Advice on offer for hard-working carers

8:02pm Saturday 10th May 2008

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CARERS of people with life-threatening illnesses are being offered free advice and support at a hospice event.

Staff at St Richard's Hospice, in Wildwood Drive, Worcester, are hosting an information day to allow carers to build links with people in similar positions, on Monday, June 9.

Anita Sarkar, project manager, said: "A lot of people don't perceive themselves as carers even though that is the role they are filling.

"Those carers themselves also need a lot of support and advice including such things as how to access benefits and to feel valued themselves."

Workshops are taking place on the day, from 11.30am until 3.30pm, with advice for carers' on maintaining a healthy lifestyle, pampering the people they care for and information on welfare and benefits entitlement.

Carers will also be able to talk with representatives from the Citizens Advice Bureau, DIAL and Spa Housing Association.

The Support at Home Service, Mobility, Care and Repair, and Lloyds Pharmacy will also run information stalls on the day.

The event marks National Carer's Week, running from June 9 until June 15, and coincides with the first anniversary of the hospice's own Carers Group.

Other support organisations are being urged to turn up and forge new inter-group links.

The Motor Neurone Disease Association, Parkinson's Disease Association, Brain Tumour Support Group, Worcester Association of Carers, Worcester Carers Unit, and the Lung Cancer Support Group are already involved with the event.

St Richard's Hospice contains an In-patient Unit, Day Hospice, Home Care Team, Counselling and Bereavement support, Social Work, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Complementary Therapies, Hospice at Home, Snowdrop Group, Chaplaincy, a 24-hour telephone support helpline and the Education and Resource Centre.

For further information on the day please contact the Education and Resource Centre at St Richard's on 01905 763963