New Asbestos Support Group - Cumbria and Lancashire Asbestos Support & Advice Group

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22 Jan 2019

  

The 21st of January 2019 saw the launch of a new group to support mesothelioma and other asbestos sufferers in the Cumbria and Lancashire area.

The new group, The Cumbria and Lancashire Asbestos Support and Advice Group (CLASAG) will provide advice and support to people in both the Cumbria and Lancashire area.

The group has taken over from the previous group, Cumbria Asbestos Related Diseases (CARDS) which had been assisting asbestos sufferers for over a decade.

The 21 January also saw the retirement of Bob Pointer who had previously run the CARDS group initially with the help of others including Dr Helen Clayson and in the last few years single handed.

The launch saw talks from, Lorraine Creech from Mesothelioma UK, Graham Dring, Chair of the Asbestos Forum, Bob Pointer from CARDS, Rachel Minshull from Cancer Care and Alan Reid the Chief Executive of Disability First, a Blackpool based charity who will run the new group.

The group will meet each month, on the third Monday of the month in Barrow-in-Furness where patients and their carers will be able to come together to listen to speakers on topics of interest to them and discuss their condition with others with the same condition.

More importantly, the group will also provide home visits to asbestos sufferers to help them to apply for the benefits they are entitled to as a result of their condition including Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit and a payment under the Pneumoconiosis etc (Workers Compensation) Act 1979.

Graham Dring ahead of the inaugural meeting commented to the local paper “It is crucial that local people have access to independent, expert advice on benefits and compensation and ongoing support so the establishment of CLASAG is welcome news for victims of asbestos diseases and their families.”

For more information about the group and its meetings contact Alan Reid at Disability First http://www.disabilityfirst.org/

Helen Wilson

Tel 0161 883 3560