02-23-2022 Primetime Living - Flipbook - Page 18
18 A Special Advertising Section of Baltimore Sun Media Group | Wednesday, February 23, 2022
CONTINUING CARE
You deserve a
break today
Short term relief for
primary caregivers
By Margit B. Weisgal, Contributing Writer
W
hen Bonnie Lauridia’s mom could no longer live alone, she moved in with training courses available to educate these
her daughter and son-in-law so they could take care of her. Lauridia took
her mother to doctors’ appointments, provided meals and was still able to
work. All was well until Lauridia wanted to visit her grown children in upstate New York.
Who would take care of her mother during the two weeks she’d be away?
There’s something called respite care,
short term relief for caregivers, and it
comes in lots of different sizes and forms
ranging from a few hours to a couple
weeks, depending on what you need. It
can take place in someone’s home, at a
health care facility, at an adult day center,
or a retirement community. The purpose
is to give the primary caregiver some
breathing room, a break from what is
often a 24-hour-a-day job that’s exhausting.
Joe DeMattos, president of Health
Facilities Association of Maryland (www.
hfam.org) points out how critical respite
care is for the caregiver. “We’ve all heard
the announcement on airplane flights that
says, ‘put your own oxygen mask on first.’
Otherwise, you can’t help others. This is
even more true when you’re caring for
someone who can’t take care of him- or
herself.
“HFAM’s members,” DeMattos adds,
“throughout Maryland have nursing
homes and assisted care facilities to
provide quality care to people in need but
also to provide respite and peace of mind
to family members. Your ability to provide
care is undermined to the extent that
you’re not prioritizing caring for yourself.
The tension and stress are real. You must
intentionally carve out time for yourself.
Often, when you send your care recipient
to respite care, you’ll find they’ve made
gains while you were apart.”
One caveat: COVID-19 has caused
many of these options to pull back on
their services since seniors are more
vulnerable to infection. Ask about any
requirements and restrictions for attendees before making a choice from all these
types of venues.
people on what to do, how to do it and
where to go for assistance in case of an
emergency.
Care or Group Homes
Since her mother required relatively
little in the way of special assistance, for
Lauridia the solution was a group home
managed by a woman at her house. She
had four bedrooms, so she only accepted
four residents at a time. Meals were provided along with some medication management, ensuring that the temporary residents kept to their personal schedules. If
this sounds like a good option for you,
make sure the venue complies with licensing requirements.
Check with Maryland’s Area Agencies
on Aging (AAA) for local resources.
Maryland’s Department of Aging has offices throughout the state called Maryland
Access Point, or MAP. You can also visit
the U.S. Government’s Eldercare Locator
(https://eldercare.acl.gov), a collaborative effort of the U.S. Administration
for Community Living, the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the
Veterans Health Administration, designed
to streamline access to long-term care.
Types of Respite Care
In-home care may be ideal if the
care recipient is comfortable there or if
your house is set up for someone with
special requirements, so no adjustment
Respite Centers and Adult Day Care Centers
is needed. It can also be less expensive.
Many senior centers, community cenYou have the option of hiring and training
ters and faith-based organizations have
caregivers. Sometimes, you can involve
day programs, as do continuing care retirefamily members to help out. There are
ment communities (CCRCs). Day care pro-
grams are perfect for ongoing needs. For
instance, your care recipient can attend
any number of days as you like, but make
sure to choose a Day Center and program
that is appropriate for that person.
According to ARCH National Respite
Network and Resource Center (https://
archrespite.org/), “Respite centers utilizing
church, mosque or synagogue social halls,
community centers, or senior service centers offer similar services for older adults
on a regular, daily, or intermittent basis
(e.g., one weekend day a month).”
There are more adult day care centers
today than ever because of the aging
Baby Boomer population and their parents
and are invaluable. The Baltimore County
Department of Aging says they, “provide
activities, medical supervision and social
support for people whose physical or mental health makes it difficult for them to
remain at home alone during the day.
Day Centers can be a godsend to seniors
as they will be around other people, can
participate in stimulating activities, and
can receive assistance with medication or
other health related needs. Day Centers
support families who need relief from daily
caregiving activities. Learn more from
the Maryland Association of Adult Day
Services. View an updated list of centers
at www.maads.org/.”
Respite care,
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