The Elder Care Workshop that was co-sponsored by Caregivers Health Mart (my company) and Destiny World Church took up a lot of my time.  After the workshop, my god-sister’s condition steadily declined and that also was time consuming.

I’d been taking care of Gladys in my home since 2008.  She passed away Thanksgiving weekend.  Now I am taking care of the last of her legal affairs and bills.

I’ll be posting again soon.  Thanks for your patience.

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This workshop will give you some tools to prepare you for helping your elderly family members.  The last thing you want is to find out one day that Mom or Dad had a stroke or heart attack.  Mom or dad has developed Alzheimer’s.  Or, they just need help and can’t function by themselves anymore.  This workshop will help you to be proactive instead of reactive.

What’s Gonna Happen To Mom and Dad?

Destiny World Church
Saturday, November 6, 2010
10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

7400 Factory Shoals Road
Austell, GA 30168
(1 mile from Six Flags)

Register Now!  It’s Free

Some people wonder why I care so much about this topic.  It’s because five years ago my god-sister had a stroke and could not longer take care of herself.  She was 78 years old, a widow and childless.  It became my family’s responsibility to care for her and we were clueless.  I don’t want that to happen to you.

Workshop Topics

• Exploring Elder Care Options (assisted living, personal care homes, etc.)
• Let’s Talk About Long Term Care Insurance
• Understanding Advance Directives (everyone needs to have these)
• Hospice is a Service, Not A Place (you don’t have to be dying to receive hospice services)

Statistics from National Family Caregivers Association

More than 65 million people, 29% of the U.S. population, provide care for a chronically ill, disabled or aged family member or friend during any given year and spend an average of 20 hours per week providing care for their loved one.
- Caregiving in the United States; National Alliance for Caregiving in collaboration with AARP; November 2009

The value of the services family caregivers provide for “free,” when caring for older adults, is estimated to be $375 billion a year. That is almost twice as much as is actually spent on homecare and nursing home services combined ($158 billion).
- Evercare Survey of the Economic Downturn and Its Impact on Family Caregiving; National Alliance for Caregiving and Evercare. March 2009

The typical family caregiver is a 49-year-old woman caring for her widowed 69-year-old mother who does not live with her. She is married and employed. Approximately 66% of family caregivers are women. More than 37% have children or grandchildren under 18 years old living with them.
- Caregiving in the United States; National Alliance for Caregiving in collaboration with AARP. November 2009

1.4 million children ages 8 to 18 provide care for an adult relative; 72% are caring for a parent or grandparent; and 64% live in the same household as their care recipient. Fortunately, most are not the sole caregiver.
- National Alliance for Caregiving and the United Hospital Fund, Young Caregivers in the U.S., 2005.

20 hours per week is the average number of hours family caregivers spend caring for their loved ones while 13% of family caregivers are providing 40 hours of care a week or more.
- Caregiving in the United States; National Alliance for Caregiving in collaboration with AARP. November 2009

This workshop is free.  Why not take a few hours out of your Saturday to get some valuable information that can be of great benefit. See you on November 6th.

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. . .Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this? (Esther 4:14)

This passage from the book of Esther has been my favorite for a long time. As I began to reflect on Mother’s Day, it put a few more parts of my life into perspective.

It has become a cliche for people to say that God works in mysterious ways. But when I look at my current life as a caregiver for my god-sister, Gladys, I know that God does indeed work in mysterious ways and He orchestrates our destinies in ways we can’t fathom.

Background

My mother graduated high school in 1948 and moved from Tennessee to Philadelphia where she met Gladys.  Mom and Gladys became friends and when I was born Gladys’ mother became my god-mother.  When I was five years old, my mother went back to Tennessee to take care of her mother who had cancer.  Since Mom had no job, she left me with my god-mother where I lived until I was 11.  Despite our age differences, Gladys and I were raised as sisters.

After my Mom moved me to Tennessee, I continued to spend my summers in Philadelphia until I got married.

The Mystery

Where’s the mystery in all of this?  God is omniscient and He knew that Gladys would have no siblings or children to take care of her in her old age.  He knew that my family would be her family and that we would be her caregivers.  I marvel sometimes that my mom and Gladys are about the same age but my mom is in good health and of sound mind.

Gladys has many physical disabilities and she has dementia.  She thinks she still lives in Philadelphia.  She knows who I am but she calls me by my daughter’s name.  Sometimes she has flashbacks and calls me “sister.”

Why I Chose to Share This

We don’t know what the future holds for us but it is possible to prepare for the unexpected.  Every Sunday our pastors tell us to get our lives in order.  Of course they are talking about salvation and living a godly life.  However, we also need to get our lives in order with a will, advance directives, and a power of attorney in case we become unable to make decisions for ourselves.

I was surprised when I received those documents from Gladys’ attorney in 1993.  I don’t know how she had the foresight to execute the documents but they sure came in handy in 2005 when she had a stroke and couldn’t make her own decisions.  God had already worked it out.

I hope this post will encourage you to get your life in order and execute the necessary documents to take care of your future. I also hope to encourage someone to look out for elderly family members and family friends who need help navigating through old age.

Enjoy your Mother’s Day!

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• Planning and organizing a workshop for family caregivers and;
• launching an online store for caregivers

The workshop took place on August 15th with pretty good attendance.  The speakers were excellent.  The workshop was well received and there was an unexpected outcome: some of the participants suggested that I take the “show on the road.”  They asked me to offer the workshop to churches.  As flattered as I am that the participants thought enough of the workshop to ask that I offer it to their fellow church members, the request isn’t very practical.

The Problem

My expertise in this area lies in planning and organizing.  I am neither a gerontologist nor an expert on caregiving.  I have no expertise in any area of elder care and my understanding of Medicare and Medicaid is foggy at best.  This means that to take the workshop to different churches, I would need a team with expertise in those areas.  The gerontologist who spoke at my workshop is Carrie Springer.  She is a caregiver for her 55 year old brother who has disabilities and her parents who are both in the early stages of Alzheimer’s; and she is the marketing director for an assisted living facility.  Carrie is a nice lady, with a passion for caregiving, but she is not going to give up her weekends or evenings to follow me around to do workshops.  Also, I am a full time caregiver for my 82 year old god-sister.  I can’t devote that kind of time to an on-going project either.

The Solution

It’s simple enough for churches to host their own elder care workshops.  Do your research and find your speakers:  gerontologist, geriatric nurses, geriatricians, adult day care program directors, adult day care activity coordinators, elder care lawyers . .  More than likely there are people in your congregation who are using elder care services or who know someone who is.  Medicare plan providers such as WellCare, Humana, Advantage and others, can provide someone to explain medicare and medicaid benefits.  We used WellCare of Georgia and they were glad to offer their services.

The Importance

There are 54 million family caregivers in the United States.  Family caregivers are ordinary people like you and me who take care of our parents, family members or friends with little or no compensation.  Approximately 30 million of these caregivers take care of parents or elderly family members, many of whom have some form of dementia.  This number will only increase over the coming years because of medical advances and longer life spans.

Even though we know our family members are aging, when the time comes for us to take care of them, most of us are not prepared.  Some people handle it better than others, but we could all use a little training in the area of elder care.

Please visit my blog, A Caregivers Journal for a list of caregiver resources.  I hope you will begin to offer some form of elder care training for your congregation.

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Please make note of the following information from the National Family Caregivers Association March E-Newsletter

Make This the Year You Speak Up: Make a Phone Call on March 3

Family caregivers have a unique opportunity to make a difference on March 3 just by making a phone call. The Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities and the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations are hosting a national call-in day on March 3 to encourage our U.S. senators to include long-term services and supports in any healthcare reform effort.

Call-In Information:

When: March 3 (Between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.)

Call-In Number: 800/958-5374

When you call, you will be asked which state you are calling from and you will be connected to your senators’ offices. Below is a sample script for your use.

Hello (state name and where you are calling from). I’m calling to ask the senator to help make sure long-term services and supports are part of healthcare reform. The nation lacks a comprehensive national public-private system for financing and delivering long-term services and supports for individuals with disabilities and seniors. We need a national solution for this national problem. Please ensure long-term services and supports are included in upcoming hearings and legislation. Thank you.

ENCOURAGE ALL THE FAMILY CAREGIVERS YOU KNOW TO JOIN THE NFCA COMMUNITY OF CAREGIVERS. THERE IS NO COST! Just click here: http://thefamilycaregiver.org

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