Caring husband:

“Grateful to be able to go out for five hours.”

Alfred Schweiger is happy about the breaks he now has in caring for his wife.

(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

They are often forgotten. 21,000 people in the state care for relatives. For many, this means being on duty 24 hours a day. A man from Pongau describes how a support service "gave" him an afternoon.

Since his wife suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, she has been paralyzed on one side. "Everything fell on me," says Alfred Schweiger. Since then, he has been looking after his 75-year-old wife at home every day, around the clock.

The old lady can no longer be alone because of her disability. "She's frightened if I leave the house for even a short time. Our children are very busy. We have nursing support, but I have to be there all the time," says the pensioner, describing his everyday life.

Stefan Tautz, Manfred Feichtenschlager and Christian Struber (from left) called for improvements for relatives.

(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

Schweiger now has at least one afternoon off a week. He has been using the Salzburg Relief Organization's Relatives Relief Service, which was introduced in 2022, for a few months now. "I'm grateful for that. Now I can go out for five hours every Wednesday and have a bit of freedom," says the 72-year-old with relief in his eyes. Sometimes he simply does the weekly shopping during this time. He is not worried that his wife will be unwell in his absence. This is because she is looked after by a member of the mobile aid organization during this time.

There is still a problem with the question of where to live
The relief service for relatives is one of the services for carers in Salzburg that still needs to be expanded. The state subsidizes the Hilfswerk service, so clients only have to pay eight euros per hour. One catch, however, is that the funding is only available to those who live in the same household as the person in need of care.

This should be reconsidered, demanded Hilfswerk Salzburg President Christian Struber at a press event on Tuesday. He also called for coordinated social planning for the care of the elderly on the part of the province. After all, 21,000 recipients of care allowance are already being looked after at home by their relatives.