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Jul 5, 2001 Caregivers' needs on center stage as grant arrives LINDSAY PETERSON of The Tampa Tribune TAMPA - Congress approved last year for family caregivers. Now comes the hard part is figuring out what to do with it. ``It's hard to know what would really help,'' said Maureen Kelly, executive director of the West Central Florida Area Agency on Aging, which covers five counties, including Hillsborough. The needs are so broad that ``we could spend it all tomorrow and not make a difference,'' Kelly said. ``We want to do this right,'' said Sally Gronda, head of the Pasco-Pinellas Area Agency on Aging, who's working with Kelly and researchers at the University of South Florida to figure out what Tampa Bay area caregivers need. They plan to hold public hearings this summer. Nearly $1.5 million is coming to the Bay area through the National Family Caregiver Support Program, approved last year. Also, Gronda's agency is working with St. Petersburg Junior College, which received a $560,000 federal grant to help caregivers in Pinellas County. The money is not for the older person disabled by a stroke or Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease. It's for the friend or family member who's taking care of that person. National studies show that 80 percent of older people who need help depend on these ``informal'' caregivers, and often elders end up in nursing homes not because their illnesses get worse, but because their caregivers get sick or die. The Florida Department of Elder Affairs estimates 1.4 million people in the state are caring for an older family member or friend. These are spouses, grown children and neighbors who pick up groceries, prepare the elders' meals, organize medications, and even bathe and dress them. The national money could go for any number of things, said Elder Affairs Secretary Gema Hernandez, including training, counseling and respite. ``We need to find ways to make caregivers' lives easier,'' Gronda said. A lot of caregivers call the Elder Helpline, Kelly said. But they're not looking for a meal or anything like that. They're asking, ``What do I do? How do I cope?'' Many already are receiving respite care, which is designed to give them time to rest or leave the house. ``But maybe they're only getting a couple of hours a week,'' Gronda said. ``That's not enough.'' Mike Thomas runs a caregivers support group for University Community Hospital in Tampa, and he has seen the changes in the people who come. Most are women whose husbands have had strokes or have Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease. ``The constant stress and responsibility, the 24-hour effort to keep them out of a nursing home. It just chips away at them,'' he said. They get sick more often. They start having falls. They begin fighting high blood pressure. ``It just takes away all their energy,'' he said. The one thing they all need is to get away and rest, he said. And they need to know that their husbands are in good hands. Researchers from USF's Florida Policy Exchange Center on Aging plan to interview caregivers to learn where the needs are greatest. And Gronda expects to hear a lot of calls for more respite care and adult day care. ``We know people need more relief,'' she said. But she hopes to find a new way to provide it. She and Kelly hope to use their caregiver money to develop the ideas of some new organizations, neighborhood groups or support groups, for instance. ``We want to use this as an opportunity to reach out,'' Kelly said. For more information about the National Family Caregiver Support Program, call (202) 619-7501 or go to http://www.aoa.gov For more information about long-term care options in Florida, go to the Tribune Caregivers Guide via http://health.tbo.com Lindsay Peterson covers aging issues and can be reached at (813) 259-7834 or [log in to unmask] http://www.tampatrib.com/News/MGAI8DOTSOC.html * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn