Dene Liott

The purpose of a Caregiver Mentor is to provide guidance to a patient and/or a family about giving care in home. Caregiving in the home is a very realistic goal. The person who will become the Caregiver should be assured that they can accomplish this task. A Caregiver Mentor should be available to help guide the provider. It is important that the patient and/or family be aware that they can obtain this assistance from the Aging and Adult Services.

A tragedy occurs. Loved ones are upset. They must make important decisions that will affect both the patient and family. What should they do? Where can they turn for help? The hospital doctors’ and/or social worker speak with them. They advise them that when the patient is well enough to leave the hospital or rehabilitation facility these are their choices. The patient may be admitted to a nursing facility; or, the patient may decide to go home for Caregiving in their home. Frequently, the hospital social worker suggests that the patient should be admitted to a nursing facility. If the provider wants to try to care for the patient at home, they should be encouraged to do so. Love and desire are powerful emotions. Combined they equal, Caregiver. A Caregiver Mentor can help during this troubled time.

Why? First, it is a natural instinct for us to want the best for our loved ones, especially when they are not able to take care of themselves. Second, not everyone that wants to become a Caregiver understands the process. Therefore, it requires someone to guide, to explain, to illustrate hands on, and, to comfort the Caregiver while going through the process. Therapists explain some of these instructions to the patient and loved ones in a rehabilitation facility and while the patient receives these services during in home visits. Nevertheless, only for a short period of time and they do not always cover all the duties that the Caregiver needs to accomplish the goal of Caregiving In-home.

Aging and Adult Services offers the Caregiver Support Program, but a Caregiver Mentor Program would take that program to another level of comfort for the Caregiver. It takes more than a good listener or talk session to help the Caregiver. It takes a helping hand. It takes a Caregiver Mentor.