Caregiver Corner

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If you are responsible for providing care for a family member or friend, our hope is that the information on this page will provide some support, direction, and encouragement. This page also includes information that can be helpful to individuals dealing with issues that arise through our own aging process.

 

Barbara Saltarella, our pastoral assistant for nurture and vistation, has a wealth of information for caregivers. For example, copies of Today's Caregiver magazine are available in our church library. Each issue includes wonderful articles that provide helpful advice to caregivers. Be sure to stop by our church library to browse through these magazines and other literature Barbara has made available. Also, feel free to call the church office to make an appointment with Barbara if you would like to talk with her about issues related to nurture and visitation.

 

 

Hands and Healing
Barbara Saltarella

Hands are so important. There is so much power in the hands. When I go out to visit, I always ask if I may hold their hand or give them a blessing. Hands are a comfort to those I visit. Hands bring the power of love, comfort, compassion, understanding, strength, and a healing touch.

Jesus used his hands to heal leapers, the blind, the sick, and the disabled. If you are a caregiver or if you are visiting someone in the hospital, ask to hold his or her hands. It is amazing the feeling you will come away with – a feeling of God's love.

Have you ever walked a labyrinth? I use a finger labyrinth when I am unable to walk one. I find it relaxes me and enables me to free my mind. Slowly moving my fingers through the labyrinth helps me find peace in our hurry-up world. For me, it is as if God is touching my heart and soul.

ISN'T IT AMAZING, THE POWER OF OUR HANDS?

 

Links for Caregivers

Listed below are several links to Web sites that provide a variety of services and information to caregivers.

Family Caregiver Alliance (http://www.caregiver.org/)  provides a public voice for caregivers. They provide programs on information, services, education, research, and advocacy that support and sustain the important work of individuals and families who care for loved ones with chronic, disabling health conditions. 

National Family Caregivers Association (http://www.thefamilycaregiver.org/) educates, supports, empowers, and speaks up for the more than 50 million Americans who care for loved ones with a chronic illness or disability or the frailties of old age. NFCA reaches across the boundaries of diagnoses, relationships and life stages to help transform family caregivers' lives by removing barriers to health and well being.

Caregiver Media Group (http://www.caregiver.com/) is a leading provider of information, support, and guidance for caregivers, about caregivers, and by caregivers. They publish Today's Caregiver magazine, organize "Sharing Wisdom Caregivers Conferences", and their caregiver.com Web site includes topic specific newsletters, online discussion lists, back issue articles of Today's Caregiver magazine, chat rooms, and an online store. 

Caring Connections (http://www.caringinfo.org), a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), is a national consumer and community engagement initiative to improve care at the end of life, supported by a grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.