Local, regional services agencies offering senior workshops, opportunities

A number of programs and educational classrooms are being offered in Sampson and the wider region in the coming months to better assist and educate senior citizens and those charged with their care in how improve the quality of that care.

Ranging from an Advanced Care Workshop in June to the Senior Health and Community Fair as well as ongoing programs offered through the Family Caregiver Support Program, North Carolina’s efforts to supporting its eldest citizens is on display and ready to be utilized, senior care officials note.

The ongoing programs and support offered by the regional Family Caregiver Support Program, based from Raeford Road in Fayetteville and coordinated by Barbara White, in association with the Mid-Carolina Regional Council, provide particular services and educational opportunities for those caring for senior citizens affected by dementia and the onset of Alzheimer’s, through their respite service.

White explained the program’s goal is “…to provide care for the caregiver of senior citizens (over the age of 60) with dementia, because it can be so taxing and consume so much of their time, and there are so many forms of assistance that we can offer, and strategies and tools available for them that can really make a lot of difference in the care they provide.”

The Family Caregiver Support Program will offer a once-a-year class where attendees will receive a voucher that will allow for the hiring of an agency-affiliated professional or respite worker in the home to better provide for the care of the senior citizen affected by these often difficult to handle conditions. This, in turn, can provide unpaid family members responsible for the care of their elderly relatives a much needed break, or as it says in the name — a respite from the rigors often associated with such caregiving.

White places particular significance on this as a primary goal she and the Mid-Carolina Regional Council want to achieve through the program, and hopes to further expand its reach “To let as many more of them (the caregivers) as we can know that they’re not alone, and that there is a service out there to give them some relief, a little breather or a break so that they won’t be overwhelmed with their caregiver duties. We don’t want to take away the role that they play in the care of their seniors, but we will provide them with some help here and there so that they don’t have to put their own life on hold all the way.”

Further vouchers are available to assist families in paying for approved caregivers through reimbursements, as well as helping to provide incontinence supplies and senior-specific nutrition products like Depends, Boost, or Ensure, as well as canes, walkers or shower chairs to allow seniors better mobility.

Also sponsored by the Mid-Carolina Regional Council, in partnership with the Health Sciences Health Innovation Group, an Advanced Care Planning Workshop is being offered June 25, 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. in the Bill Crisp Senior Center at 7560 Raeford Road in Fayetteville. An often overlooked but critical aspect of caring for senior citizens, Advance Care Planning involves talking over and making the appropriate plans for those possible future decisions about senior care should an elderly family member become very sick or find themselves unable to properly share their wishes for how they will be cared for in their time of greatest need.

Very aware of how difficult this part of providing care for elderly family members with dementia can be, White said “…it’s a great program, if only more caregivers would take advantage of the programs we offer. If they would use more of our educational programs, it would benefit the whole family of those that have to deal with these issues on top of how difficult it can be to learn to live around and take care of a senior citizen suffering from the effects of dementia.”

While it can often be very stressful and quite difficult, talking over a set of clear and straight forward plans on how to go about seeing to these wishes with senior family members is the most important part of advance care planning, White pointed out. Many caregivers or forward-thinking senior citizens also find that is prudent to put their own preferences in writing by completing legal documents called advance directives at a time in which they are still capable of doing so independently.

The workshop, she said, will cover the necessary documents to accomplish this, as well as how to properly file them so that they are legitimate legal documents.

Following that workshop, on Thursday, Aug. 28, Sampson County Senior Services will offer a Senior Health and Community Fair at the Sampson County Agri-Exposition Center from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Working with Eve Black and Associates Inc. Insurance, the Ripe for Revival (a non-profit organization that seeks to invigorate and revive communities by making food more readily available for all people, especially the elderly) and N.C. Medicare, a boxed lunch and $10 grocery voucher will be provided for the first 250 attendees. Numerous vendors will also be in attendance — Sampson Regional Medical Center will hold a blood drive, and BINGO and raffle events will also be held.

All the proceeds from this event will feed back into Sampson County Senior Services, and they are happy to answer any questions that the public might have regarding the event.

Angela Faircloth, the county’s Senior Services information and options counselling specialist, is closely involved with planning and carrying out educational workshops, regular caregiver support group meetings as well as for larger events like the Senior Health and Community Fair.

Faircloth said she was happy that Senior Services was moving forward with this and a number of other kinds of ongoing support, sharing that this is “My favorite part of my job here, helping folks to understand what is going on with their loved one, educating these caregivers and loving them and the family members they are caring for through this journey.”