Carers’ lives ‘on hold’ as support services still not back to normal
CARERS have said their lives have been left ‘on hold’ as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, as they call for support services to resume as soon as possible.
Aisling Harmon has been caring for her 82-year-old mother, Carmel, for the past seven years.
Carmel has advanced Parkinson’s disease and dementia, and is wheelchair bound.
Aisling, who is her mother’s sole carer, told the Mail that the sudden loss of daycare services and respite has caused her extreme stress.
‘We lost all of our services overnight. We lost care cover, home care packages, we lost day care, we lost some respite care,’ she said.
Chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society of Ireland, Pat McLoughlin, said the pandemic forced the group to close its 48 day centres, as well as social clubs, respite centres, and family carer training.
The closure of day centres alone impacted around 1,100 people, he told the Mail.
‘Those were really hugely important outlets for people to meet others who either had dementia or were caring for somebody,’ Mr McLoughlin said.
Meanwhile Brenda O’Connell Barry, in Charleville,
‘All families like ours could do with more help really’
Co. Cork, is caring for her son Fionn, alongside her husband, Trevor Barry.
The six-year-old has NACC1, a rare genetic mutational condition.
His mother told the Mail that due to Covid he lost his two nights of overnight respite every month.
‘It was something and everything is better than nothing. All families like ours could do with more really, but we’re so grateful for any little bit we would get,’ she said.
A spokesman for the HSE said: ‘The delivery of respite services continued to operate during the pandemic, albeit at a reduced capacity; some centres remained open, while others were temporarily repurposed as isolation facilities.’