Caring News
February 2017 - Issue 6 

Welcome to STC's Caring News - Issue 6 

Grants for caregivers are still available through STC's collaboration with Road Scholar. It is a terrific opportunity for a caregiver to enjoy an educational travel program. Grants are also available for a STC group member, nominated by his or her fellow caregivers, to take part as well.

These grants will only be available for a limited amount of time...so don't put this off. We've included a flyer (pdf) at the bottom of the Newsletter for you to download to give away or send to someone you think would be interested. See full details on the STC website.

Thank you all for everything you do to help create a better quality of life for those in need of support.
 
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." 
 ~ Mahatma Gandhi             
 
We would love to share YOUR stories and photos in one of our Newsletters and in our presentations. Or if you have suggestions that could help other STC groups out there, do let us know. We'd love to hear from you. 
 
In this issue we are featuring:  
~ Caregiving Teams Help Friends in Need
 
Sheila
.Caregiving Teams Help Friends in Need
by Susan B. Garland / Kiplinger Report 
Kiplinger-logo 
 

Local volunteer networks can assist those who need help with medical care.


You are booked for outpatient surgery and have no one to drive you home from the hospital. Or even worse, you're facing a prolonged serious illness, and you need a lot more help than a friend or relative can provide. Perhaps you can turn to a relatively new model of caregiving: a network of volunteers who join forces to lend you a hand.
  
Several years ago, when Lynn Richards needed hip surgery, she tapped into the Caring Collaborative of the East Bay/San Francisco. The collaborative is an all-volunteer service of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of The Transition Network, a national membership organization for women ages 50 and older.

Richards, who lives alone in Berkeley, Cal., says she gave the Caring Collaborative's coordinator a schedule of the help she would need over the projected four weeks of her recovery. The coordinator sent an e-mail bulletin to the collaborative's 25 or so members-many of whom Richards, now 72, did not know.
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EmblemHealth's Care for the Family Caregiver -
A Place to Start 

StartHere-EmblemHealth

Click here to download this wonderful 62 page PDF resource.
 
. "WHAT IF"
STC Book
STC for the Workplace
by Sheila Warnock
I just got off a call with a friend whose sister recently suffered a stroke. This would be cause enough to stress out, but add to the mix that her sister lives in the mid-west and she is on the east coast. Overnight she was thrust into the role of a long-distance, working caregiver.

After her initial visit to the ICU, she said "the hardest part was having to leave my sister, unsure if she could hear me say "I love you and I am coming back." "It was so hard getting on that plane. I didn't even know if she was going to make it."

Fortunately, her sister did pull through and now her friends are rallying to form a Share The Care group when she leaves rehab to go home.

However, that will not be the end of it for this working caregiver. There will be more visits to speak with doctors, and therapists. The stroke has left her sister in need of speech therapy, and physical therapy. No one is sure how things will turn out except to say "nothing will ever be the same."

Complex responsibilities will continue to rest on the shoulders of this caregiver for some time and possibly forever.   She will surely face complicated decisions and jobs ahead to support her sister while struggling to meet the demands of her own job and family as well as to keep her own health in tact.

These are some of the challenges of just one caregiver in the corporate world. There are an estimated 43.5 million other adults in the US who are also unpaid caregivers. In fact, 6 in 10 of those caregivers are employed.

Today many corporate settings now offer Employee Assistance Programs, flex time, telecommuting, shift-exchange, a temporary reduction of work hours, vouchers for services, information and more. Yet, we've got to do one better because our aging population is due to double in the next 15 years. And being a caregiver as well as holding down a job will become our new normal.

This got me thinking. Imagine if my friend had a "Share The Work" Team to provide back up when she needs to travel back to the mid west. Knowing that her most critical work responsibilities were covered could cut her anxiety levels while she is out of the office and allowing her to be totally present to do what is needed for her sister.

Share The Careā„¢ has been adapted to work for a vast variety of circumstances and challenges. The model teaches people about Teamwork, solving problems and sharing responsibilities. And isn't that what we are supposed to be doing in the workplace? Working as a TEAM.
 
Imagine a corporate culture that encouraged mini "Share The Work" Teams.
  Click to read the rest of this as a PDF
STC-Road Scholar
Click here to download our Grant Flyer.
. Care to Share?

We would love to hear your caregiving stories, see your videos, share your pictures or advice on our website. Your stories and thoughts will help others that find themselves on the paths that you have traveled.

View some of your stories  here.
View some of your photos  here.
View some of your advice  here.

Contact us here  or by  email . 
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Resources
 

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