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Caregivers develop �support system� Those who tend to needs of family members discover they�re not alone By Bill Kettler Pat cares for an uncle who had a stroke. Gail nurses her husband, who suffers from dementia. Gemma attends her mother, who struggles with depression. They sit in a circle with 13 other women, sharing stories about the hard work of caring for loved ones. They�ve come from as far as Roseburg and Coos Bay to learn how to keep themselves sane and healthy while they nurse an aging parent or a sick child or a bedridden spouse. Two trainers lead them through exercises that show them how to manage the frustration, exhaustion and despair that beset home caregivers. "You suffer terrible isolation when you have a problem like this in your family," says Gail Caperna, of Medford, during a break. "I�ve learned that meeting others with the same predicament is really helpful." Trainers have been teaching these family caregivers to cope with stress for several years. Last week�s workshop in Ashland marked the local debut of a new program that will teach family caregivers to share their coping skills with others. "This whole program is focused on caregivers taking care of themselves," said Vicki Schmall. The West Linn gerontologist developed the "Powerful Tools for Caregivers" program after working with older adults and caregivers for 30 years. "We help them build a support system for themselves," Schmall said, "so they�re not providing care alone or in isolation." The project won three-year grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Northwest Health Foundation and Good Samaritan Foundation to serve rural and minority family caregivers across Oregon. The grants allow local caregivers to attend the training sessions without charge. They in turn agree to conduct training sessions in their own communities. "We�re creating a network here," said Dorothy Straw, a Phoenix nurse who attended the training. "That�s what�s exciting." Straw said classes taught by graduates of the Ashland training session could begin as early as March in Jackson and Josephine counties. Those sessions will run one night a week, for two-and-a-half hours, for six weeks. Caregivers will learn how to reduce personal stress, improve their self-image, communicate their needs to other family members and health-care providers, and deal with difficult feelings. Financial support from the grants supplies all the teaching materials without charge, including a 300-page manual, "The Caregiver Helpbook." People who are interested in registering for those training sessions may call Straw at 482-2465 or 535-7244. Straw said it�s hard to know just how many people care for family members at home, but their numbers easily run into the thousands in Oregon. "Many of them don�t even know they�re caregivers," she said, noting that people typically ease into caregiving as a loved one�s health gradually deteriorates. "They just start doing more and more," said Connie Saldana, who administers care programs for the Rogue Valley Council of Governments. "The vast majority of care is provided by family care providers," Saldana said. "It�s very expensive to buy care, and caring for a loved one is a natural thing to do." To provide some perspective, Saldana noted that about 1,000 people in Jackson County receive home care through programs administered by the council of governments. "We believe much more care is provided by family members than is paid for," she said. Leslie Congleton, the trainer who led the Ashland session, said the project has been designed to reach about 1,750 family caregivers in rural Oregon during the three-year life of the grants. That won�t begin to reach every caregiver in rural Oregon, but the plan calls for recruiting more trainers, who will continue to share the message after the grant expires. "We�re passing the baton," she said, "to get this (message) out." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.