This past Tuesday we heard from Debbie Cameron-Laninga, pictured, Program Team Lead and Executive Director of Caregivers Alberta. Caregivers Alberta is an organisation that provides programs and services for caregivers. It was founded in 2001 in Edmonton, and has grown to encompass the whole province. They provide workshops, drop-in information sessions and advice from a caregiver advisor for caregivers of all kinds throughout the province.
Debbie started out by telling us a little about her personal journey as a caregiver and how she came to be involved with this group. She grew up in Alberta, and has family here. She is a licensed pilot, and she and her husband had lived overseas for many years, and were flying aid missions in Papua New Guinea, when they received news that her parents were not well. Within weeks of returning home, both of her parents were given terminal cancer diagnoses. She and her husband decided to take leave from their jobs to stay here and care for them. Neither of them had any experience with the local medical community or supportive care systems, as they had lived overseas for many years.
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Debbie Cameron-Laninga
It was a long and frustrating process learning where to go for help and who to talk to. They supported her parents in their own home, her father for nine months before he passed away and her mother for two and a half years before she too passed away. At the end of this time, they had at first thought about returning to their mission work, but eventually decided that they were too burnt out from caregiving, and should probably remain in Canada a little longer. This is when Debbie found the job with Caregivers Alberta, and has now been with them for five years.
Most of the agencies that are called caregivers, provide care giving services. Caregiver Alberta provides support for the caregivers themselves. A caregiver can be anyone caring for a family member or friend with a disability, illness or aging related difficulties. There are currently over seven hundred thousand caregivers in Canada. Together they provide unpaid services worth more than sixty-six billion dollars in care per year. They make a very valuable and unrecognised contribution to our economy. These people face many common challenges, among them being stress related illnesses such as depression and anxiety, as well as guilt, anger, grief, doubt, isolation and lost sleep. All of these are often made worse by financial stress. They also suffer from an overload of chores, some of which they may have never done before. In addition, they are often trying to balance relationships with other family members with sometimes different points of view. They must also often handle dealing with medical professionals of all kinds. In addition to all of this, seventy five percent of caregivers also hold down a full-time job.
The types of services they provide for caregivers, are designed to bring insight into how to look after themselves, so that they, in turn, can continue to provide quality care for others. They suggest ways that caregivers can care of themselves. Some ways are to ask themselves what brings them joy, what things do you not have to do that you can set aside, how did you like to relax in the past, connect with nature, relax, laugh, pray, connect with others through touch, hugs, pats on the back, or holding hands.
Initially they had some research done to find out what caregivers in Alberta needed, and used these results to build their programs. They currently receive over four hundred calls a year for help and advice. They have over three hundred trained facilitators across Alberta offering their programs. They receive referrals to their programs from medial professional across the province. Some of the programs they offer are Drop In Information Sessions for small groups, where they often bring in a speaker. These provide social occasions and mutual support for those attending. Their COMPASS program is an eight week workshop with one session per week, that provides sessions on caring for yourself, managing paperwork, family management, building resilience, dealing with professionals, and navigating the system. It also provides an invaluable support system for the attendees though the friends they make just from attending. They also have trained Advisors that can provide help and encouragement to caregivers on an individual basis.
They are a registered charity supported by government funding and grants from Edmonton Family and Community Supports and also from Alberta Health Services, in addition to private donations. They provide a valuable community service that is well worth supporting.