Health and Wellbeing

Hello, my name is Terry Stroud, I'm proudly a carers ambassdor for Carers Australia, from Gippsland Vic.
The health & wellbeing of the person receiving the care & the carer must be considered first & foremost by service providers & case managers alike, after all, these organisations exist to support carers it must always be the main focus of the care packages, that is support the caring family, consider our feelings & emotions as these are a major part of a carers life each & every day.
On too many occasions our valuable & limited spare time is taking up by challenging a bureaucratic decission that has a vast impact on our daily caring routine.
Carers & the person receiving care need greater control over their own destiney, for our emotional wellbeing & stress levels, as all these isuses take the focus off our main caring roll.
I have cared for 17.5 years this lack of empathy towards our emotional wellbeing & privacy in our own home was & is of greatest concern to us as a caring family!

Terry

My friend and I have written a book for the carer, the older person and any health professionals they see. It is a practical book with phone numbers and websites and general information. You can write your own specific contacts in the back.
In our 50's we found ourselves going through all the things you hope you never will - helping our parents through leaving a country home, hostel, nursing home, dementia, cancer/palliative care, sudden death, the broken hip, home and community services AND a mountain of paperwork. I am a physio and Trish is a nurse. We thought that if we found it this hard, how difficult must it be to travel this journey if you don't know where you are going? There is alot of support, if you can link up. The aim is to educate and inform seniors and their carers about what is available and how to find it, when you need it. Those who say they don't need it yet are just the people we think should read it. Don't wait for a crisis! We have a passion to create a "communication revolution". Break the taboo on talking about what you might need (if you are honest with yourself). The "I'll be right mate" might help you keep strong, but preplanning is the best way to avoid a crisis. This doesn't mean you are "giving in" - it means you are taking control of your situation. We like to think of this book as a road map. Take a look, decide where you need to go, or just look at the options. We collected so many pamphlets, newspaper cuttings and "good ideas". This is a compiled ready reference for anyone in Australia. Knowledge is power- as carers, we need as much as we can get! Hope you enjoy our contribution, available in bookshops now. Lynda

Hi, I'm paul Livingston, a proud ambassador for Carers Australia,

Five years ago I cared for my dying mother. The lessons I learnt in those years have proved invaluable. I have realised that in fact you never stop caring. It’s a daily activity, and a worthwhile one. It’s the intensity that varies. For me the greatest lesson, yet one of the hardest to put into practice is to care for yourself. After all, you are not much good to anyone if you are out of sorts and mistreating yourself in a way you would never treat others. It is quite simply not selfish to care for yourself.

My doctor recently gave me a quote from Winston Churchill to help me through another of life’s little surprises, it read, "When you’re going through hell, keep going.” Great advice but it might be good to remember that even Churchill’s men took time out for R&R and constantly employed activities to boost morale. All of which make you fitter for the task. It’s possible to expect too much from yourself. Admit you are only human, you are not superman, you are not a nurse, you are not a therapist and this makes you feel helpless. Yet you are anything but. You may feel overwhelmed, like you are drowning in the other person’s pain. When this occurs I found hope in this quote by Kahlil Gibran, “Stand together yet not too near together: for the pillars of the temple stand apart, and the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each others shadow.”

Just finally, I remember coming home from the shops one day and my Auntie was sitting with my frail mother, my Auntie said, “Here he comes, your little guardian angel.” That’s what you are, a guardian angel, so stand guard, keep watch, do only what you can, and give yourself a pat on the back occasionally. And remember, you are not alone. So take care, especially of yourself.

Paul.

Hello, Joy Roze here Carer Ambassador for Carers Australia representing Queensland.

I have been a Carer of two boys, who have autism, for over 20yrs in all now. I have been a sole parent/carer for 15 of those years.

The inability to access Government support due to long waiting lists meant that I was caring solely for three children, two with special needs who both presented with a severe learning disability and challenging behaviour. I also wasn't aware that I was a Carer in those early years and so I just soldiered on and did the best that I could to be a good mum. I often wondered however why my boys were so difficult and why I felt exhausted most of the time.

By the time I realised that my boys did in fact have a disability and weren't just naughty, hyperactive little boys lacking discipline (as was the opinions of almost everyone around me at the time) it was already too late. I was already on a spiraling fall toward developing a major depression.

I didn't realise the importance of looking after oneself in those early years and was totally oblivious to the fact that some Carers reach a period of burn out. In hindsight I see now that the Caring task set before me was not a task that should have been assigned to just one person. I believe that these are the primary factors that contributed to the development of my own disability, which I still suffer from to this day.

However on a brighter note I am coping and life is getting easier now that my children are growing older. I look forward to working outside of my caring role again soon.

In closing I would just like to say to anyone who is in a caring role to allow yourself regular breaks even if it is just to simply read a book for awhile or have a rest or soak in a warm tub. I know that this will be almost impossible for some of you however please try because you are all important too. Often we are so busy Caring that we forget about own own needs. I cannot stress the importance of this enough, take time out if and when you can.

Joy.