Page 7 - Spring 2017
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In most cases, caregiving comes to someone by surprise. Someone in a family becomes ill and one person rises to the occasion to take on the responsibility. You take it on the best way you know how, day by day, year by year; a little light housekeeping, a ride to a medical appointment...and later much more. It might be a parent, spouse, sibling, grandparent or friend. All you know is that someone you care about needs help.
On good days it’s tiring but you feel a sense of accomplishment, you enjoy time with the person you’re caring for, and you have a little energy left to do some things for yourself. On bad days it’s exhausting and you’ve started making lists so you don’t forget to do something important. Time for yourself? There is no time for you.
caregivers with useful tools and infor- mation. It consists of six two-hour classes. All materials are provided by the AAA 1-B, and there is no cost for the caregiver to attend. The class is limited to 12 participants, however, up to three members from one family can attend training together. Onsite respite care for the loved one with dementia is often available free of charge.
Two people who attended this class are Norma and April.
A couple of years ago, Norma thought something was “not right” with her sister, Alice. A visit to see
a neurologist determined it was a dementia-related illness. From then on, Norma and her niece April worked together to care for Alice.
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Relief for caregivers
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But there is new hope for caregivers. The AAA 1-B has information and resources for you (call 800-852-7795), but we also have two classes that really will help if you are a caregiver of a person with or without dementia.
“It lifted a weight off my shoulders; I wasn’t alone.”
The first class is strictly for caregivers who are caring for someone with a dementia-related illness such as Alzheimer’s disease. It’s called Creating Confident Caregivers® (CCC). This is free training has been proven to reduce caregiver stress by empowering
As new caregiver, Norma was looking for any assistance she might get as she looked after her sister. She was lucky, she found the CCC classes.
For six weeks Norma attended class and learned a lot about the stages of dementia, caregiver stress, and coping tactics for certain situations and more. Each week she talked with her niece, who was out of the country at the time for work, and shared what she learned. It helped. “It lifted a weight off my shoulders; I wasn’t alone,” said Norma. When April returned, she took the class too.
This class is not a support group; it gives you the tools you need to under- stand, plan and cope with the unique challenges of a caregiver of loved one with dementia. “They taught us that it (Alzheimer’s disease) is not just about memory but judgement, and what’s happening to the brain,” said April. It helped her to understand better the
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