Caring Community charity help trace sister

BEXHILL'S Caring Community charity have come to the rescue of a lady who, without their help may never have seen her ailing sister again.

It was a case of lost and found and lost again for Heather Booker 71, and sister Marjorie Brown 85, who originally lost contact forty seven years ago following family problems which Heather describes as being due to Marjorie "not getting on with the rest of the family".

In 1959, Heather took the opportunity to emigrate to Australia as one of the, '10 Poms', making her home in Victoria.

T

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hen two years ago, Heather arranged a trip to the UK and wanted to try and find her sister while she was here.

Heather's daughter set to work trying to trace her and eventually did so, locating Marjorie and her husband Les via the internet.

They were living in Barnhorn Road, Bexhill at the time and a reunion was to follow.

This wasn't to be the end of the story however as a few months later, Heather could no longer reach or make contact with Marjorie.

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Unknown to Heather, Les had died and Marjorie had been unable to communicate with anyone as she had suffered a stroke.

Six months ago, after deciding to return to the UK to live in West Yorkshire, Heather desperately tried to find news of Marjorie and Les.

She tried all the usual avenues that she believed would bring the answers she needed including contacting the police, hospitals and Marjorie's solicitor but, she claims, was just met with a "barrage of uncaring bureaucracy".

Desperate for news and with no way of contacting her sister, Heather decided to personally make the trip to Bexhill to find her.

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She said: "I returned to Marjorie and Les's home address to find that neither of them lived there anymore. I was distraught and found out that Marjorie had had a stroke. So, I set to work trying to find her all over again."

Heather said the hospital refused to divulge any information as to Marjorie whereabouts due to 'patient confidentiality' and Marjorie's solicitor also refused to give her any information due to 'client confidentiality.'

She added:" The solicitors assumed that Marjorie had no next of kin and, although they did say that they would let Marjorie know that I was trying to locate her, having had a stroke she wouldn't have been able to communicate anyway so it was all very frustrating and distressing."

Heather is angry at all the bureaucracy that she was faced with while her sister was lying alone in a nursing home with no family around her.

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She said: "I was so worried. I didn't know how ill Marjorie was after having a stroke and no one was telling me where she was, all I could find out was that she was in a nursing home 'somewhere' but I didn't know where to begin looking."

She added: "I'm her family yet I was faced with a bureaucratic mob who did nothing to help me find her."

Feeling completely despondent and with only two days of her trip left, by chance, Heather came across the Caring Community premises in Sackville road.

She said: "I was absolutely desperate by then and it was purely by chance that I walked down this road and came across the shop."

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The charity was founded over 40 years ago and Manager Margaret von Speyr said they have a dedicated team of staff and volunteers who help over 4,000 residents every year, to remain in their own home and lead as normal a life as possible, along with offering a wide variety of services including caring, cleaning gardening and Dial a ride service.

She said it was, "fantastic" to hear that Heather had traced Marjorie saying: " We did a bit of detective work and had a list of nursing homes. There were three that were situated quite close to where Marjorie and Les had lived and we suggested that Heather try those first."

A few short phone calls later and Heather soon located her sister at Sandhurst nursing home and arranged to visit her before returning to Yorkshire.

Relieved and delighted to have found her sister again, Heather said the stroke has left Marjorie with communication problems but she is hoping that they will be able to organise a typing machine so that she can communicate that way.

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She said: "Without the help I received from Bexhill's Caring Community I may never have found my sister again, they were so kind and helpful. I am very happy."

Margaret said: "We are pleased that we were able to help and it's fantastic that they have found each other again."

For more information on Bexhill Caaring Community call (01424) 215116.

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