A west of Ireland charity which provides care and support to families affected by Alzheimer’s disease aims to raise €200,000 from its annual fundraiser on April 1.
Western Alzheimer’s is appealing to people to hold tea days in their homes, workplaces, community centres or parish halls and raise vital funds on the day to help the 316 families in Galway, Mayo and Roscommon - 120 in Galway - who benefit from its home care service.
The organisation, which celebrates 21 years in operation this year, raised €150,000 from the event last year and hopes to better this sum in 2011.
“All the money raised on the day will go to supporting our in-home support service which helps 316 families in the west in their own homes,” says John Grant, the organisation’s chief executive. “This is an increase of 143 on last year. The demand for our service is steadily growing, we are helping one or two families in every parish. By sending one of our people into people’s homes for four to six hours per week we are enabling the primary carer to have a break, to relax.
“A lot of people are doing tea days for us, there are many more venues this year. We would ask those interested in holding an event to contact (091 ) 565193 and we will send them out posters and information. All they have to do is organise tea and biscuits and invite people along who may like to make a donation to Western Alzheimers. It would only take an hour or two in the morning yet the relief this fundraiser will bring to carers is unbelievable. Only for tea day we would not be able to support people in their own homes, all the funds go directly to the source.
“This service is a lifeline for carers, it is our second biggest fundraiser, after our weekly lotto. These people are totally dependent on us. With cutbacks in the HSE more people are coming to us, this year more than ever. However, with the downturn in the economy charities are finding it harder to raise money. We are fortunate in that people are very conscious of our organisation and are aware of how we are helping the community.”
The charity, which has 166 people working for it in Galway, Mayo and Roscommon - 97 of whom it pays directly each week - set up the first purpose built respite home in the west in Ballindine, Co Mayo in 1999 catering solely for Alzheimer patients. Almost 40 per cent of the clients of Marian House - which provides short term residential care - are from Co Galway. For the first time last month five of the 12 residents were under 65 years. Maryfield Nursing Home in Athenry, a 22 bed unit, was bought by Western Alzheimers in 2001 to meet the growing demand for long term and respite care in Galway. Plans are under way to build a €2.5 million respite, daycare and long stay Alzheimer centre in Galway city. Construction work on the 22-bed facility is expected to begin this year and it is hoped it will open early in 2012.
More than 5,000 people in the west have Alzheimer’s disease, 2,000 of whom live in Galway, according to Mr Grant. While the majority would be in their 70s a growing number are in their late 50s or early 60s. The youngest patient is in his late 40s but it is rare for somebody this young to be affected by the disease, he says.
“When I started giving talks originally about our projects there were 4,000 people with the condition. There are definitely more people getting it because our population is ageing. When we started [our service] 95 per cent of our clients were women, now we see a very noticeably growing number of men. There is no cure for the condition. Carers are looking at a person they may have lived with all their life who is now forgetting a little each day. They may have spent 40 or 50 years with them and now their parent does now know them. They end up caring for their every need.”
In addition to sharing the physical care of people with Alzheimers his charity provides emotional support for carers. “We are constantly in touch to provide ongoing support. We are there to listen and help. We get so many touching letters. We got one last week from a lady whose mother had passed away, thanking us for the quality of life we gave her.”
Western Alzheimer’s can be contacted at (091 ) 565193. Its head office is based in Ballindine, Co Mayo. Telephone (094 ) 9364900.
