CARERS in the Okehampton area will be shown the safest way to handle and lift people to safeguard their own health at a demonstration as part of National Carers? Week which runs throughout next week.
Carers are people who look after family members or friends because they are ill or have a disability. Their work is highly valued and completely voluntary.
National Carers Week is an annual celebration of the work carers do and an opportunity to recognise officially the invaluable service they provide.
The theme of this year?s Carers? Week which runs from June 13-20, is ?Carers and their health?.
Caring for someone at home can be very demanding, physically and mentally, and the selfless attitudes of many carers means that they often put their own health second to the good health of others, and do not see, or choose to ignore, potentially serious health problems of their own.
In the Okehampton area there are several hundred carers providing different levels of care for people within their own families.
?That?s an estimate, because it?s so difficult to know exactly how many people are caring for others because they do it without shouting about it!? says Rowena Lane, Devon County Council?s carer support worker in Okehampton.
Rowena also chairs the local Carer Support Group which has more than 40 members. ?We arrange talks by health professionals, organise demonstrations for example to show the range of specialist equipment available to help older people or people with disabilities to continue to live at home. And we arrange events to encourage carers to meet socially. It can be extremely rewarding to be able to share experiences,? she said.
On Tuesday (June 15) a handling and lifting demonstration as well as a chance to see specialist equipment will be provided at Okehampton Social Services?, Jacobs Pool House in West Street.
On Thursday, June 17, the Okehampton Carers? Group has arranged an information for carers stand, with afternoon tea, at the Ockment Centre from 2.30pm.