East Suffolk Disability Advice Service
“If you want good advice, it’s always best to
ask the professionals”, says Brendan McArdle “and that’s why I call
the Turn2us helpline”.
Brendan volunteers his time with East Suffolk Disability Advice
Service, helping disabled clients to claim the benefits that they
are entitled to. Clients who have a particular need, which cannot
be covered by the state benefits they receive, are often referred
to him.
“If I’d have known about Turn2us and Elizabeth Finn Care, I
would have been dealing with them a lot earlier”, says Brendan,
whose task it is to locate alternative funding for these cases.
Brendan especially likes the fact that Turn2us
offers a wealth of information in one place. “As as volunteer you
can’t possibly know all the charities and the causes they support”,
he says “and that’s why Turn2us is a really unique service”. Not
all of Brendan’s clients are able to make telephone enquiries
themselves or complete application forms and Turn2us enables
Brendan to do lots of groundwork for them.
Brendan has especially used Turn2us to help
clients with mobility issues. Mr. Dean, Brendan’s current client,
has had to give up working in the dockyard, to become a carer for
his wife and take responsibility for his four children. Mr Dean’s
wife has developed a mental illness, meaning she finds it hard to
leave the house and is easily disturbed by crowds of people. The
family therefore rely heavily on their car, which they are
struggling to finance while making ends meet. Brendon is confident
that a call to Turn2us will provide him with an array of avenues to
pursue on their behalf.
Turn2us helps this intermediary worker make
more targeted enquiries and avoids his clients filling out
unnecessary forms for funds where they are unlikely to be eligible.
The knowledge of the Turn2us advisers and their supportive manner
is appreciated at the Disability Advice Centre and Brendan is
certainly a caller who will be using the service a lot more in
future.
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