Dementia caregivers have support

Dear Geezer,

Did you know that there are now two Bonner County support groups for caregivers of persons with Dementia and other related disorders? There has been one at Valley Vista Care Center for a number of years. Now there is a new one at Luther Park. Could you please let your readers know?   

Sandy

Dear Sandy,

Yes, I did know that there are now 2 support groups for those family caregivers of persons with dementia. And I’ll be delighted to let my readers know about them. They can be very helpful to those family caregivers!

Both are sponsored by the Inland Northwest Alzheimer’s Association. These are monthly meetings. At Luther Park, 510 Olive Ave., the Support Group meets the 1st Wednesday of every month at 4:30 p.m. So the next meeting will be on July 7.

The Support Group at Valley Vista meets on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 2:00 p.m. So the next meeting will be on July 21.

Both groups are eager to welcome “first-timers”. Sandy Sparling and Wendy Traffie (265-3557) are the facilitators at Luther Park. For the Valley Vista group, you can contact Brian Casey (265-4514) or Kelly Hurt (266-1528), who facilitate that group.

I suspect many people, including family caregivers, don’t realize the significant number of people with dementia in our county. The latest estimate by the Alzheimer’s Association is there are about 880 persons with Alzheimer’s and other dementias!

When you think of those persons, plus their immediate family members and extended family members, you can see that a very large number of persons are impacted by dementia in Bonner County.

So I ask myself two questions. If there are about 880 persons with dementia in Bonner County, why do we have so few participants at the DayBreak Adult Day Center? Why do so few family caregivers attend the two Support Groups available to them for encouragement and assistance?

I have a few hunches about this. One, many caregivers are still reluctant to “admit” they have a loved one with dementia. There is still an unnecessary stigma attached to this tragic brain disorder. Don’t let dementia be a stigma for you!

Some caregivers feel they can’t leave their loved ones alone long enough to attend the support meeting. If that is your dilemma, call DayBreak Center (265-8127) to see if your family member can be there for a few hours so you can get the support you may desperately need.

Or call one of the support group facilitators (see above). Perhaps they know of persons who can assist you in finding a volunteer to stay with your loved one.

There are likely other reasons why caregivers are reluctant to attend one of these monthly support groups. But I hope you will give one of them a try.

It may give you the care you need, so you can continue to give your family member the care he or she needs.