Family Caregivers Need Our Support

“There are only four kinds of people in the world – those have been caregivers, those who are caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers.”

-Rosalynn Carter

This is Nick Tscheekar, Initiatives Director at the Community Foundation. This week I am writing a guest column about our recently adopted second community initiative: the Family Caregiver Support Network. This initiative is designed to address the needs of unpaid family caregivers of seniors to ultimately allow them easy access to resources and support that will help them provide care to their dependent spouse or relative. Through a process of convening stakeholders and concerned residents, the Foundation will lead the community in exploring how to help caregivers. The initiative will strengthen our community by identifying and helping develop information, educational resources, and other forms of support to reduce the stress of caregiving and improve the quality of care and the quality of life of dependent seniors. The Family Caregiver Support Network was proposed by Grady Tarbutton, the former director of Washoe County Senior Services. Grady recently retired but noted a shortcoming of senior services was a lack of emphasis on the importance of family caregiving and the struggles caregivers face. We are currently in the early planning stages of this initiative but have met with leaders from Washoe County Senior Services, Nevada Aging and Disability Services, Renown Hospital, and the Sanford Center for Aging to identify the initiative’s scope. With Community Foundation initiatives, we define our stakeholders as anyone who cares about the issue, and our most important stakeholders are those directly affected by the matter. Given the prevalence of caregiving, I think it is fair to say many of you reading this are current caregivers or have been caregivers before. We welcome anyone who cares to join this initiative. We anticipate our public convening process will commence this fall. Call me if you would like to learn more. Thank You, Nick Tscheekar, Initiatives Director 775-333-5499