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November is National Family Caregivers Month. Area caregivers who help older adults and persons with disabilities are invited to attend "The Fearless Caregiver: A Day of Sharing Wisdom." The workshop, free and open to the public, will be held Wednesday, November 11, at Highland Springs Retirement Community, 8000 Frankford Road, on the border of Dallas and Plano from 8:30 am - 2:30 pm. Highland Springs will provide complimentary refreshments and lunch for attendees.

Leading the workshop will be Gary Barg, Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Today's Caregiver magazine, and caregiver.com, author of The Fearless Caregiver: How to Get the Best Care for Your Loved One and Still Have a Life of Your Own.

The conference is designed to help attendees receive hands-on advice for his or her caregiving challenges regardless of the disease or illness their loved one is dealing with. Attendees will learn how to become a member of their loved one's care team, tried and true "time-off techniques," expert advice for beating stress and depression, and hands-on advice from caregiving experts.

A panel of experts will provide information about how to access resources including 2-1-1, the Aging & Disability Resource Centers, and Family Caregivers Online.

Rosemary Redmond, attorney, will discuss the most common legal questions and issues for caregivers.

Underwriting sponsors helping make this conference possible are Highland Springs Retirement Community, ResCare Home Care, Alert Response, Reachout Home Care, and Evercare.

This conference is a service of the Area Agencies of North Central Texas on Aging, Dallas County and Tarrant County. Other sponsors include Alzheimer's Association of Greater Dallas and the Texas AgriLife Extension Service.

Although the event is free, pre-registration is required, no later than November 9. Reservations can be made via email, at caregiverconf@flash.net, or by phone, at 1-800-272-3921, extension 9194.

For more information, contact Zanda Hilger at 817-929-3535.  

Texas AgriLife Extension Service - Dallas County offers a child care provider conference on November 14, 2009, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. This conference is low-cost and will provide an interactive, hands-on learning environment. Topics include Emergency Planning for Child Care Facilities and Healthy Eating with MyPyramid.

This conference will be held at 10056 Marsh Lane, Suite B-101, Dallas, TX 75229. Participants who attend the entire conference will earn three clock hours for professional development.

Registration fee is $5 per person. Registration form and payment should be received no later than Friday, November 6, 2009. Click Child Care Provider Conference flyer.pdf to download registration form.

For questions regarding the Child Care Provider Conference contact Wenhsing Cheng at 214-904-3050 or wcheng@ag.tamu.edu.

 

 

Once you know the sources of stress (refer to last week's entry for tips to identify the causes of stress), you must determine which are ones you can do something about and which are beyond your control. Successful coping involves accepting what you can and cannot change.

For example, you will not be able to change a parent who has always been demanding and inflexible, but you can control how you respond to your parent's demands. If your father has a progressively debilitating illness, you can't change that. However, you can develop skills for coping with the changes brought on by his illness.

Usually, some action can be taken to decrease stress. Changes don't have to be major to make an important difference. Sometimes, letting go of unrealistic expectations or adjusting your standards of how often or how well you perform a task (such as housekeeping) will make a big difference in reducing your stress.

In general, professionals who have extensive experience working with caregivers agree on five basic strategies to help control the destructive effects of stress. They are:

• Set realistic goals and expectations.

     - Plan achieveable goals.

     - Develop realistic expectations.

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• Establish your limits.

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• Ask for and accept help.

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• Take care of yourself.

     - Express your feelings.

     - Maintain your health.

     - Take time for yourself

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• Involve other people.

     - Hold a family conference.

     - Seek professional assistance.

     - Use your community resources.

 

Last week we discussed the warning signs of caregiving stress. Once you recognize the stress, the next step is to identify the stressor -- What caused it?

The causes of stress vary with the caregiver and his/her responsibilities. What creates stress for you may not create stress for someone else. There are, however, some common sources of caregiving stress, which can be identified in the next series of questions.

After you answer the questions, look carefully at those to which you answered "yes." You will want to focus your full attention on these specific areas as you work to reduce stress.

• Are there many demands on your time, energy, or money?
• Do you feel that your responsibilities conflict with each other?
• Is there a difference in the expectations of your family, your boss, your dependent relative and yourself?
• Do you believe that you do not fully understand the older person's mental or physical condition?
• Do you have difficulty meeting your relative's physical or emotional needs?
• Are you pressured by financial decisions and a lack of resources?
• Do you feel a loss of freedom, a sense of being "trapped"?
• Is there disagreement among family members?
• Do you feel that other family members aren't doing their share?
• Does the older person place unrealistic demands and expectations on you?
• Is there a lack of open communication between yourself and the older person or other members of the family?
• Do other family memebers have negative attitudes that you must contend with?
• Can you see deterioration in your family member that is painful to watch?
• Do you have other problems with children, marriage, employment, or health?

Stay tuned next week for strategies to manage stress. 

Family members who play a major role in caring for elderly relatives often ignore their own needs. However, it's just as important to take care of your own needs as it is to provide the best care for your dependent loved one. Ignoring your own needs and failing to manage stress can harm both you and the person depending on you.

When you experience an unusual level of stress, certain warning signals occur. Answering the following questions will increase your awareness of these signs. A "yes" answer to even some of these questions can indicate stress that has become debilitating. Recognizing the source of this stress is the next step in dealing with its destructive effects.

• Do you feel a loss of energy or zest for life?
• Do you feel out of control, acting or behaving in uncharacteristic ways?
• Do you lack interest in people or things that you once enjoyed?
• Do you feel increasingly isolated?
• Are you consuming more sleeping pills, medications, alcohol, caffeine or cigarettes than usual?
• Are you having increased health problems -- for example, high blood pressure, ulcers or difficulties with digestion?
• Do you have trouble falling asleep at night, or do you wake up too early or sleep too much?
• Have you noticed a change in your appetite or eating habits?
• Do you have trouble concentrating or remembering things?
• Are you increasingly irritable or impatient with others?
• Do you have thoughts of suicide?

Visit Lifeline next week for information on the causes of caregiving stress.

A community event sponsored by the Area Agency on Aging of Dallas County and Mental Health America of Greater Dallas will address caregiving stress on September 24. Review the event flyer Stress 9-24-09.doc for more information.

Children react to disaster differently according to their age.  They may respond to disaster by demonstrating increased anxiety or emotional and behavioral problems.

According to the American Red Cross, children from birth to 2 years of age may display some of the following common physical and emotional reactions after a disaster or traumatic event.

Birth to 2 years--When children are pre-verbal and experience a trauma, they do not have the words to describe the event or their feelings.  However, they can retain memories of particular sights, sounds, or smells.  Infants may react to trauma by being irritable, crying more than usual, or wanting to be held and cuddled.  As children get older, their play may involve acting  our elements of the traumatic event that occurred several years in the past and was seemingly forgotten.

Stay tuned to "Lifeline" for more information on other age groups and how they cope with disaster and traumatic events.

For more information on helping children cope with disaster or traumatic events, please contact us or visit our websites at:
pvcep.pvamu.edu; or
dallas-tx.tamu.edu; or contact Marvin R. Young at 214-904-3050 or mryoung@tamu.edu

September is National Preparedness Month. When unexpected disaster occurred, families and individuals are likely to experience trauma that may have long-lasting effects. The National Council on Family Relations offers research findings and recommendations for disaster survivors and their family members.

• Trauma Survivors are not "ill." Most trauma survivors will not experience long-term mental illness and will remain healthy, functional, and resilient individuals. Time and support will help them return to well-being.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is not inevitable. Most trauma survivors do not report symptoms consistent with the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. It is important to be aware of other signs of distress as well. 
• The rush to "closure" is not cure. Well-meaning but uninformed interventions promoting premature "closure" can exacerbate existing trauma.
• Encourage families to take charge of their own recovery. Family scientists discover that families usually have the tools that they need for coping with crisis. Helpers can assist families in recognizing their own existing resourcefulness and resiliency. 
• Tap the strength of community. It is important to recognize that interventions and support for survivors of a disaster are best provided by a variety of people across both formal and informal means. Certified Family Life Educators, clergy and community leaders can be effective facilitators for this process, making help more available and timely. 
• Help the helpers. Those helping trauma survivors must also be on guard for experiencing secondary trauma, or "compassion fatigue." Caregivers and counselors should have access to information on preventing and dealing with burnout. The helper's spouse or partner should also be involved in the process.
• Reconstruct hope. Research on families and trauma shows that traumatized families' journey back to well-being is not only possible -- it is the usual and expected outcome. There is hope, and the odds are in their favor. 

     The Cooperative Extension Program at Prairie View A&M University, Texas AgriLife Extension, and the Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN) are helping citizens of Dallas and the state of Texas to get prepared for the unexpected by providing useful tips to cope with disaster that may occur. 
     September is National Emergency Mangement/Preparedness Month.  And, preparing for disasters helps everyone in the family accept the fact that disaster can happen, and provides an opportunity to identify and collect the resources needed to meet basic needs after disasters.  According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Red Cross, Preparedness includes:

1. Talking about damage that may be caused by disasters that can strike where you live;
2. Deciding on a number to call and a place where the family will reunite if separated by a disaster;
3. Pulling together basic supplies;
4. Selecting valued personal items to take along such as toys for children and medicines for people who may be sick; and
5. Safeguarding personal and valuable items
   

For more details on making an emergency supply kit and other important procedures be sure to contact Marvin Young at 214-904-3050 or mryoung@tamu.edu.

Also see our websites at:
http://pvcep.pvamu.edu/
http://dallas-tx.tamu.edu

Or for access to more information on disaster preparedness, response, and recovery you may contact the EDEN website at:  texashelp.tamu.edu

Child care providers play a vital role in caring for America's children. According to recent estimates, over 13 million children under the age of five receive some type of non-parental care on a regular basis. Further estimates indicate that approximately 24 million school-age children and youth are in need of some form of after-school care.

The quality of care that children receive does matter! Children who receive high quality care develop better language, math, and social skills, exhibit fewer behavior problems, and tend to be better prepared for entrance into school.

The Texas AgriLife Extension Service's Child Care website (http://fcs.tamu.edu/families/child_care/index.php) offers research-based information on child care related issues, including newsletters, fact sheets, and on-line courses for child care providers to satisfy state mandated training requirements.

For additional information about child care training in Dallas County contact Wenhsing at wcheng@ag.tamu.edu.