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Guilt, stress, and heartbreak are often the experience of family members who live far away but want to help. You are not alone. Fifteen percent of caregivers live more than one hour away from an ailing family member and must juggle their own life responsibilities as well as handle the needs of their loved one from afar. Here are some programs you might find helpful.
Benefits Checkup
This website sponsored by the National Council on Aging is set up to help you find what state, federal and local government health and financial programs are available in your area.
http://www.benefitscheckup.org
Eldercare Locator
Toll-free 800-677-1116, Monday-Friday 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Perhaps the most useful site for a long distance caregiver, the Eldercare Locator is a national service to assist people in finding the Area Agency on Aging unit for specific geographical regions (based on zip code). Enter your care receiver’s zip code and they will give you the information and referral service number for that region. The local people can talk to you about your care receiver’s needs and programs available to help. They may also know of care management programs in the community so the person you care for can get an in-person assessment. It may take the local Information and Referral Service a few days to return your call (they get lots of calls in a day), but it’s worth the wait. The Eldercare Locator website also includes informative links about other eldercare issues.
http://www.eldercare.gov
Meals on Wheels
703-548-5558
The Meals on Wheels program is designed to make sure that homebound individuals get at least one nutritious meal a day. Spouses can also receives meals delivered to the home. A daily visit from a meal deliverer also provides social contact, a hedge against isolation. Many meal deliverers are trained to recognize symptoms of problems, thus meal delivery offers some reassurance that an objective third party is touching base each day. The Meals on Wheels Association of America can tell you about the program closest to your care receiver (See website below). If the person you care for is not homebound, the Information and Referral Service suggested by the Eldercare Locator can tell you about low cost dining center meal programs.
http://www.mowaa.org/search.shtml
National Association for Home Care
202-547-7424
Download a guide to choosing a home care provider and locate agencies near you by entering your zip code.
2287 7th St. SE
Washington, DC 20003
http://www.nahc.org/Tango/HClocator/locator.html
National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers
520-881-8008
Especially when you live far away, it is difficult to assess how much help the person you care for needs. Geriatric care managers are specially trained to visit with an older person, discuss his/her concerns, assess the safety of the current living situation and make recommendations regarding housing and other pertinent services. (They are also experienced at working with elderly people who do not think their service is necessary.) Particularly if there is discord in your family regarding a seriously ill relative’s care needs, an outside professional’s opinion can be invaluable. Call the association or go to this website to locate a private, licensed geriatric care manager in your relative’s community.
1604 N. Country Club Rd.
Tucson, AZ 85716
http://www.caremanager.org
National Center on Elder Abuse
800-677-1116
When you live far away, it is difficult to know if the person you care for is receiving adequate attention. Neglect is one of the more common forms of abuse. But financial abuse (being taken advantage of financially), physical and sexual abuse are also common. If you are concerned, you might wish to go to the NCEA website to learn more about abuse. The second website lists the state numbers you can call to discuss your concerns, be it abuse by an individual, or abuse within an institution.
http://www.elderabusecenter.org
http://www.elderabusecenter.org/report/index.html
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
Find a hospice program near you by entering your state or zip code.
http://www.nhpco.org
Inclusion of a service on this webpage does not imply endorsement by Grand Island Coalition for End of Life Care. Similarly, ommission of a service does not reflect criticism. We have simply included those services known to us at the time of creating this website. |
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