A Program in Detroit Provides Urgently Needed Care for Caregivers

La Buena Vida connects caregivers from Latino households with respite care, training, and support groups. Using federal funding, the program serves as the Ventura County Area Agency on Aging’s resource center for Spanish-speaking family caregivers. The program also provides safety equipment, like ramps and railings. In addition to much needed emotional and physical breaks from their responsibilities, the group connects caregivers to Spanish-speaking professionals who offer counseling and support. The program staff regularly checks in with its 66 clients to see how they are doing and assess their needs.

Well Spouse Association helps spouses manage the mental and physical challenges of caregiving. The nonprofit offers support groups, respite weekends that give caregivers time to take care of themselves and other responsibilities, and other resources. The relationships members build with each other help combat feelings of loneliness and isolation. With just 20 chapters nationwide, many members travel long distances to access the support and services, though moving meetings online due to the coronavirus pandemic had the effect of expanding membership and several members have also started local chapters.

After taking care of her own parents, Paula Duren started “boot camp” sessions for caregivers to share available resources, tips for self-care, and support. Drawing on her experience as a psychologist, Duren started the nonprofit Universal Dementia Caregivers to build and run the workshops, which have moved to zoom sessions because of the COVID-19. The all-day sessions provide information ranging from financial advice to how to access state and local services to stress-reduction tips. The overarching message throughout is that caregivers must take care of themselves to take care of their loved ones.

A Chicago-based program called Caring Together, Living Better is aiming to increase support to family members acting as caregivers for the elderly in their lives by providing resources directly in their churches. Focused primarily on minority communities, this creative collaboration uses trained volunteers to provide resources to those in attendance.

Clinic clowns aren't just bringing joy to elderly dementia patients, they are also fostering a sense of wellbeing and positivity while helping them recall memories from their past through the use of art, music, and improvisation. Because many are volunteers and don't have medical training, a clown academy is now offering a specific training course where clinic clowns can learn about "patient psychology, dealing with care facilities and working in tandem with a medical team."

House calls are not new to the medicine field, but they are becoming more predominant as doctors look for ways to expand access to those that aren't able to make it into an office. Focusing mostly on "disabled, chronically ill, elderly, and other at-risk populations," doctors are utilizing technological advancements to bring the care to the patient, a practice that also allows them a chance to assess their home situation.

Dementia units and long-term care homes for the elderly are often desolate and lonely places, with harried workers attempting to meet the needs of their patients while also meeting government-set metrics of success. For families and individuals, it can be difficult to imagine a better way. However, a pilot program in Canada called the Butterfly room is showing that dedicated efforts to making long-term care homes a vibrant and loving place for someone's last days has positive impacts for everyone - and is worth a government investment do right across the country.

In Ohio, the Liberty Center of Nursing of Mansfield is using personal iPods and music to help senior residents dealing with dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Evidence has shown that music can help patients recall memories, shift mood, help cognitive function, and more - and patients at the Center are already responsive to the program.

More than five million Americans have Alzheimer’s or similar illnesses, and that number is growing as the population ages - without any immediate prospect of a cure, advocacy groups have begun promoting ways to offer people with dementia a comfortable decline instead of imposing on them a medical model of care, which seeks to defer death through escalating interventions. An Arizona nursing home offers new ways to care for people with dementia.

The Musical Memories Cafe is a social gathering space for people with Alzheimer’s and dementia, as well as their caregivers. Participants gather to enjoy music, seek refuge outside of their homes and get access to peer support and health resources. There are more than 1,000 memory cafes operating around the world, both in-person and virtually.