FREE WORKSHOP FOR CAREGIVERS -
Today, Idahoans with Alzheimer’s disease could fill the Boise State Bronco Stadium, and that number is expected to double in just 14 years. Most persons with Alzheimer’s disease are cared for by informal or family caregivers who perform a variety of important tasks—bathing, cooking, administering medications, monitoring symptoms, and others. Over time, these responsibilities can become overwhelming and exhausting, and can even compromise the caregiver’s health.
Today, Idahoans with Alzheimer’s disease could fill the Boise State Bronco Stadium, and that number is expected to double in just 14 years. Most persons with Alzheimer’s disease are cared for by informal or family caregivers who perform a variety of important tasks—bathing, cooking, administering medications, monitoring symptoms, and others. Over time, these responsibilities can become overwhelming and exhausting, and can even compromise the caregiver’s health.
As reported in the National Alzheimer’s
Association’s 2011 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures (accessible at http://www.alz.org/downloads/Facts_Figures_2011.pdf
), there are 73,230 caregivers for persons with Alzheimer’s in Idaho providing
83,393,999 hours of unpaid care annually. The Idaho Commission on Aging (ICOA) is
sponsoring free online Building Better Caregivers (BBC) workshops through 2012.
Caregivers who care for people with Alzheimer’s Disease or other forms of
dementia have a chance to enhance their caregiving skills, improve their
emotional well-being, and take greater control of their own health, through
participation in a workshop.
The easy-to-follow workshop format, which you
access on your own schedule, can help you:
- Find practical ways to manage your own fatigue and stress.
- Discover how to manage difficult care partner behaviors and feelings.
- Make good decisions and future plans for you and your loved ones.
- Learn what you need to do to improve your sleep, eat better, and stay active.
“
Providing caregivers access to
self-management support programs like BBC needs to become an integral
part of our health care system if we are going to improve health and reduce
costs,” says Richard Birkel, PhD, National Council on Aging (NCOA) Vice President
for Self Management and former Director of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for
Caregiving. An Administration on Aging grant
enables ICOA to partner with the NCOA to host this promising online
self-management workshop, originally developed by Stanford University.
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