Kay Elson (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today is the beginning of a very special week: Carers Week. It is a week in which we recognise the many thousands of people in our communities who dedicate their lives to caring for others. Today the Minister for Community Services, the Hon. John Cobb, and Senator the Hon. Santo Santoro, the Minister for Ageing, launched this special week. As they stated, Carers Week is all about listening and learning and making the public aware of what carers are all about, and giving thanks and celebrating the role of carers in our community.

Minister Cobb also launched the Special Disability Trusts booklet, which is probably one of the most important booklets to get into the hands of those elderly people who have disabled people in their care. This booklet will have information on trusts and includes a model trust deed. Minister Cobb also announced that he will be launching later this month another book, a future care and information booklet, which will have all kinds of useful information about what we need to consider if we are thinking about planning for the future of a person with a disability. This information kit will include easy to understand information about what support is available, how to get financial and legal advice, how to establish cooperative housing, care arrangements and so on.

I think it would also be appropriate to read a section of a letter that I received from a constituent of mine. Her name is Jill—I will not say what her last name is publicly. She wrote a very heartrending letter that gives first-hand information on the sacrifices that are made by carers in Australia. I heard about this lady first-hand and the sacrifice she has made to ensure her husband received the very best care 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I really admire her. It would have been an easier option for Jill to place her husband in a nursing home when he had a massive stroke 11 years ago, but she did not. I thought it appropriate to read a section of this letter tonight. She starts off by saying:

Mrs Elson, you struck me as a person who has genuine interest in people and their various issues and you gave me strength. I thought you might be interested to see how the sad tale ends, but this is not written for sympathy. I beg you to pass this on to your government that some people have intolerable lives and that changes in government policy and more finances would alleviate this situation. To quickly recap, my husband suffered a massive stroke 11 years ago, which left him disabled and brain damaged. I cared for him 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and all this time he became progressively worse—incontinent and violent.

Two years ago he spent one day a week at Beenleigh Day Respite Centre, which gave me one day to tend to other things. Please press upon your government that more of these respite centres should be funded and supported, as this enables people to care for their loved ones at home for a much longer time and preserves the sanity of carers.

In June this year my husband lost the ability to transfer from bed to a wheelchair or to the toilet. Equipment to help was hired, but his dementia and violence made their use impossible. Daily I would spend the whole day cleaning and washing him, recovering from many punches while doing so. At this point I went to the Beenleigh Nursing Home to find out how long the waiting list would be so that I could have some hope that there would be help for me in the future. Within a week I had my husband in this nursing home. My husband required two nurses and a Pixel hoist to dress, shower and toilet him. The nursing staff said to me they did not know how I coped for so long doing all of that by myself.

I think generally that this letter just states the types of lives that our carers lead and that we should never miss a day of saying thank you to them for the sacrifices that they make in their daily lives while not saying one word or whinging about it. She did end her letter by saying that the staff at the nursing home are very special people:

... they are truly caring and my husband is content now, clean and well fed. We have been blessed and I ask no more.

At this moment I just want to say thank you to that very special lady.

I also want to say thank you to another lady in our community, by the name of Marie Lubek. She saw that there was a great need that when groups started off, they did not have support behind them—especially carers groups—because they had so much time having to look after their carers. So she went about and set a guide up to help those groups, to make sure that they continue supplying support to those people who are caring. I wanted to spend a minute to thank Marie for the many hours of work she has put into this book. It is going to make life a lot easier and it is going to make sure that support groups do not close up for lack of expertise. (Time expired)

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