The Disability Information and Resource Centre

Places are still available for the Southern Fleurieu Have Your Say forum.

The forum will take place on the 25th of March at the Victor Town Hall. Please RSVP by 22nd March on 1800 815 549.

As part of its State Election Carer Awareness Campaign Carers SA have sought responses from candidates to a range of questions relating to Carer issues. These issues have been discussed in the campaign document Carer Opportunity and Choice: Challenges for Candidates.

This document provides responses from the following parties and candidates:

• Greens
• Labor
• Liberal
• Democrats
• D4D (Dignity for Disability)
• Family First
• United Party
• Gamers4Croydon
• Kris Hanna (Mitchell)
• David Winderlich (Legislative Council)
• Mark Aldridge (Legislative Council)

Come along and Have Your Say about unmet needs and service gaps for Carers, particularly if you are a Carer for or providing services to Carers of frail older people or Carers of young people with a disability; or thinking about doing so.

The views collected will be included in a Carers SA independent report to Home and Community Care to help improve local service for Carers.

Riverland

Venue: Berri Resort Hotel, Riverview Drive, Berri

Date: 7 April 2010

• Carers 10:00am-12:30pm
• Service Providers 2:00pm – 4:30pm

RSVP: 31 March: call 1800 815 549

CALD (NB: service providers only)

Venue: Carers SA State Office, 58 King William Road, Goodwood

Date: 8 April 2010

Service providers 2:00pm – 4:30pm

RSVP: 31 March: call 1800 815 549

Lower South East

Venue: Mount Gambier International, Jubilee Highway West, Mt Gambier

Date: 6 May 2010

• Carers 10:00am-12:30pm
• Service Providers 2:00pm – 4:30pm

RSVP: 3 May: call 1800 815 549

Can’t attend? Call Phil Saunders on 1800 815 549 to make a comment or complete postal feedback.

Have Your Say Forums

The Have Your Say forums are part of a larger series of consultations being held across South Australia to look at practical solutions to overcome service gaps for family Carers. Two forums are being held in each location, one for Carers and one for service providers. The views collected will be included in an independent report to the Home and Community Care program (HACC) to help improve local services for Carers. Information from the forums will also be provided to attendees and the regional Carer support organisation.

The project, funded by HACC, is being undertaken by Carers SA in association with local Carer support groups: this CALD forum is being undertaken in conjunction with Multicultural Aged Care.

Carers SA have released their SA Northern Country Newsletter for March 2010 which you can view here.

Carers SA are also running a service provider workshop on the 15th of March in Whyalla for which seats are still available. This workshop is at no cost and is to help carers develop a greater understanding of their caring role.

More information can be found in the flyer.

Please RSVP by Wednesday 3rd March.

Are you a Carer or Provide Services to Carers in the Southern Fleurieu Region? Have Your Say

Come along and Have Your Say about unmet needs and service gaps for Carers in the Southern Fleurieu region.

The views collected will be included in a Carers SA independent report to Home and Community Care to help improve local service for Carers.

If you care for a family member or friend who is frail aged or is a younger person with a disability, please come along and Have Your Say at the morning Carers forum.

Are you providing service to Carers of frail older people or Carers of young people with a disability or thinking about doing so? Come along and Have Your Say in the afternoon Service Providers forum.

Venue: Victor Town Hall

Date: 25 March 2010

• 10:00 – 12:30:  Carers only
• 2:00 – 4:30:  Service Providers

RSVP by 22 March: call 1800 815 549

Can’t attend? Call Phil Saunders on 1800 815 549 to make a comment or complete postal feedback.

Are you a Carer or Provide Services to Carers in the Northern Adelaide Region? Have Your Say

Come along and Have Your Say about unmet needs and service gaps for Carers in the Northern Adelaide region.

The views collected will be included in a Carers SA independent report to Home and Community Care to help improve local service for Carers.

If you care for a family member or friend who is frail aged or is a younger person with a disability, please come along and Have Your Say at the morning Carers forum.

Are you providing service to Carers of frail older people or Carers of young people with a disability or thinking about doing so? Come along and Have Your Say in the afternoon Service Providers forum.

Venue

Central Districts Holden Room, Goodman Rd, Elizabeth

Date

2 February 2010

• 10:00 – 12:30: Carers only
• 2:00 – 4:30: Service Providers

RSVP

by 29 January: call 1800 815 549

Can’t attend? Call Phil Saunders on 1800 815 549 to make a comment or complete postal feedback.

Some suggestions from Carers Australia on ways carers may like to celebrate or ways that others might like to acknowledge them.

Visit. Share. Celebrate.

The Carers Week website, www.carersweek.com.au is a great place to start think about what you’re doing for Carers Week, 18 – 24 October. So, take a little time to come and VISIT us online. Read about carers, who they are, what they do. There’s more of us than you realised!

While all visitors are welcome, carers themselves are especially welcome. That includes those visitors who, by stopping by and reading, understand more about carers. Tell us your stories. SHARE a slice of your life as a carer. You can do that anonymously if you wish. Please mention your state and region.

Take time to CELEBRATE. If you’re a carer, this week is for YOU! You work hard and care heaps and you deserve some care, attention and TLC. So take time to allow yourself to be taken to lunch, or for a cuppa, to celebrate the caring you do.

Find out what is happening for Carers Week nationally and locally through the state and territory events listings at www.carersweek.com.au/09/events.html. If you’re organising an event — even if it’s taking your carer neighbour out for coffee — please let us know by emailing carersweek@carersaustralia.com.au.

Visit the forums and share your stories and experiences  There are special sections to discuss caring and living in the Bush; a space for the community to send a message to carers in Community Participation; discussing financial impacts of caring; Health and Wellbeing; juggling work and care; and a special section for those under 25yrs (young carers). But it’s also time to tell others. So they hear where we’re at, good and bad, city and country, regional and pastoral.

Carers Week is a “multi-function” event!

June 24, 2009

The national program for Young Carers in Australia is in crisis, according to Carers Australia CEO Joan Hughes.

She was speaking at the launch of the “Bring It! 2008″ forum report which recommends steps to better support and recognise Australia’s young carers. Young carers are carers under 26 who support family members and friends who have a disability, mental illness, chronic conditions, terminal illness or who are frail. There are some 380,000 young carers, including 170,600 under the age of 18.

“Young Carers are in urgent need of support and assistance if they are to have the same rights, choices and opportunities as other young Australians,” Ms Hughes said.

“Young carers can’t wait until the next Budget for help. To delay any longer is to risk sacrificing the future of these caring young people who make such as difference to our society.”

“The government has talked a lot about social inclusion, education and training. No additional funds were allocated in the recent Budget to extend the Young Carer Program and better help young carers. ”

The “Bring It! 2008″ forum report shows that carers need continuing, flexible support and services, equal access to these as well as services that are culturally and age appropriate and based on best practice.

The report urges all professional groups and agencies to have policies and guidelines which clearly include young carers. Likewise, mandatory awareness training across all groups who deal with carers, including doctors, teachers, social workers and those in hospitals and the health industry.

“It has some great recommendations from participants including young carers, such as a ‘no wrong door’ policy which means that no matter how the person or family comes in contact with government and support agencies, they should get appropriate help,” Ms Hughes said.

“It also recommends a ‘whole of family’ approach, so that the whole family’s needs are assessed, regardless of which family member first contacts an agency.

“Sadly, some agencies can forget that young carers can have adult-sized responsibilities when caring, and they aren’t always treated with dignity and respect by all areas of government.”

Ms Hughes said young carers were the future of our society, yet we were “ignoring their very real needs as carers.”

Male carers should take Men’s Health Week as an urgent reminder to get an annual “grease and oil change” with a health check at their GP, according to Carers Australia CEO Joan Hughes.
A study by Deakin University has shown that carers “had the lowest wellbeing of any population group” and carers were more than twice as likely to experience chronic pain, while a third of carers experienced severe or extreme stress.
Male carers were even more likely to have lower rates of health and wellbeing than average. Some 52% reported that caring had affected their health, 71% had suffered minor injuries and sprains while giving care and 19% had been significantly injured while caring. Many also had what studies described as “destructive” coping mechanisms.
Ms Hughes said Men’s Health Week was a reminder for all male carers to urgently visit their GP and have their health assessed. Continuing good health was important not just to them but also to the person they are caring for. Carers support family members and friends who have a disability, mental illness, chronic conditions, terminal illness or who are frail.
“We already know that men would rather spend half a day servicing their car than ‘servicing’ their own health,” she said.
“It’s essential that male carers look after themselves and get a checkup. Make Men’s Health week the time for that check.
“What is also needed is a way of identifying men who are male carers so that medical and allied health professionals are alert to their health status.”
Prior to the recent Federal Budget, Carers Australia recommended that the Australian General Practice Network have a checkbox to identify the patient as a carer.
“This would remind GPs to ask if the patient had a caring role, which would also result in more data to assist planning by governments, service providers and also by Carers Australia,” Ms Hughes said.
“In our submission to the Senate Inquiry into Men’s Health in March we recommended that all male carers be considered an ‘at risk’ or vulnerable group in all future men’s health planning. That is still our assessment.”
Another related problem was that many men in a caring role are not identified, or supported, as carers.
Contacts: Andrew Geraghty, (02) 6122 9911 or 0411 444 145
Alison Kemmis, (02) 6122 9917 or 0417 604 305
Carers Australia, PO Box 73, DEAKIN WEST ACT 2600, Australia
t: 02 6122 9900     f: 02 6122 9999            email:  caa@carersaustralia.com.au
www.carersaustralia.com.au

Media Release
17 June 2009

If everyone’s home is their castle, then many people with a disability need a ramp, not a drawbridge, to get in.
Carers Australia CEO, Joan Hughes, said new draft building standards may make this possible across Australia, even for short-term occupancy buildings and holiday homes.
She was commenting on a report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday [16 June]. Called Access all Areas: Report of the Inquiry into Draft Disability (Access to Premise-Buildings) Standards, the report could significantly improve disabled access to buildings.
The report’s recommendations have wide-ranging national implications for disabled access to premises. The report recommends requiring that all common areas of class 2 buildings (such as residential apartments) have disability access. Currently, building design and access may exclude many people with a disability from using, for example, serviced apartments.
Some four million Australians live with a disability and face problems accessing buildings every day. The draft Premises Standards would make buildings more accessible for those with mobility, vision and hearing difficulties. If adopted, the standards will also provide certainty for developers and building certifiers in ensuring buildings complied with the Disability Discrimination Act.
For the first time, recommended changes to disability access building codes have been extended to some Class 1b buildings, such as smaller boarding houses, cabins, guest houses and hostels.
“Most carers can’t afford a holiday, but if they were travelling with the person they care for it would be a relief to know that building access was improving,” Ms Hughes said.
“Organising a trip can be hard enough without forgetting to ask if the holiday unit has a ramp, not stairs.”
Class 3 buildings, such as backpacker hostels and hotels and motels, will also face new requirements, so that more disabled access units are available.
Carers and people with a disability will also find it easier to take in a show. The recommendations urge an increase in wheelchair accessible spaces in auditoria. Currently the code does not require grouped seating or wheelchair access to a range of locations in any auditorium.
Contacts: Andrew Geraghty, 02 6122 9911 or 0411 444 145
Alison Kemmis, 02 6122 9917 or 0417 604 305

Carers Australia is the recognised national voice of Australian carers. Our members are the carers associations in each state and territory. We have no political affiliation. We work with all parties to achieve better outcomes for all carers.
We believe that all carers are entitled to the same rights, choices and opportunities as other Australians.

Carers Australia, PO Box 73, DEAKIN WEST ACT 2600, Australia
t: 02 6122 9900 f: 02 6122 9999  Email: caa@carersaustralia.com.au
www.carersaustralia.com.au