Help me look after My Mum Martha

Kia ora e te whanau!

Welcome to Martha and I's give a little. I am so grateful for the all the support that I get from our wonderful community and I hate to ask for more, however, now is a time that I have to reach out and ask for some support.

I have been the full-time carer for My Mum Martha since my dad passed away in June of 2013, she was diagnosed with early-onset alzheimers when she was about 61, and she is now coming up to 72!!! We have had many ups and downs over the past 6 years, but it has been the greatest honour of my life to be her full-time caregiver, I truly feel blessed. I want to reassure you all that currently we are doing great, we have moved into a beautiful home, we have a great routine and, for the most part, we manage very well. We have had a few more downs this year, an increased number of doctors and hospital visits and a few falls. But I do believe that by keeping her with me at home for as long as possible I will provide her with the best quality of life she could possibly have.

Recently our carer support and resources came up for review from the ADHB, the ADHB made a decision to cut some of the resources and funding we have previously been entitled too, as well as make access to some other support more expensive. Whilst I have previously been able to manage the costs with the substantial increase in cost for respite, and the ADHB removing their support that has previously been in place it has left me with the reality that I may not be able to afford respite or the appropriate care we need to keep us well and safe. I am not looking for anything more than what I have previously had access to for the past 5 years.

My concern is that without access to respite, I will have no choice but to put Mama into full-time care, at this time this is not something I am willing to do or do I think it would be beneficial to Mama.

I won't get into all the nitty-gritty details but here is a small summary of the changes:

Reduced number of days of partially funded respite we have access to

Increased cost to us to access respite

Implemented an approval system for accessing respite

No immediate availability to access respite, in case of emergencies

What I am asking for? To access respite care I now have a shortfall of between $60 and $200 per day that Mama is in respite, up until this point I have been able to manage the cost, but with the additional pressure of having to source amounts that I have not had to cater for in the past 5 years, it is no longer an affordable option. I am hoping that in the next 6 months I will be able to change my financial position so that I earn a bit more money to cover these increased costs. In the meantime, I would love to raise enough to get us through the next 6 months, this is about $1500, or 25 days of respite, or 4 days a month.