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CLAN Issue 56 published August 2008
Welcome to the August Edition of CLAN Hello and a very warm welcome to all of our readers. What a summer it’s turning out to be! Although we haven’t had the hot and sunny weather that we have all been hoping for, it’s certainly been hot, hot, hot at North Staffs Carers Association. Firstly, there was the exciting news about our new five year Big Lottery funded CRASH project. The new team have settled in well and are certainly getting to grips with their new roles. There were also celebrations galore at our Carer of the Year Award 2008 and during the many Carers Week activities that we held. Carers also featured high on the Government Agenda, with the announcement of the new National Carers Strategy. Finally, I would like to say a ‘fond farewell for now’ as I will soon be off on maternity leave. I will be handing over the reigns to my colleague, Sharon Jukes. Please keep sending your articles into us and any ‘CLAN on Tour’ pictures that you may have. Lisa Denney
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NEWS FROM NSCA
National Carers Week is one of the most important events in the Carers Calendar. To mark this very special time, North Staffs Carers Association hosted a series of events, with the aim of raising the profile of Carers throughout North Staffordshire. The week of celebrations began in Newcastle Town Centre, where shoppers were greeted by the friendly faces of our staff and the very special appearance of our mascot, the ‘Carer Bear’.
Events also took place in Cheadle Town Centre, Leek Moorlands Hospital, Shelton Day Service and many more. The celebration of Carers Week 2008 culminated in a special ‘Carers Well being Fair’ that was held at Cobridge Community Centre. This was officially opened by the Carers Forum along with our Balloon Launch. During the day Carers were treated to a variety of complementary therapies, talks and the opportunity to meet with services to support their caring needs. The Carers Well being Fair was a great success and it was good to see so many Carers attend on the day. Many thanks also to the Professionals and Organisations who worked closely with us in making Carers Week such a resounding success.
CARER OF THE YEAR 2008
With thanks to our sponsor, AbleWorld, Carers were treated to a night of entertainment and celebration. The evening began with a Champagne reception, and guests were treated to entertainment from a magician and band. Whilst the theme of the night was obviously fun and celebration, the award ceremony itself took pride and place on the night. With a room full of beaming faces and with anticipation filling the air, the winner of Carer of the Year 2008 was announced. This years winner was Lynn Challinor, who has been caring for her daughter for the past nineteen years. Well done to you Lynn for a much deserved award. Congratulations are extended to everyone who was nominated for this very special award. In our eyes you are all ‘Carer of the Year’!
CLAN ON TOUR Whether you are away on a day trip or to a far away paradise, CLAN can be the perfect read. Why not take a picture of yourself and your copy of CLAN and send it to us? Email your photos and a brief description of your trip to lisadenney21@yahoo.co.uk
Val wrote in to tell us about a recent holiday that she enjoyed, courtesy of her winnings. Whilst basking in the sunshine, Val took time out to relax and catch up on the latest news from the Carers Newsletter, CLAN.
Celebrating a very special birthday, the Associations Chief Officer Jane Harding, and a number of the girls from the office, enjoyed a recent trip to Spain. Whilst enjoying the sunshine and taking a dip in the pool, the girls relaxed with their favourite read, CLAN. It’s a hard life but someone has got to do it!
Link Project Update
Julie Hammersley has joined us as the new Primary Care Link Co-Ordinator for the County. Julie has taken over from Liz Ilderton, who is now taking a well deserved rest. We wish her well in her retirement. Julie Roberts has also joined the team as the new Secondary Care Link Co-Ordinator. The girls have settled in well and are looking forward to meeting both Carers and Professionals.
The aims of the project are: Lisa Denney Link Team Manager, Lisa Burrows, Julie Hammersley, Jayne Hurst and Julie Roberts.
Carers Prize Draw Club
Chief Officer Jane Harding, presses the button for our second Prize Draw, closely supervised by independent adjudicator Darren Pitt of Ceramico Colours. The winning number was 114 which went to Mrs D. Jones, a Carer from Newcastle. Congratulations Mrs Jones on your win.
CRASH PROJECT We would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the CRASH PROJECT, which is funded for five years by the Big Lottery Fund. This project will provide Carers with a seamless service of crisis support. The CRASH team provides a free and confidential service to all adult Carers living in North Staffordshire. Whether it is information about local services, assessments, benefit entitlement, the CRASH team are here for you! The aims of the CRASH project are as follows:
These aims will be met in a number of different ways. One of the new innovative programmes will be Well-Being Workshops, which are designed to support Carers. The sessions will be informal and will last for 2 hours, running every week for ten weeks. We aim to provide Carers with knowledge and expertise, to enable them to address their own needs and the needs of the person they care for. Sessions will be workshop based and will cover topics such as identifying and managing stress, promoting self-confidence and much more. We will also be developing Carer Networks. So who are we? The CRASH team itself is made up of three specialist Carers Development Workers.
Physical/Sensory Disabilities/Mental Health Lynn Robinson Keep your eyes on this project as it will be shortly providing a 24hr Crisis Service, which is unique to North Staffordshire………
Chat Line in the City Hi everyone, I hope you are all keeping well and enjoying the great British summer (ok for ducks). I just hope the weather has not spoilt your holidays .I have just returned to work after spending two fabulous weeks in Tunisia, a country that I love for it’s very unusual culture, and of course its great weather. It was good to see so many of you at Carer of the Year and during Carer’s Week. It was great to catch up with all of you who use the City Chat Line Service. May I take this opportunity to say congratulations to Anne Forrester and Reg Bourne, on their well deserved nominations for Carer of The Year. I now have a new support worker, a young lady named Judith Hunt, who joined the Association in June, just in time for Carer’s Week. Judith has settled in very well and I’m sure that you will all make Judith very welcome when we come to visit you at home. I know you’ll wish her the best of luck. It’s a very exciting time right now at the Association with the launch of the new CRASH team, which I hope will generate lots more new Carer’s to the City Chat Line project. I would like to say a big thank you to Jeff Marshall, who is a volunteer for the Association. Jeff comes into the office one day a week and calls a number of you on my behalf. He is doing a sterling job and I know how much you enjoy chatting with him. Look out for the November edition of CLAN where I hope to publish exciting details of the Carer’s Christmas Party. If you are a Carer and live in the City of Stoke On Trent, and have recently had a Carer’s Assessment. Please call me on 01782 834836. I will be more than happy to provide you with information about the Chat Line project. Peter Shepherd.
Emotional Wellbeing Project Over the past few months I have been busy contacting Carers in the Newcastle and Moorlands, to gather your views and ideas on future workshops. It became clear that there was a great interest in themed workshops, which would take place over a period of time. Thank you to all of you who took the time to return the questionnaires and for your valued feedback. I am pleased to inform you that from September we will be holding some new and exciting workshops. In conjunction with Life Long Learning, we will be commencing with an Art workshop, which will run for six sessions over a three-month period. Life Long Learning will offer an initial introduction workshop to outline the course content. Please accept my apologies, as there will be no Carers meetings in August. I will be trekking around Borneo working with a charity to save the rainforest and animals that live there.
Steve Parker
Outreach Co-Ordinator
Thursday 14th August Lyme Valley Recreation Centre For more information regarding planned Outreach over the coming few months please call 01782 834836.
Take good care of yourselves
THE JOHN RITCHIE SHIELD GOLF DAY The family of the late Stoke City legend John Ritchie organised a fantastic Golf Day in memory to John. North Staffs Carers Association were honoured to be chosen by the Ritchie family to benefit from the monies raised on the day. 176 Golfers enjoyed the wonderful setting and facilities of the Izaac Walton Golf Club on Saturday 12th July…Johns Birthday. The golf was extremely competitive and included the chance to win a B.M.W sports car for a hole in one. The evening meal and refreshments was followed by a number of moving speeches about John and his football career. The climax of the evening was one of the most humorous and generous Auctions I have seen. We are extremely grateful to the Ritchie family, Shirley, David, Julie and Stephen who planned and organised a brilliant event in memory of John, but wanted others to benefit from the occasion. The generosity and support from The Izaak Walton Golf Club was fantastic. Thank you to the main sponsors Steelite International, Churchill, and Rational plus the other companies who donated raffle and auction prizes, also the brilliant support from the golfers. On behalf of all the Carers who will benefit from the day, our sincere thanks go to Shirley, David, Julie and Stephen. John Connor
Liaison Update I have been here there and everywhere this quarter, from Manchester to London and even Spain.... In March we received news from the Big Lottery to say that we had successfully secured funding for a new five year project - the CRASH Project. This is fantastic news for Carers in North Staffordshire. The past few months have been extremely busy, putting together the new team, carrying out inductions and holding the official launch of the CRASH project. I would like to take the opportunity to introduce you to the new team members. Anna Dunn is the Parent Carer/Learning Disability Development Worker. Joanne Plant is the Older People’s Development Worker. Lynn Robinson is the Mental Health/ Physical & Sensory Development Worker. As well as setting up the Crash project I have also attended strategic meetings for Carers. This included the launch of the National Carers Strategy in London, with Jane Harding our Chief Officer. It is really important that we attend these events, keeping up to date with everything that is happening at a strategic level, and finding out how this will affect Carers services within North Staffordshire. I have been involved in some of the debates concerning the modernisation of services for people with a Learning Disability. I have received very interesting articles from both Colin Marsh and Darren Evans, regarding positive work that is happening for people with a learning disability in Stoke and Newcastle. These articles will be available to view on our website shortly. In April 2008 we began to work with a few Social Care teams in Stoke and Newcastle, raising awareness of our services. We have introduced our Community Carer Champions Award this quarter. This award is presented to Health and Social Care Teams who have identified and referred high numbers of Carers into the Association. On a final note Carers Rights Day is fast approaching. We are always on the lookout for volunteers who would like to help out at our events. If you are interested in volunteering please get in touch either by phone on 01782 834836 or via email to dianne_underwood2005@yahoo.co.uk Keep Caring Dianne Underwood
Benefit Surgeries We will be holding a series of Benefit Surgeries at the offices of North Staffs Carers Association. The benefits we can help complete include Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Carers Allowance, Council Tax Discount and Pension Credit. All of the surgeries will be held from 9.00am until 4.00pm on the following dates.
Friday 12th September Please call Sharon Smith Outreach Co-Ordinator, on telephone 01782 834836 to arrange an appointment.
A WEEK IN THE LIFE OF ...JAYNE HURST
Monday My first day in my new job and nerves are getting the better of me. I open the doors and don’t know quite what to expect. Many faces with big smiles warmly welcome me and as if by magic my nerves start to dissipate. My role within the link team is Primary Care Support Worker and I will be supporting the Primary Care Link Coordinators in the day to day running of the Link Team. Tuesday I’m into my second day and how time flies when your having fun! Any nerves I had yesterday have gone and I am looking forward to settling in and making myself useful. The support and work North Staffs Carers do for Carers and their ethos is what drew me to my new role. More introductions today and learning all about the projects within the Association. Wednesday Planning meetings for Carers week, team meetings its all-go, go, go!!! Everyone is busy making calls, arranging visits, updating information for our Carers Information File, the list is endless. I get stuck in and before I know it its 11.00am and time for a cuppa, got to look after the workers. Thursday I take my first phone call today. I take a deep breath and ask the caller how I can help. I put my listening ear on and take in the magnitude of the carers call. When you hear what carers have to go through on a day-to-day basis 24/7 you begin to realise why the service is so vital. I take the callers details and reassure them that we will do everything we can to try and help and assist them through this difficult time. I soon realise that every day is different here at the Association. Friday I cannot believe the end of the week has arrived. This morning I am going out with one of the Carer Link Coordinators to visit a Carer Link contact. Carer Link Contacts provide a vital link between Carers and NSCA. After lunch I send out carers information packs to new referrals, put together new Carer Information Files and more. Well it’s the end of a most eventful and enjoyable week time to go home put my feet up “I can dream” will I be coming back next week “oh yes” most definitely.
Carers Befriending Project. The Befriending Project provides a befriending service to Carers of people with: Mental Ill Health, Learning Disabilities, Physical / Sensory Disabilities, Children with a Disability.
What is befriending?
How does the Project Support Volunteers?
Personal Qualities Of Befrienders. The Aims of the Carers Befriending Project are to:
If you are interested in either becoming a Befriender or would like to receive a Service from our Befriending Project contact Dianne Underwood on 01782 834836
NATIONAL NEWS Take advantage of reduced fees for courses while funding is still available. We can offer you:
Alternatively you can email Sue on sue.crowley@nec.ac.uk Visit www.nec.ac.uk for further information A partnership between the National Extension College & the Princess Royal Trust for Carers, funded by the Big Lottery. LOCAL NEWS BRIARS BARN Briars Barn in Polesworth, Tamworth, are offering Day services for people with learning disabilities to enhance and change lives for the better. Clients can take part in a wide range of activities from Animal welfare, horticulture, line dancing, table tennis, Horse and cart rides. Briars Barn is set in 20 acres of land and there is endless opportunity for many more activities. We offer supported daytime activities and all participants are encouraged to play an active role in the daily routine of the farm. We also provide a choice of nourishing meals, transport to and from your door and a warm friendly atmosphere. Briars Barn aims to enhance lives and ensure a fun and enjoyable day. Clients will gain valuable life and social skills whilst aiming towards a successful goal and outcome. If you have a social worker who has identified that you meet the criteria for day opportunities, then you can request to access our services throuh the direct payment scheme. A member of our team will then contact you to arrange a visit to the centre along with your social worker/carer. If you would like a placement a second appointment will then be made to arrange payment via standing order, and agree our terms and conditions. If you would like more information or to arrange a visit please contact the Brairs Barn Team on 01827 896454
Campaign urges people to choose the right place for the right treatment Each month around 8,000 people attend the A&E Department at University Hospital of North Staffordshire. More than one in four could be treated more appropriately elsewhere. A&E is the right place for real emergencies only, but many people regard it as their first port of call for minor illness or injuries. This is despite the fact that it can become very busy especially at weekends and through the evening, and some people may have to wait several hours for treatment or longer than necessary. However it doesn’t have to be that way. NHS organisations across the region have joined forces to encourage residents to choose the right place to treat their condition. The campaign, led by North Staffordshire Primary Care Trust (PCT), Stoke PCT, University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust and West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust, promotes a range of alternatives to A&E including: Self-care - the right place for treatment of a hangover, cough, grazed knee or sore throat Pharmacist – the right place for treatment if you have symptoms such as diarrhoea, headache, runny nose or painful cough NHS Direct – the right place for people who are unwell, unsure, confused or who need help. Call 0845 4647 or visit: www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk GP surgery – the right place for treating non-emergency health needs and for people with symptoms such as vomiting, stomach ache, ear pain or back ache. If your surgery is closed and you need urgent healthcare which cannot safely wait until the next working day, please call North Staffs Urgent Care on 01782 719 100
NHS Walk-in Centre and Minor Injuries Unit – the right place for treating symptoms such as cuts, strains, itches and sprains. Alternatively, the Minor Injuries Unit at Leek Moorlands Hospital, Ashbourne Road, Leek is open 7 days a week from 8.000am until 8.00pm. Tel: 01538 487100. A&E is still the place to go for real emergencies. If you’re blacking out, experiencing severe breathing difficulties, loss of blood or chest pain, you should go to an A&E Department. They’re open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and are there to assess serious injuries and provide emergency treatment. For further information about choosing the right place visit: www.stokepct.nhs.uk or www.northstaffordshire-pct.nhs.uk
REACH REACH is a group advocacy project for people with a learning disability who live in Stoke On Trent. REACH works with people aged 18 and over, supporting them to speak up about their lives and the services they use REACH works together with services and organisations to share ideas and information. We believe there are many people in the area who are not accessing the support from services that could help them to live the life they want. REACH works hard to raise awareness about learning disabilities and to reduce the stigma and discrimination faced by people with a learning disability. If you would like more information about REACH please feel free to contact us on 01782 747872 or email reach@asist.co.uk.
Adult and Community Learning My name is Anita Harrison and I am the new Outreach Worker for the Adult and Community Learning Service in the Moorlands. Part of my role is about talking to people and finding out what they would like to learn. Sometimes people may find the thought of learning a little daunting or wonder if it is right for them. Our courses are aimed at people who may have been out of learning for some time; perhaps didn’t enjoy their school experience; or quite simply wish to get out and meet others. We can arrange a variety of fun and interesting courses for you to try. Most of our sessions last two hours and run for six weeks. The cost is £12 but there is fee remission for certain benefits. Alternatively you may wish to try one of our taster sessions in your area. If you would like to receive more information regarding courses available or to discuss your learning needs you can call me on 07870 504194
North Staffordshire Warm Zone Thanks to help from Scottish Power Energy People Trust we have received additional funding to offer benefits advice to families with children up to the age of 16 years. This means we can help with claims and further work to secure benefits for those who are missing out – including those who may have tried to claim previously without success. We are able to offer the following:
Call today on (01782) 238561/238552/238548 NEWS FROM THE YOUNG CARERS DEPARTMENT
On Friday 27th June 2008, Jillian, myself and four Young Carers Forum members, Nicole, Beth, Clare and Tiffany set off from Stoke station to YMCA Fairthorne Manor, Southampton for the 9th Young Carers Festival. Not only was this our first visit there, it was also our very first residential trip with Young Carers! We were shown to our accommodation- 2 man tents and given the itinerary for the weekend. Friday afternoon was spent on the Tower Climb, Bouncy Pillow and watching the live bands. The evening started with songs around a very large campfire and was followed by a disco, which finished at midnight. Saturday started when Nicole woke us at 5.30am even though activities did not start until 8.30am! The girls got rather wet canoeing, then very muddy during the Blind Fold Team Challenge. We also signed up for the Low Ropes Team Challenge. Art and craft workshops were available for the not so active. The Children’s Minister, Kevin Brennan came and gave a speech and took questions from the Young Carers National Forum. Saturday evening started at the river with the very first Festival Regatta and duck race. This was followed by fireworks and a disco. Sunday was a slightly later start 7.00am (thanks Nicole!) with plenty of activities to take part in. We were then treated to a production of “Extravaganza” written and produced by some Young Carers, followed by the closing ceremony. We arrived back in Stoke at 7.00pm Sunday all feeling a bit grubby, and very, very tired . Everyone thoroughly enjoyed this first Festival and we all look forward to many more in the future. Gill Porter
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Carer of the Year 2008 was celebrated in style at a special awards ceremony that was held at Port Vale Football Club.
You may remember Val Lowe, a Carer from Stoke on Trent, and our first ever winner of the Carers Prize Draw Club.
CLAN on Tour also made a special debut trip to Spain.
We now have a new link team in place and we would like to introduce you to the new members of staff.
Over the next few months I will be out and about throughout North Staffordshire with our Outreach vehicle. You can drop in and have a chat about your caring role at either of the following locations.
