For Junee’s informal carers, work never stops.
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Kath Sizer’s husband Geoff has Alzheimer's, and requires care 24 hours a day.
“When I worked as a nurse I got off at five,” she said.
“When you go to work and you have the repetitiveness and the anxiety and the confusion you can say gosh I’m off in an hour, but here that doesn’t happen.
“I can’t plan anything, I just have to take each day as it comes.”
Kath and fellow carers Jeannette O’Connor and Barbara Curtis all care for husbands whose conditions are vastly different, but there are common strands in their own experiences.
“A lot of people get very lonely and very isolated,” Mrs O’Connor said.
“Everyone basically has the same problems, the same anxieties, stress and frustrations.”
Now a carers’ support group, starting in Junee next week, will provide a space to have a chat and take a break.
Occupational therapist Judy-Ann Emberson said accepting help for carers can be very difficult.
“Taking responsibility to care can be very conflicting as often their loved one is very much changed or deteriorating from their original loved one,” she said.
Barbara’s husband John was a manager at the Junee jail for nine years before he had a breakdown after a reunion of Vietnam veterans in 1997.
Due to being on medication for post-traumatic stress disorder, he was let go from the jail in 2003.
“After he finished out there 2003, for three years he sat on a swing with the dog,” she said.
“You couldn’t talk to him, it was like walking on eggshells.
“It was a dreadful time to go through.”
Barbara said she hopes the group becomes somewhere people feel free and safe to have a chat.
The group will be supported by the Junee Hospital and local volunteer health professionals.
“Some skills we hope to develop are allowing time for ourselves, mindfulness, identifying stress building,” Mrs Emberson said.
There are future plans for guest speakers and group outings.
For Jeannette, whose husband David suffered a stroke when he was just 56, it’s also about forging connections.
“We haven’t been in Junee very long so don’t have those family members who can step in.”
By leaning on each other, Kath, Jeannette and Barbara hope to take some pressure off themselves.
“I think it can be a very healthy group where you can bounce off eachothers’ ideas,” Kath said.
“If you find something that works for yourself or your loved one you can take it along and that knowledge might really help somebody.”
The group will meet for the first time on Monday, August 22 between 10 and 12 am in the Junee Hospital Day Therapy Room.
For further information, please contact Leslie at the hospital on 0467 724 359.
If you or somebody you know needs help you can contact:
- Mind Carer Helpline - 1300 554 660