Praise for Hartlepool's 'fantastic army of carers' for work through coronavirus crisis

Hartlepool Carers chief executive Christine Fewster.

Hartlepool Borough Council bosses have hailed the work of carers who provide a lifeline to residents to mark Carers Week 2020, which has taken place from June 8-14.

Jill Harrison, director of adult and community based services at the council, thanked carers for the work and praised their continued efforts during the coronavirus pandemic.

She said: “Carers Week 2020 is about helping to make caring visible and it’s really important that we use Carers Week to recognise and raise awareness of the fantastic work carers do.

“Obviously this year we can’t celebrate in the same way we normally would, which is a real shame because Hartlepool Carers always do such a fantastic job of doing that, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t celebrate what carers do.

“We always recognise that in Hartlepool we have a fantastic army of carers out there who do wonderful work everyday and the recent pandemic has actually just shown us exactly how valuable that is and carers have done even more than they would normally do.

“We can’t overemphasise how important the work of informal carers is and we can’t thank them enough for what they do.”

Figures suggest there are more than 10,000 adult carers and 2,000 young carers in Hartlepool although there may be more and the figure could have risen during lockdown.

Carers, some as young as five, support loved ones dealing with long term illness, disabilities, mental health concerns and substance misuse.

Hartlepool Carers has been working hard to ensure they are identified as early as possible and make sure they are supported, and group membership has risen from 800 in 2018 to around 2,000 now.

This week, Hartlepool Carers has been hosting daily virtual activities and events to help carers stay connected to their friends including a Virtual Craft Session, Young Carers Pizza Party, Celebration Care for a Cuppa, Virtual Bingo and Afternoon Tea, Family Quiz and their Annual Carers Awards.

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