Have you ever considered that all your hard work and years of waging the war in the world of men v women in the workforce, that it all might come tumbling down in the blink of an eye?  For an awful lot of men and women out there, there are circumstances beyond their control that can bring this situation about.

I’m not one for statistics, but my sixth sense tells me that the large majority of Carers in our community are the Mums, Dads, Daughters, Sisters, Grandparents and sometimes even girl friends and boy friends.  Through no fault of their own they are thrust into the role of being a Carer, perhaps its through a loved one having a terrible accident, a parent in the aging process becoming frail or perhaps developing dementia, or having been in a situation where they have a disabled or mentally handicapped child or relation.  There are many and varied reasons why carers take on this role.

I met a wonderful lady the other day who opened my eyes to the reality of their situation.  She is a mother of two handicapped children, both who have now grown up and who having been given the encouragement are now coping with life in the outside world, so this lady is now released from her role as their carer.

Has she just jumped for joy and run free?? No, she has grasped the occasional opportunities along the way to give herself chances to improve her situation through gaining qualifications, but despite being a single parent of her now independent children, she has unbelievably taken on the role of being a carer for others loved ones as well.  What an incredible woman.

I met her because she picked up one of my brochures that I placed at the local TAFE, and she has told me about her dream of creating a better deal for carers.  I too have a dream to help carers, although my initial vision is to be able to build and maintain 24hr assisted living complexes (Clover Connect Lifestyle Villages).  My meeting with her has given me a clearer picture of the plight of the ‘carer’ and it is for this reason that I write this piece.

I wonder if anyone would ever consider that being a ‘carer’ is a CAREER, yet one with such a pitiful payment, no promotions but a lot of heartache, stress and hard work.  I tried to look at becoming my elderly mother’s carer when she’d broken her leg and had been in hospital for 27 weeks.  Despite my best efforts (which I now believe that perhaps I could have tried harder) there was no way that I (I have no partner) could work full time, pay my mortgage, buy food, run a car and look after my mother on approx $600/fortnight (and I’m not even sure that it’s this much money)!  How on EARTH do people even consider that they can manage on this kind of money??

As my business becomes larger I will be giving carers the opportunity to earn extra money whilst still being able to ‘care’ at home, and when the facilities are built for those other than the aged needing 24hr care, there will be an area allocated to the carers so that they can bring their charges to the facility and have regular respites and mingle with like-minded people who are the un-sung hero’s of the community and who save the Government millions by doing the job they do! 

They are inspirational people who need a chance to shine.

We are keen to find out more information that is not readily available from Government Statistics - so that we can be informed about the following:

How many people require this assistance

The level/type of the assistance required

The areas/states where they live

The time frame for the need

It is of vital importance that we gather this information - so that we can lobby the correct organisations/departments to gain the maximum benefits of assistance we are allowed to have.

http://www.cloverconnect.com.au  is a community search engine offering a connection point for people wishing to advertise, announce, trade, help, advise, celebrate and much much more. 

We are going to change this situation and we will obviously need help to do this.  We have been joined by a team of volunteers who have commended our efforts thus far, but with their help we are really on the road to attaining what is going to be a very fulfilling mission.

We have our website – www.cloverconnect.com.au which offers free advertising (at the moment) and many other great features all dedicated to providing help and assistance to people in the community who are either the ones who require the facilities or the carers who currently provide their invaluable support for their loved ones.

Our newest project is our blogsite www.cloverconnect.com.au/blog which has been created to put these people together with able bodied people in the community.  It will also enable the people who are in awkward situations eg: carers, disabled, the sick or even the recovering ~ a place to share their stories, read about other people’s trials and tribulations, seek help or even just know that they aren’t the ONLY ones out there who are going through some difficult times.  We want to ‘put the pieces together’.  Giving everyone an ‘equal platform’ where everyone is the ’same’.