SHIPPENVILLE, Pa. (EYT) — The Adult Daily Living Center of the Clarion-Forest VNA located in Shippenville is holding free monthly training sessions for caregivers at 405 Main Street in Shippenville from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. starting Monday, April 23.
Julie Smerkar (pictured above), LPN, Certified Dementia Practitioner, will be the facilitator for the first session and will focus on how to reduce stress when caring for someone with Alzheimer’s.
Although the session is free, please call 814-782-3036 for registration.
The training sessions are open to anyone.
A caregiver is someone who provides care for a loved one or someone who is hired to provide care, according to Smerkar.
A lot of times they don’t have formal training.
“Participants in the training are provided with an introduction to resources available in the community to help with their work,” said Smerkar. “We want to help put them in touch with other agencies or resources to get help with whatever they may need. We can’t guarantee you that we’re going to solve every problem they may face, but we will do our best to get them in touch with someone else who has been experiencing the same situation and has come up with a way to solve a problem.”
Smerkar serves as program coordinator for the Adult Daily Living Center through VNA Extended Care. The training also provides a real attraction for the caregivers.
“The neat thing is that we will have trained adult living center staff available at the sessions, so the caregivers can bring their loved ones,” Smerkar said. “That’s the biggest problem with people because they can’t attend support groups and things like this because it is hard to find someone to stay with their loved ones. We’re going to have staff here, and they can take care of the patients while the caregivers are learning, and there’s no charge for the training or the caregiving.”
“A lot of times we hear from caregivers that don’t know how to handle certain situations and a lot of it — especially with Alzheimer’s — is about patients who wander, and the caregiver wants to help them. The goal is that we can help caregivers come up with ideas on how to deal with the different needs.”
“Our first training is going to deal with how to take care of a person with Alzheimer’s, but we’re going to offer more topics than that, like safe lifting and transferring of people because caregivers who aren’t trained in these sorts of things don’t know how to go about it. We’re hoping to give them more information on how to care for their loved one or the individual who they are caring for and feel more confident while they doing it.”
“We have seen a lot of these problems at the center and have come up with ways to alleviate things, and if we can’t solve the problem we will try to put them in touch with someone else who has experience and can solve the problem.”
“If (a person) is in need of nursing services, VNA can provide help as long as they have a doctor’s order. For example, if they need to increase their physical mobility or need physical or mental stimulation, that’s where the Adult Daily Living Center can help. We can help them do those things here, and we don’t need a physician’s order for them to come in here and participate in exercises and things that could help them improve their mobility.”
The center can also offer respite for the caregivers because it can be very challenging.
“A lot of times there is some guilt that goes along with caregiving,” said Smerkar.“They get worn out and tired, but they feel guilty trying to take a break from their loved ones, whether it’s to get their hair done or shopping or just having a couple of hours to themselves. They feel guilty about having someone else take care of their loved one. They should not feel guilty for that because they do deserve a life. They need to stay healthy themselves and getting a break helps them.”
