I tell our attendees at the Fearless
Caregiver Conferences that I am contacted
regularly by caregivers seeking advice and
services in their communities, either by phone
or email. I then tell them that I am
never once wrong in my responses. After
that bit of unwarranted bravado sinks in, I
swear them to secrecy and then tell them how I
do it. It’s quite simple. I look up to
the great Google machine in the sky and find the
contact information for the agencies on aging in
their community.
I have found over the
years, and especially these past few months
hosting 11 rural Fearless Caregiver events, that
the first thing a caregiver in need must do is
reach out for support. There was not one
community in which I have visited, from major
city to rural community, that the questions that
arose were not best answered by seeking support.
This is one reason we are honored that Kathy
Greenlee, Assistant Secretary for Aging at the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
will be joining us next week at our 90th
Fearless Caregiver Conference in Port St. Lucie,
Florida. Secretary Greenlee has been collecting
many more air miles than I have, spending time
at conferences across the nation; but we are
extraordinarily honored that this will be the
first family caregiver event that she will be
participating in since her nomination.
So much of the support available for family
caregivers comes from the aging organizations
through the Administration on Aging and we
couldn't think of a more appropriate person to
lead the charge. Not only was she
Secretary of Aging for the state of Kansas, but
also the state’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman (one
of my most favorite words). Prior to that, she
served as general counsel at the Kansas
Insurance Department and as an elder law
attorney and professor.
Sounds like she is
right on par with the great Google machine in
the sky.
Join us for the day
in Port St. Lucie
Take care
Gary Barg
Editor-in-Chief
gary@caregiver.com
