New provincial helpline for caregivers

New provincial helpline for caregivers WATCH: A new provincial helpline has been created to help caregivers in need of support. Molly Frommer reports.

SUDBURY – There's a new help for caregivers across Ontario.

It's a special 24-7 hotline they can call when they need to.

Organizers say there is a huge need for this service because of the aging population in Ontario, and the number of people taking care of loved ones.

Officials with the Ontario Caregiver Organization say this could be a lifeline for people who are working full time jobs in addition to caring for a loved one.

"They are coming home after work and they're caring for a friend or a relative or a parent and they don't have the time to make local phone calls during the day. This will at least enable them to at least write all their questions on a notepad and make that one phone call at 11 o'clock on a Friday night and write that information down," says Brigitte Labby, Ontario Caregiver Organization.

Labby says the helpline will offer things like services in their area, where to purchase a wheelchair, or just someone to talk with.

She says there's a huge demand for help for caregivers in northeastern Ontario.

"There's a lot of remote communities, rural communities where they may not know that there is an existing service in another nearby community because they don't have access to that local yellow pages and there are a lot of elderly people who are not really computer savvy," she explained.

Officials say there are more than 3 million caregivers in Ontario alone, and according to a recent study, 77% requested that there be a hotline number that they could reach out to for support.

"Any support that caregivers can get is extremely important and caregiving isn't from nine to five… so when we're not available people have something that they can use," commented Stephanie Leclair, Alzheimer Society.

Those involved say this service is for all ages with any condition.