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-- Programs and Services -- Contact Information Nearly 200 attend Third Annual Caregiver EXPO
By Bea Cowlin, LSW
Attended by approximately 180 people, the Third Caregiver EXPO, held April 5 at the Crowne Plaza in Pittsfield, was a great success. A variety of agencies, assisted living facilities, vendors selling durable medical equipment, and nursing/rehabilitation facilities set up exhibits to provide helpful information to caregivers and their families.
According to the Family Caregiver Alliance (www.caregiver.org), 5.8 to 7 million caregivers, comprised of family members, friends, and neighbors, provide care to persons over age 65. The Alzheimer’s Association (www.alz.org) estimates that just under nine million caregivers care for someone age 50 or older who suffers from a dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia affecting about 4 million Americans, with approximately 140,000 Alzheimer’s patients in Massachusetts. Many caregivers are adult children who are working full time and raising a family while caring for aging parents – the aptly named “sandwich generation.”
The Caregiver EXPO has become an important vehicle to convey information to caregivers, whose numbers will only increase over time as the population ages. In addition to the exhibitors, keynote speaker Dr. Leslie Fishbein addressed the question “Is There a Life Preserver for the American Caregiver?” She focused on societal changes in health care over the past generation, emotional reactions to caregiving, the burden and burnout caregivers often experience, and finally, the importance of caregivers taking care of themselves to increase their emotional and physical resilience.
Elder Services of Berkshire County’s Family Caregiver Support Program provides support groups and one-on-one consultation to anyone caring for someone over age 60. For more information call Bea Cowlin, Caregiver Liaison at 1-800-544-5242, or 499-0524, extension 113, email—caregiver@esbci.org.
Bea Cowlin is Elder Services Caregiver Liaison. She provides information for caregivers as well as facilitating caregiver discussion groups.