Heartburn Relief for Seniors in Need

Alternative Therapies Can Help But Also Harm

Klockwork: Splying: The Blurred Line Between Honesty and Falsehood

This Week's Columnists

SENIOR LINKS

Marjorie Perkin and caregiver Bernadette Bruhn of Craig Cares play a game of dominoes. Del Oro contracts with Craig Cares agency to provide respite care so family caregivers can attend support groups and seminars. —Courtesy photo

Del Oro Resource Center Provides Information, Support for Caregivers

By Linda DuBois

Married for almost 50 years, George and Helen had been enjoying an active retirement, traveling, golfing and going to the theater. When Helen had a stroke, George was plunged into the unfamiliar role of caregiver. He had to prepare Helen’s meals, bathe her, dress her, manage her schedule and drive her to medical appointments. Because Helen couldn’t be left alone, he rarely left the house himself and lost touch with friends.

George did the best he could for several months, but juggling all his new responsibilities eventually overwhelmed him with physical and emotional exhaustion. The thought of putting Helen in a convalescent home broke his heart, and he couldn’t afford to anyway, but to keep her at home, he needed to find help.

Fortunately, a friend told him about the Del Oro Caregiver Resource Center. With the center’s services, he was able to protect himself from burnout and keep Helen home.

Funded through a contract with the California State Department of Mental Health, grants and private donations, the private, non-profit agency provides extensive services to help caregivers of brain-impaired or frail elderly adults cope. At the center or through its referral services, caregivers can find family consultation, legal and financial advice, family counseling, support groups, educational programs, respite care and a wealth of care-giving information.

George and Helen are a fictional couple, but their story is common. George represents the 25 percent of people who serve as caregivers to other adults. Often the person requiring care is a spouse (more frequently the wife caring for the husband), but also is commonly an elderly parent or a disabled adult child, says Michelle Nevins, Del Oro’s executive director.

Founded in 1987, Del Oro serves the counties of Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Colusa, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Sierra, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba.

It stemmed from a small group of families and community leaders in San Francisco who came together to create support services for those providing long-term care for loved ones with debilitating disorders. Those early efforts were responsible for legislation that formed a statewide network of Caregiver Resource Centers in California, of which Del Oro is one of 11.

On the website, caregivers can find informative articles and links to resources about particular health concerns, online discussion groups, a newsletter, and general care-giving topics, with information on everything from elder law to social security to educational events about specific concerns, such as communicating with brain-impaired people or dealing with their difficult behaviors.

Limited respite care is available through contracted services, with a participant’s share of the cost based on a sliding scale.

-----Story continues after advertisement-----

Family consultations help caregivers understand a disease process, develop a care plan, and access a support system. Short-term family counseling focuses on care-giving issues and provides referrals to local resources and professionals.

“Depression is probably one of the largest issues we deal with,” Nevins says. “Whether they know it or not, a large portion of our clients are dealing with it. Some of that comes from the lack of time to themselves. Sometimes they forget to take care of themselves when their entire focus revolves around making sure the needs of their loved ones are met. They forget to go to doctor’s appointments, they stop going to church, they start isolating themselves and their friends don’t understand.”

In fact, Nevins says, it’s not uncommon to see something happen, physically or emotionally, to the caregiver before the person they are caring for.

The ideal is to catch the clients early in the process. “That way we can follow them throughout the process and provide them with that emotional support and education and training to help prevent them from falling into that trap.”

The center provides referrals to existing support groups and assistance in establishing needed support groups.

There’s even one geared specially toward male caregivers. Besides the fact that many men typically have a harder time than women talking about their feelings and may feel outnumbered in co-ed groups with more talkative women, they also have unique challenges. The caregiver role can be foreign for men from a more traditional era.

“A lot them are not as familiar in the kitchen or with household duties and may not have been as involved with raising the children, so a lot of things just don’t come as second nature to them,” Nevins says.

Groups help spouses of both genders deal with the slow loss of the person with whom they once shared hopes and dreams. “They find the person kind of diminishing before their eyes. The grief and loss associated with that along the way is really devastating to a lot of couples,” Nevins says.

Adult children caring for parents can have a particularly tough road too. “A lot of times they’re also trying to manage working fulltime and they have kids under 18 at home.”

Del Oro teaches caregivers how to set up support networks among family members and friends willing to provide respite care so the caregiver can attend support groups and counseling sessions, not to mention get a much-needed break.

“We have to coach them through that process as well because they don’t tend to readily pick up the phone and ask for help,” Nevins says. “Also in spousal situations, they tend not to even see themselves in the role of caregiver. They think, ‘Oh, I’m the husband or I’m the wife and this is what we do for each other.’ They think it’s part of the ‘for better or for worse’ vows, so they don’t think they need help.”

For those who need coaxing? “I tell them to think about how good it feels when they help someone,” Nevins says. “I say, ‘Let somebody else experience that.’ It usually kind of hits home then.”

Most caregivers hear about the center through other caregivers, neurologists, social workers or community partners, such as groups dealing with specific health problems. New clients range from families who have just received a diagnosis to those dealing with abusive behaviors and don’t know where to turn.

Over the years, Del Oro has helped countless families keep their loved ones at home for as long as possible. But future families may not be so lucky. Gov. Brown’s proposed 2012-13 budget calls for eliminating state funding for California Caregiver Resource Centers, which would also kill up to $3.9 million in matching federal dollars.

Armed with statistics showing the centers ultimately save the state money by keeping thousands out of expensive hospitals and nursing homes, Nevins has been busy at the capitol fighting for Del Oro’s future. She cites AARP statistics showing more than 4 million family caregivers in California provide $47 billion in unpaid services to manage medical care and daily activities.

This is not to mention that without CRC support services, working caregivers will be at greater risk of losing their jobs from frequent absence and stress-related time off.

“We’ve been through this process before in 2009-10, but we fought our way back,” Nevins says. “We won’t know for sure until the governor signs the budget for 2012-13.”

Those with questions or concerns about loss of state funding may contact Vicki Farrell at (530) 872-2609 or or Erin Levi, Lehman Levi Pappas & Sadler at (916) 441-5333 or levi@lobbycal.com.

Those wishing to volunteer for Del Oro for special events, office work, speaking engagements and advocacy, should contact Amber Jett at or call (916) 728-9333 ext. 100.

For caregiving assistance, email or contact the Sacramento County Office at 8421 Auburn Blvd., Suite 120, Citrus Heights, CA 95610 or call (916) 728-9333 or toll free (800) 635-0220.

Linda Dubois is a freelance writer in West Sacramento.

TOP

This page and its contents ©2012 Metropolitan News Company, Inc.