Cindy Lange-Kubick: Chicks' manual a 'blessing' for caregivers
digg it!
Facebook
del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit
Jan Henderson pulls a thick white binder out of a big pink bag.
The petite grandmother plunks the binder on a coffee table in the nursing home’s common area, down the hall and around the corner from room 203 where her husband, Chuck, lives now.
“This is our bible,” she declares.
The Caregiver Chicks will explain and distribute the Caregiver Organizer at two informational meetings set for March 12, 1:30-3:30 p.m. and March 19, 6-8 p.m. on the lower level of Union Bank, 4732 Calvert St.
Suggested donation is $12 for caregivers, $15 for professionals, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.
For help with respite care during the meeting contact Donna Washburn at the Lincoln Area Agency on Aging 441-7070.
Jan is a Caregiver Chick.
There are six Caregiver Chicks in all, women who started meeting a year ago to talk about the struggles they face, the resources people need to have to stay sane while taking care of someone they love.
One of the six, Suzy Campbell, thought they should have a more glamorous name than the snooze-inducing Caregiver Committee.
Chicks? That doesn’t sound professional, one of them said.
Well, we’re not professionals, we’re volunteers, Suzy said back.
Besides, it will get people’s attention.
It’s a catchy name for strong women who know something about taking care of others. Husbands who can’t remember what they had for breakfast this morning. Mothers who can’t be left alone. Fathers who might wander out into the night if someone doesn’t sleep on the couch to guard the door.
But, funny thing, it’s their bible, with its white cover and perfectly plain name — The Caregiver Organizer — that is catching all the attention.
“I belong to many coalitions and committees and boards, “said Marcia Matthies, who works at Haven Manor and is spreading the word on the chicks and their book.
“And if there are movers and shakers in this community it’s these ladies.”
Their organizer, filled with everything a caregiver needs in one place, is a blessing, she says.
Then she says it again.
“It’s such a blessing
The manual’s second printing is due any day.
The first printing was small, financed by the Lincoln Area Agency on Aging LIFE office.
The women had no money for frills, so they put the binders together themselves — Jan and Suzy and Judy Smith, Pat Jarecke, Marilynn Shaw and Virdalia Yazzie — standing in assembly-line fashion around a conference table hour after hour.
But they got it out there, 200 in all, with 260 more on the way — and fellow caregivers are already holding out their hands to get a copy.
The idea came one day during a Caregiver Chicks meeting.
“One of the gals was caring for her mother and she had a notebook where she was writing things down here or there,” explained Suzy.
Hmm. Wouldn’t it be great to have everything in one tidy place?
Emergency contact numbers, list of prescriptions, questions to ask at doctor’s appointments, insurance policy info?
How about a place for medical history? Tips on taking care of yourself? Resources in the community? Ideas for long-distance caregivers?
The women who had so much experience navigating the worlds of Parkinson’s and dementia and emergency room visits and despair — worlds nearly all of us will visit one day — started making a new list.
And it grew into a binder with dividers and plastic page protectors, slots to hold business cards and pages of places to go for help.
“I just think the six of us thought this was such a valuable tool,” said Marilynn, the Caregiver Chick in charge of word processing and editing.
“We just made time for it because we believed in it so much.”
Marilynn cares for her mother, but she plans to fill out a binder with information her own kids might need one day.
The chicks’ next goal is to have the manual translated into Spanish and Vietnamese.
And they’ve started an endowment through the Lincoln Community Foundation: the Caregiver Relief Fund.
“They are a dedicated bunch of ladies,” said Donna Washburn, an elder-care specialist who helped bring the Caregiver Chicks together in the first place.
“They’re out there for the betterment of other caregivers while they’re in the midst of it themselves.”
Back at the nursing home, Jan heads down the hall and around the corner to see Chuck, her husband of 46 years.
She took care of him at home for five years, coping with the Parkinson’s and his Alzheimer’s, until she was down to 99 pounds and her kids convinced her she couldn’t do it any more.
It’s hard, she says. Every time she leaves he begs her to take him home.
She walks down the hall carrying her big pink bag, doing the very best she can.
Reach Cindy Lange-Kubick at 473-7218 or clangekubick@journalstar.com.
Post Your Comment
Standards and RulesYour posted comment will appear after it has been approved.
Frequently asked questions about story commenting.
Thanks for the heads up. "
I know Jan wrote on February 25, 2008 12:11 am: