Carers make an enormous contribution to our communities, it's time we say thanks.
This week is National Carers Week 2019 (13-19 October), a good time to stop and learn some facts about carers. Like the fact that you or someone you know will either be a carer or need a carer in their lifetime. Or that there are 2.7 million unpaid carers in Australia who provide $1 billion worth of unpaid care every week. That’s $60.3 billion of unpaid care annually!
Carers make an enormous contribution to our communities, selflessly investing their time and energy into ensuring their loved one is healthy and safe, often without taking time out to look after themselves. If you know someone who plays a caring role, we encourage you to extend your appreciation to them - maybe you even could step in to help out, so they can take some well-earned time out for themselves.
Life Without Barriers wouldn’t be able to do all the amazing things we do without our amazing (paid) carers, whether they are foster carers, kinship carers, disability carers, in aged care or caring for their colleagues in the office day to day. We want to give a heartfelt THANK YOU to each and every one.
The theme of this years’ National Carers Week is ‘Why we care’ and aims to raise awareness of the diversity of carers and their caring roles by sharing their stories. Although this week is to really put a spotlight on and acknowledge the unpaid care provided, we wanted to share some great quotes of the carers we work with, and those who have been provided care.
"Every kid is one caring adult away from being a success story" - Josh Shipp, Foster Carer.
"My foster carer helped me to get where I am now. I went through a lot and I would have struggled harder if I didn't have someone to support me.” - Kieren, grew up in foster care with Life Without Barriers.
"I took this young boy in at the age of four and the journey has been very hard because he has autism and ADHD and OCD and any other DDs you want to put with it, and so my whole life had to change so that his life could be better.” - Barb, Foster Carer.
This week there are a range of community events taking place across Australia to celebrate carers, and if you haven’t already attended one, we encourage you to get involved. Click though for an interactive country wide map and find one near you at https://lnkd.in/gQT25qx. And don’t forget to thank a carer this week, and every week!
