November 22, 2009 11:00

Caring for Caregivers, Dr. Cheryl Sanfaçon will discuss grief.

Next week,

November 29, 2009, Micheline Watrous will discuss the physiological cost of caregiving.

The class meets in 315 S. 17th Street, 1R.

A Note from Cora

Dear friends,

This week at the Caring for Caregivers class Bruce Gunther will be with us to talk about legal matters that caregivers need to know. I have heard this lesson once before and it is very, very good and full of valuable information.

While I haven't been able to reach Bruce to talk about what he plans to cover in his time with us, the last time he did this segment he talked about power of attorney, wills, estates, advance directives, etc.

If you are a caregiver, either long distance or in your home, you will definitely want to hear what Bruce has to say to us.

Also, we will have a room change for this Sunday( November 15th).

The Caregivers class will meet in the second floor rear class room, and the premarriage class will meet in our usual first floor classroom because one of our presenters for that class cannot do stairs, and we have been meeting in the handicap accessible room.

I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

Cora

Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 1:17 PM

Subject: Caregiver's Class

Hi Cheryl,

Pat and I were out of town last Sunday, so I don’t know what went on during the Caregiver’s class. The previous two weeks were led by Pastor Joseph Trumpetta. It’s hard for me to explain how much healing these two classes brought to my life without a very, very long email, but I’ll try to distill the essence of those classes.

The first week started with Joe showing a very short, but powerful film of an elderly woman sitting in a chair and simply expressing the solitude and loneliness she felt as well as the profound loss—particularly the loss of human touch. Her husband was deceased and the loss of human touch added to her general feeling of loneliness. The other severe loss was that of “personhood”. She was now a “problem” that needed to be dealt with by her family and this film was a powerful reminder that although she outwardly looked so frail and different, inside she was still the person she had always been.

The second week’s discussion was a continuation and follow-up from the first week. Pat and I were able to share that as a result of the class and the film that we made more of an effort to touch and hug my mother, to be more physical. I purposefully got a movie that I knew Mom would like and invited her to view it with me, asked Mom to join me on errands, instead of just running out by myself, things like that. Joe suggested that we spend time writing down our loved one’s stories. By doing so, this helps them to re-live events which reminds us who they are through the things they participated in. Another class participant brought her husband’s old baseball glove to the nursing home where he is due to Alzheimer’s disease and this helped him to remember and speak about “those baseball days”.

Joe shared some resources that he thought would be helpful as well:

“Caring for Your Aging Parents (When Love is Not Enough)” by Bob Deane. Pub. by NavPress

“Caring for a Loved One with Alzheimer’s Disease (A Christian Perspective)” by Eliz. T. Hall

magazine-“Living with Loss” 1-888-604-4673

Websites:

www.focusonthefamily.com

click on “Midlife & Beyond”, then click “Midlife Issues”, the click “Becoming Your Loved One’s Caregiver”.

www.centerforloss.com

“Serving and Challenging Seniors (To Encourage Ministry to and by Seniors)” by Dr. George Fuller 1-800-283-1357

This resource is the work of PCA Pastor, Dr. George Fuller and contains 8 chapters written by various pastors. I This is a well-recommended resource and a copy is in our own church library.

Although my circumstances at home have not changed, these two classes have impacted my life so that I am changed and am better able to actually enjoy this gift of caregiving that the Lord has graciously entrusted me with. To Him be all the glory!

Gina Glennon