A CHARITY bus which has travelled thousands of miles, attended more than 100 events and crucially identified upwards of 750 carers over the last six years, is finally to be retired from service.
The specially configured vehicle was purchased for Suffolk Family Carers, as a result of a huge and generous fundraising effort led by BBC Radio Suffolk.
Far from leaving a gap in provision by the bus’s departure, the charity has more recently been using two adapted campervans for their community work, which are far more able to cope with some of the rural and less accessible parts of the region.
Its legacy is that it helped ensure a great number of individuals throughout Suffolk were rightly identified as being ‘carers’ for loved ones, and that it helped the charity begin its part in ‘social prescribing’ activity, where members of the community could be signposted to relevant and informative services being provided by voluntary sector organisations.
Kirsten Alderson, CEO of Suffolk Family Carers, said: “It’s hard to believe that we had sought to fund a bus for our community activity for a two-year period, but instead, thanks to the incredible generosity of those who listened to the BBC Radio Suffolk campaign, we have run this same vehicle for six very busy years.
“It very much is time that the bus was now retired, and in fact, knowing what we do now, its ‘smaller and more agile cousins’ in the campervan form, are actually even more useful for the many different locations we need to get to.”
Pre-Covid, the bus was often seen at major events in the region, offering a place of support and advice for those in the community who had a question or concern.
While it will be retired with immediate effect, the charity’s campervans will now be increasingly visible in Suffolk as the county returns to a more ‘normal’ period of outside events and activities.
Kirsten continues: “The bus has served us so well and played such a crucial role in getting us to access people who hadn’t previously recognised themselves as carers, and it also brought us to the attention of Public Health, who saw us as a perfect social prescribing model.
“My team and I are so enormously grateful to everyone who contributed to the fundraising six years ago, and in particular to BBC Radio Suffolk who selected us for their campaign, because it’s their part which has meant so many more families had the help and support they needed.”
She added: “Our role now, as we come through the next stage of unlocking, is to keep building on that work of identifying even more people who are ‘hidden’ or hard to reach carers in Suffolk.
“We would encourage anyone who feels they have taken on a carer role in their family during Covid – however informal or minor – to please let us have a conversation with you and see whether you ought to be receiving more regular information or advice from us.”
Mark Murphy, radio show host at BBC Radio Suffolk, said: “I’m thrilled to learn that the fundraising efforts of our BBC Radio Suffolk listeners enabled Suffolk Family Carers not only to purchase a bus for its community work, but to continue its important activities around the region for as long as six years.
I wish the charity every luck in now carrying on its neighbourhood visits and event activities with two campervans.”
The focus of the charity remains firmly fixed on finding hidden carers. In March of 2020 alone, Suffolk Family Carers recorded 1000 new carer registrations – against a typical average of 300 in a normal month.
These findings capture the stark way in which family and friends were required to step into more full-time caring roles throughout the pandemic – a role many are continuing to perform even with the country emerging from lockdown.
Recent data suggests there are an estimated 88,000 adult carers living in Suffolk, and Suffolk Family Carers works to ensure that they can access emotional support, advice around financial entitlements, and details about other resources and opportunities in the community which enable a family to continue to thrive.
Their services also include learning opportunities, respite and peer support networks.
Carers are encouraged to register themselves on the Suffolk Family Carers website to stay fully aware of what existing or new services are available. Visit the website at www.suffolkfamilycarers.org or email hello@suffolkfamilycarers.org or telephone 01473 835477.
