Did you know that each year, about 52 million people care for an ill or disabled family member? Are you a person that juggles work, family and caregiving responsibilities? Although you may get personal satisfaction from helping, poor physical health, financial hardships and depression may begin to have their effect on you. Providing care to a loved one may feel rewarding but can interfere with the care you provide yourself, causing emotional stress, exhaustion and even illness.
Southwest 8 Senior Services is a proud partner of the Iowa Family Caregiver Program, and we support their mission, "to make your caregiving role easier….", because "caregiving should not, cannot and does not need to be done alone…" We do this by connecting you to resources in your community that may be of assistance to you and your loved ones.
Within the next 50 years, the 85 and older age group in the United States will grow to seven times its present size, according to statistics from the U.S. Select Committee on Aging. This means that an even larger number of elderly citizens will require caregiving services, particularly in Iowa where we rank second in the nation for population 85 and older, and fourth in the nation for those 60 and older.
At Southwest 8 we are constantly looking for ways to connect caregivers to resources and to educate the public on services available to help them and their loved ones.
Currently Southwest 8 utilizes a program called Making the Link, which involves reaching out to and educating the staff in physicians offices throughout our our eight county service area about the role of their Area Agency of Aging and how we can help seniors and their caregivers.
Southwest 8 Senior Services also holds annual Caregiver Conferences in our service area, where we have a day
Another facet of our caregiver outreach is accomplished by partnering with local community libraries in the Southwest 8 Service area. Southwest 8 purchased videos and books, all relating to various aspects of caregiving and created Caregiver Resource Libraries. These resource libraries are located in 26 locations in all eight counties, and are available for borrowing with a library card. Check with your local library to see if these materials are available in your community.
