Caregiver course offers support

Aging isn’t easy. It’s expensive, frustrating and can be scary.

But one way to combat the effects for yourself or a loved one is to gain as much knowledge as possible about aging before they really need it.

That’s the basis of a recently completed caregiver training course at Buffalo Hill Terrace. Carla Wilton, a social worker and the executive director at the retirement community, designed and hosted the course.

“It’s a combination of education and support,” she said. “We spend time talking about utilizing the resources available to you, including your internal resources and finding the ability to navigate them.”

Buffalo Hill Terrace joined with the Agency on Aging to design and implement the course. A second program will begin April 6 at the Bigfork Senior Center on Mondays from 1 to 2:30 p.m. The group will be limited to 20 participants but more facilitators are always needed, Wilton said.

While taking advantage of external resources such as the Agency on Aging is important, Wilton said, those “internal resources” of self-care and thought can be just as vital toward leading a happy life with the person being given care.

“There is a caregiver and a care receiver, and that can exist in such a way that both benefit from the interaction,” she said. “But with family dynamics and communication, things can be worse under stress and can become issues.”

The seven-week course helped those taking it figure out how best to manage the difficult prospect of caring for a loved one.

For Lauretta Milne, a retired registered nurse, the course was a much-needed chance to help her husband, who suffers from dementia.

“There’s always things you can learn,” she said. “My first love was pediatrics, so I think it’s kind of fitting I’m now learning about caregiving.”

The course goes through planning ahead, using resources, self-care, family dynamics and communication, dementia and chronic illness and finally financial well-being. These six sessions (with a seventh as a review and celebration) run through the gamut of elder care and give practical knowledge on how to apply it.

Della Helgeson took the course not for herself, but for her loved ones.

“It was better to get on the ball,” she said. “I made this binder with all the information anyone could need to help me. I’m doing it for my sons so they’ll have it. This course pushed me to do it.”

For Del Moore, who took the course to help his wife, the fact it was offered for free was helpful.

“We’re real fortunate we live here,” he said. “It gave me ideas on how to make financial well-being work. It reinforced many of these things on my mind. I feel confident and that’s what’s important.”

The course emphasizes being active in making living wills, being prudent with finances and understanding that the journey toward end-of-life care is difficult.

For more information on the course and how to reserve your seat, contact the Area IX Agency on Aging at 758-5730 or the Bigfork Senior Center at 837-4157.

Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.