Article about carers

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Something the mods dream up Joined: 22 Apr 2014 Posts: 906

I make no appolgies for posting this link.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-30290967

Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2014 4:11 pm

About time us carers came to the fore, I'm fully entitled to carers allowance and have to tell the Government Department every time my finances change, so my allowance can be adjusted, just one problem, I'm fully entitled to the allowance BUT I do not get it.

The reason is because its means tested (Household income is totalled up and over a certain figure its not paid), this is happening to a lot of disabled people here in the UK, so don't believe anything about the UK government caring for the disabled, they don't. rant over for now. Mad

Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2014 9:23 pm

Fo'andles - it's the same in the US. Some states have what is called IHSS (In Home Social Services). They come to your home, evaluate what your needs are and then they tell you how much you qualify for and how many hours you qualify for. You then hire someone to perform those duties. The pay is usually around minimum wage, so you really can't find someone to perform certain duties, like dispensing medication, for minimum wage. At least someone who is certified to do so. I don't mind paying someone minimum wage to drive me to the doctor's, but to give me shots is another thing. A lot of families hire other family members to do the caretaker's duties. It's still not enough for the family member to quit their day job and live on a caretaker salary.

It is also based on income. It's why my fiancé and I are not married. If you co-mingle your income, you are pretty much disqualified for anything. We have to keep everything separate, down to the penny. We don't have IHSS, as I receive too much money from my SSDI, which is a joke in itself. I have my own business, but with SSDI, you're only allowed to make certain amounts of money before the benefits are taken away, so I only pick up work here and there for some extra cash. I am not well enough to work full time, but hoping in a year or so I will, but with MS, you never know what can happen.

It's disgusting that wealthiest of nations don't care about the sick, elderly and disabled. It's only slightly better than less developed countries. But not much...

my rant over

I do want to thank each and every one of you who are care-givers! You do a job, without pay (or enough) because YOU DO CARE! You also need breaks, which are hard to come by as caring for a disabled person is so emotionally and physically demanding. I do hope for the holidays, you get some time off and are able to enjoy yourself.

Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2014 7:17 pm

Excellent article. I've been on both sides of the coin. I needed a caregiver for a few years until we got my MCTD into remission (mostly). I am a care giver now to my youngest son who has special needs, and before I got sick, my other son who up until he was 4 was special needs. It is a full time job and I know that when I was sick it was a lot on my husband to take care of me and our kids. Being on both sides of the coin really gives you an appreciation for those you care for, that's for sure. Especially like was mentioned above when you can't get help because you're "over income".

People become care-givers because they care and mostly get little to no thanks from anyone. It would be great to see more articles like that to shed light on the sacrifices so many make for the people they love. That article touched my heart for sure.

Something the mods dream up Joined: 22 Apr 2014 Posts: 906

At 5 a.m. this morning I had to call an ambulance for my caree. Thankfully he was released 3.5 hours later. I don't like hospitals (white coat syndrome) but today they could not have done more.
1 ambulance responder and a 3 person ambulance team turned up.
WELL DONE NHS

Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2014 5:26 pm

^^ Well I'm glad to hear that your caree is OK. My husband has that same "syndrome" about hospitals LOL