This article is from page 4 of the 2012-09-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
ANY cuts to the already inadequate home help hours allocated to one elderly West Clare woman will have a devastating affect, not just for her but for her whole family.
Carer Margaret Scanlon is living in fear that the six and a half hours of home help allocated to her highly dependent mother-in-law will be cut again as the HSE take the knife to community services.
This one and a half hours, five days a week means that the mother of five can go to work to earn the only wage for the family since her husband was made redundant.
As well as working outside the home, she spends every available minute caring for her mother-in-law, teenage son who suffered a stroke when he was just four years of age and the rest of her family.
Just 18 months ago, when the HSE made its first cuts, her home help hours were reduced from two hours to one and a half. If they are cut again, Ms Scanlon is in no doubt that she will be forced to give up her job.
“There is no way I am putting my mother-in-law into a nursing home. Why should she have to move out of her home of the last 48-years?” she said.
In October 2010, Ms Scanlon applied for a Home Care Package, so grave was the situation. The HSE agreed that, as at least one of the two family members Ms Scanlon cares for around the clock was highly dependent, she was entitled to the package.
However, the package was “put on hold” due to lack of funding.
Ms Scanlon believes she will never receive that assistance now, and is awake nights worrying that she will lose the little assistance she has.
“It can be very stressful. We have five children and the whole of family life has been affected,” she said.
“People are not going out for the day during these home help hours. They have to go do the grocery shopping, or keep doctor or other appointments. Carers are annoyed and frustrated at what is happening,” she said.
“The old and young – the most vulnerable – are being hit by this again. Carers have to stand up for themselves. We do this because we love or care for the person, but it is not easy.”