Red Cross Community Care Support

Posted by Dianne Reed 
on May 07, 2015
 
Red Cross Community Care Support Program
 
This morning Debby Williums from Red Cross came and spoke to us about the many different programs that are run under the umbrella of Red Cross. 
 
These include: 
 
  • running the Blood Bank on behalf of the government. 
  • providing help during times of war and or times of emergency or catastrophic events
  • community care services such as carer support and telecross.
  • providing a computerised registry service to identify people who may have been caught up in an evacuation - with the police providing assistance to notify people when someone is deceased.
  • asylum seekers program
  • community visitors program - to provide one-on-one support for those in socially isolated situations
  • family support - particularly for new mums - who have had multiple births; or are suffering from post natal depression
  • international tracing - for those who have been separated through war.
The program Debby particularly wanted to talk about today was the Carer Support Program which she's been involved in for some 15 years.  It is only available in Western Australia.  It provides support for those who are in an unpaid carer situation.  It is a Home and Community Care project where they can provide domestic support, personal support or provide travel for them to attend meetings on a monthly basis.  It is available to people in the metro area and in rural areas as well.  Debbie runs four groups in the southern metro area and she gets together with her members on a monthly basis so the carers themselves can feel supported.   They provide respite care for the person they are looking after so the carer can attend.  Most carers are over 40 years old, but they also run a Young Carer's Program too as they have youth (as young as 7 or 8 years old) who care for their parents, or siblings. 
 
She said it is a very rewarding job; and indicated that anyone can be involved in it.  They run training workshops for volunteers on a regular basis. 
 
The other program she spoke about this morning was the Telecross Service which is a national service provided to people who are living alone.  A volunteer phones them each day - in the morning - usually before 9.30 am just to check that they are okay.  If they don't get an answer they phone 3 more times during the morning and then an emergency contact plan is put in place.  They contact the person who has been listed as their emergency contact, and if they are not available they will contact the police as a last resort.
 
Debby indicated that a number of lives had been saved as a direct result of this service.  One incident she did speak of specifically was where a person had gone to put something in the wardrobe before going to bed one night, only to have the wardrobe fall on top of that person.  The phone call in the morning didn't get a response so the emergency plan was put in place and eventually the person was freed from the wardrobe - alive.  
 
The service can be a short term one or a long term option for people living alone.
 
Thanks Debby - it was a very informative talk.