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CONTACT: Gail Hairston, (859) 257-3302, ext. 235
FOR RELEASE
Elder Care Celebrates Caregivers Month
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 26, 2007) − This November, the University of Kentucky will recognize National Family Caregivers Month, which highlights the plight of individuals caring for aging loved ones, by focusing on the needs of staff and faculty.
UK Elder Care will host a special event to recognize and assist caregivers – "Medicare and Legal Checkup: What Caregivers Must Know" from 12:10 to 12:50 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 27, at 220 Scovell Hall, Suite 2. The presenter will be David Godfrey, attorney, Access to Justice Foundation and Legal Helpline for Older Kentuckians.
The event will focus on the changes in Medicare and legal needs of individuals and families caring for aging loved ones, featuring resources and information caregivers need within the next 30 days. For a limited time, UK Elder Care will also offer a free “A Six Step Guide to Balancing Work and Family” resource packet.
UK Elder Care, part of the Work-Life office, is a free benefit to support full and part-time UK faculty, staff, and retirees and their spouses who provide help to their parents and other older family members. Elder Care specialists can assist caregivers by providing them with information about programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, housing options for seniors, community based services and programs, and in-home services. Other services Elder Care provides include a CARE Group, which is a support group for working caregivers that meets monthly. In the past fiscal year alone, UK Elder Care provided services for more than 500 UK employees.
Terri Kanatzar, UK Elder Care manager, sees the highly personalized service her office provides as part of a broader national trend. Kanatzar, for example, offers some compelling statistics:
· Family caregivers provide more than 80 percent of all home care services.
· American businesses lose as much as $34 billion each year due to employees’ need to care for loved ones 50 years of age or older.
With UK’s Family Caregiver Month, Kanatzar also sees an opportunity to call attention to UK Elder Care and to the employees her office serves. Bev Hilton of Medical Center Library, for example, found herself in the position of co-coordinating for her parents, who lived in another state.
“UK Elder Care was extremely helpful in recommending alternatives for my mom's care, including residential facilities for Alzheimer's patients both in Pennsylvania and Kentucky. I have nothing but praise for the Elder Care program at UK and their wonderful, caring employees,” said Hilton.
As she continues to provide care for an aging loved one, another UK employee, Diane Furry of Veterinary Sciences, looks to Elder Care for support on a regular basis.
“They’ve helped me understand what my elder is going through and how best to help. I’ve learned about resources available in the community and found the support group to be invaluable. It’s shown me that other people share the same feelings and that it’s OK to ask for help,” said Furry.
For more information on UK services, visit www.uky.edu/HR/eldercare or call (859) 323-4600. For more information about National Caregivers Month, visit: www.thefamilycaregiver.org.
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