Compassionate care benefits may be paid up to a maximum 6 weeks to a person who has to be absent from work to provide care or support to a gravelly ill family member at risk of dying within 26 weeks. Unemployed persons on Employment Insurance can also ask for these benefits.

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A new publication called Services for People with Disabilities produced by Service Canada provides an overview of Government of Canada services and programs for people with disabilities. It includes information on employment, accessibility, education, health, income support and tax benefits.

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NPO’S UNITE IN SUPPORT OF FAMILY CAREGIVERS

(Montreal, January 1, 2008)
Caregivers will have access to the largest teleconferencing network ever devised in Canada. With the leadership of the Caregiver Support Centre of CSSS Cavendish, over a dozen organizations have come together to create the Care-ring Voice Network; an at-a-distance learning program for families and caregivers that provides education, information and support through interactive telephone groups.

The realities of a rapidly aging population, marginalized, and without adequate healthcare is intensifying the psychological and financial strain placed on family caregivers; “You feel like you’re coming apart at the seams, but you just keep taking hit after hit. It feels like there is no end in sight and no one to help”, Lise, Caregiver.

Lise is like hundreds of thousand of caregivers in Quebec, overwhelmed and in need of adequate support and concrete resources for change. Care-ring Voice is a teleconferencing lifeline that has been in operation since June 2004. Care-ring Voice has already hosted over 150 teleconference workshops in support of family caregivers. The coming together of NPO partners from around the province to create the Care-ring Voice Network is a critical step in the expansion of the program and in the diversification of available workshop content:

“When you talk caregiving, you’re talking about a diversity of experiences. We have families caring for individuals with significant memory loss, mental health issues, and severe physical impairments. Families don’t just care with one another, they care for one another; from bathing, dressing, injections, medical support, counseling, etc.; families are actually evolving into care managers”, Lucy Barylak, Coordinator, Caregiver Support Centre, CSSS Cavendish.

The creation of the Care-ring Voice Network will mean that caregivers will have simplified access to life changing information and support by telephone.

Media Contact: Mark Stolow, Project Manager Care-ring Voice Network info@careringvoice.com