One In Five for Sunday 28 July 2013

Helene Ritchie talks to Mike Gourley about her campaign for a Royal Commission into ways of supporting carers, particularly those looking after people with a degenerative illness.

It's a result of her bewildering ad-hoc encounters with the health system in the four years after her husband developed  Lewy Body dementia, requiring her to provide 24/7 care.  

A long time local body politician and Health Board member, Helene Ritchie chronicled her experiences in the book: Peter and Me: when a love story becomes a carer's anguish, published by Fraser Books (ISBN: 978-0992247614)