Initiative gives seniors and caregivers a helping hand
A NEW initiative has been launched to support seniors and their caregivers. The Aerie Seniors’ Programme is the primary initiative of the Aerie Foundation, a non-profit, faith-based organisation established without fanfare or hoopla in December 2004.
“Our mission is to support and initiate projects that are driven by the community to address social needs in Bermuda,” explained programme director Kat Carr.
“The Seniors’ Programme is designed to provide support to seniors in their own home. We all recognise that Bermuda has an ageing population, that there’s a need for a range of services for them and we’re trying to be really flexible and provide that.”
Ms Carr joined the charity around three months ago. By that time, a solid framework was already in place, built on the strength of volunteers from within the community who espoused the programme’s principles.
“There’s been a huge contribution by a number of people in the community led by our Seniors’ Committee,” she stated.
“They really led the consultation as well as the programme’s focus. They were involved long before I came on board and spent countless hours consulting the community and thinking about what kind of programmes would have the most meaningful impact to benefit seniors.“What we found was that there are huge numbers of seniors who want to stay in their own homes — for economical reasons and for emotional reasons — but they need certain services to be able to stay in them with dignity and a good quality of life.
“What we also found was there is an amazing number of caregivers in the community — really wonderful and dedicated family members — who have been taking care of their parents for many, many years and need a break.”
The Seniors’ Programme can accommodate a range of needs — anything from personal care to a trip to the grocery store.
“We provide two levels of care. One is non-technical. Sometimes people just want someone to stop by their parents’ home and see that they’re doing okay, maybe help them prepare a meal or take them out to the shops,” she added.
“We’ve met a lot of seniors and their caregivers and there’s a real range of need so we try to be as flexible as we can. Maybe they need somebody to take their mum out for a drive and pick up their groceries and go home.
“Or maybe they just want someone to sit with their mum for a few hours while they go out. The other level of care we provide is by staff who have a training in nursing or geriatric care — bathing, feeding, giving them their medication and so on.”
The Aerie programme also recognises that caregivers sometimes have a difficult time balancing the needs of their parents and their own. Where that situation happens, resentment can build.
Said Ms Carr: “We realise that a number of caregivers are working full time and caring for their family member — a huge responsibility. So we want our service to provide respite for them — they can call us if they want to go out for a few hours or if they need someone on a daily basis.
“Families have to be extremely organised in order to co-ordinate the care for their family member. Many are doing a lot of it themselves.
“We encounter caregivers who have physical pain from lifting their parents, caregivers who have had to give up work because they are looking after their loved one or because their boss is not accommodating them having to dash back and forth.
“It can cause strain in the family as well. But I must say that the caregivers we’ve seen have been really devoted and loving. I really applaud people for having the foresight to recognise that they need a break or being prepared so that if something happens to them — if they break their ankle, if they have to leave the island for an emergency — there’s a plan in place.”
Ms Carr worked as an interviewer with Fordham University as it completed its study on ageing in Bermuda a few years ago. The opportunity, she said, gave her greater exposure to many of the problems the approximately 7,000 senior citizens living on the island face.
“I think that was one of the reasons I knew that there was a huge need to work with the seniors in Bermuda,” she said.
“And I joined the Aerie Foundation because I was really impressed with the Seniors’ Programme and its objective of delivering service to seniors directly.
“We’re also hoping to raise the bar for care for seniors by being innovative with services for seniors. As the population of seniors grows, we want to make sure the level of care for them is very high and we hope to be a model for that.”
Ela Bean has been involved with the Aerie Foundation as a volunteer since its inception and now serves as its home support co-ordinator.
“I’m finding it’s a real eye-opener as to the need in the community with our seniors,” she said.
“Our caregivers work very hard and they do need a break. You can see the stress levels in some of the homes we’ve been visiting.
“One poor lady was in tears because she had no one else to help her. It’s a worry. It’s a concern. You want the best for mom but you find that you cannot, as a caregiver, take care of simple things — you can’t go out just to get your hair done or even to visit the doctor.
“You sometimes just need someone to come in and give you a break. And that is what our role is. In the coming years, with the baby boomers all becoming senior citizens, the need’s going to be even more pressing I’m sure.”
A series of advertisements in The Royal Gazette has seen an increase in the number of requests and the Programme is eager to expand its body of dedicated volunteers.
“This confirms the need for this type of service in the community,” Ms Carr said.
“We have also been meeting with a lot of other organisations to learn from their experiences and to see where there might be overlap and we’ve also been working with (seniors’ advocate organisations such as) Age Concern, the medical social workers at (King Edward VII Memorial Hospital) and the National Office on Seniors and Physically Challenged.
“We got our first referrals from all of them. We didn’t want to advertise our services until we were already up and running. We wanted our work to speak for itself in the community and we only made the decision to advertise as we were able to meet the needs of more seniors.
“Services are provided by qualified, trustworthy staff but volunteerism and community involvement is also part of our programme.
“So we’re definitely looking for volunteers, especially senior volunteers. We feel they still have an important role in society - and want them to feel that way.”
Volunteers must first undergo CPR and first aid training and submit to a thorough background check.
“We want to make sure we place people who are trustworthy into homes,” the programme director explained.
“We’ve managed to find really lovely people who genuinely care about seniors.”
The idea is to have the Seniors’ Programme grow along with the island’s need, Ms Carr said.
“We designed our programme in three phases so that the first service we offered would be a companionship level of care.
“We anticipated that after about a year we would integrate a personal care level but what we found was that the needs were so great, we had to provide both levels.
“Our next phase is a day centre for seniors — but that’s in the longer term.”
