Creating Communities of Care via Share The Care
By: Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2007-06-07 17:33:53.165159-04:00
By: Jane W. Barton, MTS
Community Educator
Life Quality Institute (Affiliate of The Denver Hospice)
Rocky Mountain Regional Director for Share The CareTM
Currently in the United States, an estimated 44 million people are serving as primary caregivers who face the daily challenges posed by chronic, advanced, or terminal illnesses. At a time when our healthcare systems are stressed, families are geographically scattered, technology serves to isolate and insulate, Share The CareTM is a refreshing and relational approach to caregiving.
Family members, friends, colleagues, neighbors, and volunteers unite to create a community of care…a community offering time and talents to meet the diverse and varied needs of the patient and their family. Whether facing the challenge of cancer, ALS, Alzheimer's, AIDS, MS, or other serious illnesses, Share The CareTM provides a practical approach to caregiving that results in compassionate, competent care for the patient while alleviating the overwhelming stress of the primary caregiver. By sharing the care, the likelihood of the primary caregiver succumbing to serious illness is reduced while the quality of life for the patient and family is enhanced.
Share The Care was first published in 1995 by Sheila Warnock and Cappy Caposella with a second edition being published in 2004. The book describes their experience of companioning a friend who was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1988. Sheila and Cappy invited a group of women to unite for the common cause of caring for their dear friend. In the following three years, the group shared the responsibilities and the blessings of caregiving. Share The CareTM is a wonderful reminder of our inherent need to be in caring relationships with other people. Sheila has subsequently established ShareTheCaregiving, Inc., a nonprofit organization committed to promoting community caregiving as an option to prevent caregiver burnout. Additional information is available online.
In 2006, the Life Quality Institute and ShareTheCaregiving, Inc. entered into a collaborative relationship for the purpose of promoting and advocating Share The CareTM throughout the Rocky Mountain region. Jane Barton serves as the regional director for Share The CareTM developing and facilitating workshops, conducting community presentations, and training Share The CareTM facilitators and trainers throughout the state. The community response to the educational offerings has been nothing less than extraordinary but certainly not surprising. Based on national demographics, caregiving is an issue that challenges or will challenge all of us. There is a rapidly growing need for effective, affordable, and sustainable models of care. Countless stories from groups throughout the world witness to the benefits and blessings derived by creating communities of care via Share The CareTM.
Life Quality Institute provides an opportunity to explore the process of creating communities of care through workshops and community presentations. Please help Life Quality Institute in spreading the word about this effective and compassionate model of caregiving. Contact Jane Barton at 303.398.6230 or via email to schedule seminars and workshops for your social, civic, community, business, and/or faith communities.
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