Those regional support services for carers were again making themselves known on Thursday when 155 carers and their care recipients enjoyed a lunch and band performance in Warrnambool provided through the South West Carer and Respite Services Network.

The event was part of this week’s Carers Week that celebrates the contribution made by carers to their families and the community.

Ms Tinker said being a carer for her mum Bev, 75, was a fulfilling role and support services had made it easier.

Ms Tinker has been the live-in carer for her mother, who has a number of health conditions, for at least the past 10 years.

She said the support services her mother received included cleaning their home and a weekly outing.

“We have got a good case manager at Lyndoch,” Ms Tinker said.

She works as a part-time personal carer herself and doesn’t find her role as a carer isolating because she gets lots of opportunities to interact with others.

South-West Carer and Respite Network coordinator Wendy Jones said the role of carers was an altruistic one.

If the true cost of the work done by carers throughout Australia was funded, it would cost more than $60 billion a year. 

Care recipients were not only those who looked after spouses and other family members, they were sometimes friends or neighbours of the care recipents, Ms Jones said.

She said Thursday’s lunch, which included a performance of the Beach Boys tribute band, was the network’s main annual social event.

“We always get great feedback for this event, about the social contact with other carers,” she said.

Ms Jones said carers could sometimes be isolated from the rest of the community and the lunch sought to counter that.

“Because they are caring for someone at home, it might be a 24-hour job for some people. They can miss social opportunities,” she said.

Being a carer could also be isolating because other people didn’t understand how the relationship with the care recipient worked.

“But when they come to this event, everyone understands,” Ms Jones said.