a break from their caring role.
According to new research, less than a third of the UK's 7 million unpaid carers expect to go on any kind of holiday this year.
Lynne Ramster from Hull looks after her 25-year-old disabled daughter, Michelle, and is going away for the first time in a decade later this month. She told Viking FM:
"Somebody needs to be with Michelle for 24 hours a day so it really is a demanding role. She can't speak, she can't do anything for herself, she's wheel chair bound and sometimes she only sleeps for 2 hours so my husband and myself take it in turns doing the day and night shift.
"For a long, long time we thought she is our responsibility and it's down to us and we didn't realise that there was help out there. I'd say for about 15 years we just muddled through as best we could. Sometimes you felt like you just wanted to crack and didn't want to go out incase something happened. We just felt really isolated.
"I suppose sometimes it is like being a robot. You just automatically do it without realising what you're doing. A lot of things we cannot do as a family and to do something as a family is really, really rare."
Beverley Shaw is from the Hull Carers Information Support Service and says it's vital carers take a step back from time and time. She said:
"You're carrying on day by day just doing what you do and just think how often do you actually get that time to sit back and think where am I in all of this and what about my needs. Our aim at the Carers Support Service is to try and help the carers focus on themselves a bit more.
"It might be that the person you're caring for doesn't want to go into places like respite but if they've got the capacity to say that is their choice and as long as you've put things in place to meet their needs then that should entitle you to be able to take that break. Also if you're caring for a loved one, pass as much information on as you can to others if they are stepping in.
"We've found that carers who access our service having breaks throughout the year, even if it is visiting a family member across the country, can be really helpful. Also having that break with the person you care for and having that time where you engage in activities that aren't just to do with the day-to-day caring tasks helps keep that quality time together."
The Carers Trust Britain's Best Breakfast fundraising campaign - which launches today - is asking people to raise money by hosting a breakfast event for friends and family.
It's hoped it can help support more unpaid carers and give them a break from their caring role, and to encourage people to wake up to the issue of caring.