Supporting the Carers

If you are caring for a spouse, partner, child or relative who could not manage on their own, you may well be one of the one in ten adults in the UK who is a carer, or one of the 80% of carers who say that caring has had an adverse effect on their health.
     The Masonic Samaritan Fund (MSF) may be able to help you to continue to meet your caring responsibilities by funding regular periods of respite to ensure that you get a well deserved break, safe in the knowledge that your loved one is being looked after.
     The MSF will support applications to fund the provision of Respite Care in support of those with caring responsibilities.
     Although this usually involves funding a period of residential care of one or two weeks for the person in need of care, applications are also considered where the carer wishes to stay with their loved one.
     Support is available either at a Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution care home, or at a suitable private residential care home near to where the applicant lives. Repeat applications are welcomed, and expected, as the care need continues.
     Applications remain subject to a confidential assessment of financial need and a response is usually available quickly.
     Further details are available from the Fund. Respite Care is available to those who have a long-term caring commitment and should not be confused with convalescent care. The latter is usually associated with recuperation after surgery or a stay in hospital. Any enquiries for convalescent care should be directed to the medical professional who has advised that it is required.

Helping Those in Medical Need

The Masonic Samaritan Fund continues to provide grants in support of a wide variety of medical needs to applicants of all ages. Support has recently been provided to fund drug treatment for cancer and degenerative diseases where Freemasons and their families have been unable to get funding through their local health authorities.
     Such treatment is expensive and ongoing, with few people able to afford to meet the cost of the drugs and treatment required. Support from the Fund is offered to all ages and remains available to both Freemasons and their wives, partners, widows and dependants.
     Every application received at the Fund is treated according to its individual merits, ensuring that staff are kept busy handling requests that cover the full spectrum of medical needs. These can range from digital hearing aids
     to joint replacement, from cardiac surgery to macular degeneration, from respite care to stomach banding and many others.
     No two requests are the same, but each applicant receives the same level of individual care and attention throughout the application process.

“I had no idea that you also look after the widows as well as the Masonic members, which I am very grateful for. My late husband loved his Freemasonry and now I know why.”
     Mrs Esther Wright, Wrexham, following surgery, funded by the MSF, to replace her right knee.

For confidential advice about individual circumstances please contact the MSF. Direct contact from potential applicants is welcome at the earliest opportunity. The sooner the Fund knows that help is needed the sooner it can help!

MSF CONTACT DETAILS

     60 Great Queen Street, London WC2B 5AZ
     Tel: 020 7404 1550
     Fax: 020 7404 1544
     mail@msfund.org.uk
     www.nmsf.org.uk
     John Williams: 07931 533648