ANGLICARE supports older carers and their adult children
In 1965 a comedy revue, A Cup Of Tea, A Bex and A Good Lie Down, opened at Sydney's Philip St Theatre. The housewife’s drug of choice during that time Bex powders provided respite from a headache, sore feet, or even the persisting questions of ‘what’s for dinner mum?’.
However, remedies and respite for carers wasn’t as easy as a cup of tea, a bex and a good lie down back then. For carers, more often than not their ailments and needs were ignored as they concentrated on their caring role.
Today ANGLICARE’s Ashfield Support Coordination Program provides support to parents in inner western Sydney, who are 65 years of age or older and caring for an adult son or daughter with a disability living with them at home.
Whilst the program arranges services including respite, physiotherapy and speech therapy for the son or daughter with a disability, an important aspect of the program is to give the carer some time for themselves to engage in those simple pleasures they miss out on.
Simple pleasures like arranging flowers in Glebe, indulging in high tea in the Blue Mountains and enjoying a musical soiree of Frank Sinatra songs and Broadway tunes are just a few of the innovative approaches that the Program is taking for the carers involved.
For Padma, who cares for her 38 year old eldest daughter Priya, it was great having the program coordinate some services for her.
Retired and in their sixties, Padma and her husband left the life they had built in Melbourne for the last 32 years and moved to Sydney to live in a townhouse behind their youngest daughter’s home. In the back of their minds was the thought of Priya’s future without them.
“In case anything happened to us we thought we’d better move now and settle Priya into life in Sydney with her sister,” Padma explained.
“You do worry about the future as age creeps up. At least if anything happened to us Priya would already be settled here and would be able to continue without any hassles.”
Both children were born in Malaysia, but the family felt at that time in the early 60s there were not many services for people like their eldest daughter.
“The system didn’t cater for children like Priya. She would have been lost there,” said Padma.
Now, Padma says, her daughter has settled well into Sydney. She loves colouring and cooking books, likes her Neighbours and Home and Away and loves going to the movies to see comedies. Through the help of her family, ANGLICARE and other community organisations, Priya is able to lead an active life that’s full of friends.
However, shifting to a new place has not been easy. With old friendship networks severed, Padma has sometimes felt a little isolated in her new and unfamiliar environment.
According to Marianne Wilcox, Manager of the Ashfield Support Coordination Program, “It can be challenging to be at an age where you are in need of care yourself and still caring for your child who has a disability. It is these ageing carers who we aim to help by connecting them to social networks and support groups in order to build their confidence and to ease their mind about the future and care of their child.
“One of the program’s aims is to provide more than just the ‘quick fix’ of respite, a few hours here and there so the carer can get to the post office or buy some groceries. The program aims to arrange activities for the carers as well as the recipients of their care which gives them time out to enjoy the simple pleasures and create some great memories.”
If you are a carer or would like more information about this service, please phone Marianne Wilcox on 9799 8622.
