If you are one of the more than 50 million
Americans who provide care for a chronically ill,
disabled or aged family member or friend, you’ve
faced first hand the challenges that go along with balancing your own life with the needs of someone
you care about. Whether you know it or not, you are a caregiver. Caregiving can be a full time job,
and without proper support, it can adversely affect
the health and quality of life of both the caregiver
and the care recipient.
 The Henschens: COALA Client Profile
For more than a decade, Jane Henschen held her own against cancer. But, not
long ago, symptoms returned and she began to need daily help from her family.
Her husband, the Rev. Fred Henschen, took on the role of caregiver. He gave it
his all, but was feeling overwhelmed, especially since he works part-time as a
chaplain at Scarlet Oaks Retirement Community. “I don’t want him to quit his job
to take care of me,” Mrs. Henschen said.
They contacted Council on Aging. COALA home care educator Nina Wichard visited them to provide tips and information about community resources.
“I’ve really gained an appreciation for what’s involved,” Rev. Henschen said. “My
wife has been a homemaker par excellence and she expects me to keep up the standards!”
Who is a caregiver?
Caregivers can be family members, friends, neighbors or
church members – anyone who devotes some of their
time to providing care for someone who can’t care for
themselves. Caregivers share many common characteristics – they are dedicated, compassionate and concerned
about the well-being of someone they care about. But it
is also common for caregivers to become frustrated
when dealing with unfamiliar tasks and challenges
associated with caregiving.
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What help is available?
The Council on Aging Learning Advantages (COALA®)
Caregiver Education & Support program provides free, in-home, personalized training
for family/volunteer caregivers. The program works to:
- reduce caregiver stress, burden and injuries
- increase caregiver confidence and knowledge
- improve the quality of care
- help caregivers balance their lives and caregiving responsibilities
A COALA nurse or social worker will conduct a home visit to assess both
the caregiver and the care recipient. After the
assessment, the nurse will make any necessary
referrals for services and provide educational materials and resources, hands on training, and emotional support.
Caregivers who receive a COALA consultation will also receive a COALA
Caregiver Training Manual, a 200+ page guide written
by registered nurses who have
more than 35 years of home care
experience. The guide includes topics
and links to additional resources
ranging from nutrition and
homemaking to
medications and personal care.
In 2007, the COALA Caregiver Education & Support program conducted more than 350 home visits. On post-visit surveys, 98 percent of participants reported the program had a positive impact on their lives.
More information
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Who qualifies?
The COALA Caregiver Education & Support
program is a free service offered by COA. It begins with
a visit to your home by a registered nurse.
To qualify, the caregiver or care recipient must be at
least 60 years old and live in one of the five counties
served by COA: Butler, Clermont, Clinton,
Hamilton or Warren counties.
COALA is for:
- caregivers who are feeling overwhelmed or
stressed
- caregivers whose care recipient’s needs are
changing
- new caregiver
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Phone Numbers
How to get help:
Contact the COALA Caregiver Education &
Support program at:
Fact Sheets
COALA Caregiver Education and Support Fact Sheet
Help4Seniors Resource Directory
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COALA Caregiver Education & Support –
a proven, award-winning service
In 2007, the COALA Caregiver Education & Support program conducted more than 350 home visits. On post-visit surveys, 98 percent of participants reported the program had a positive impact on their lives.
Through a grant from the Administration on Aging (AOA), the COALA program was evaluated by Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The project evaluation, completed in 2005, showed “that over a three-month time period, after receiving training, caregiver burden decreased, self esteem and competence improved, and objective knowledge of caregiver issues improved. The number of hours of care provided by the primary caregiver declined, while a larger proportion of caregivers reported using formal services such as personal care, homemaking and respite. More caregivers were making time for themselves, and injuries such as back strain were reduced. Our [Scripps] findings indicate that the program is worthy of replication.”
The COALA Caregiver Education & Support
program received the 2006 Aging Innovations and
Achievement Award from the National Association
of Area Agencies on Aging. The award recognizes
creativity, innovation and good management
practices that can serve as models for the Aging
Network.
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Caregiver Manual Sales
The COALA program provides a model for replication by other organizations wishing to provide supportive services for caregivers. The training manual could be easily adapted for use by changing resource lists to reflect what is available in each community. Caregiver training could become an integral part of assessing older adults for home and community based services.
COA offers the COALA® Caregiver / Client Training Manual to interested entities for their own programs for $60.00 each ( 1- 3 manuals), $45.00 each ( 4 - 9 manuals), and $20.00 each (10 or more manuals). It should be noted that the manual is copyrighted and no changes or reproduction of the manual is permitted. COA will also provide a copy of the forms used in their training program for no additional fee for those purchasing 10+ manuals. We hope these forms may be used as a reference for developing other forms, or feel free to reproduce them for your own use.
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