CARING FOR CAREGIVERS - THE ROSALYNN CARTER INSTITUTE

By Strength for Caring

Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter once said, "There are four kinds of people in this world: those who have been caregivers, those who currently are caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers."

Recognizing the importance of caregivers in our society, The Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving (RCI) was created to build support for America's Caregivers. RCI establishes local, state and national partnerships committed to building quality long-term, home and community-based services. RCI's focus includes supporting individuals and caregivers coping with chronic illness and disability across the lifespan, as well as limitations due to aging.

Since 2001, RCI has partnered with Johnson and Johnson to help achieve these goals; the partnership is dedicated to the successful implementation of effective professional and family caregiver support programs. These initiatives include:

Awarding grants to community based organizations that collaborate with researchers to implement evidence-based caregiving programs in their local community.

Creating a national clearinghouse that organizes information on evidence-based caregiver supports including cost, implementation guidelines, level of evidence of effectiveness, and availability of training.

Developing a web-based "toolkit" of resources to assist those who are considering implementing an evidence-based caregiving program; including tools to help an organization gauge their "readiness" for adoption and implementation of such programs, guide implementation and document cost effectiveness of such programs.

Recognizing leadership in implementing innovative and creative partnerships between community organizations and caregiving researchers with the Rosalynn Carter "Leadership in Caregiving" Award.

Supporting family, professional or paraprofessional caregivers of any age who are seeking training or education in specific skills, procedures and strategies that lead to more effective care at the same time that they serve to protect the health and well-being of the caregiver through the Mattie J. T. Stepanek Caregiving Scholarship program.

Richard Birkel, PhD, is the Executive Director of RCI. When asked about the importance of these types of programs he said, "With more than 54 million family caregivers providing support for their loved ones and a shortage of professional caregivers on the horizon, the importance of documenting and sharing best practices is critical. RCI is proud to be a leader in promoting evidence-based supports for caregivers and will continue to look for ways to take what we are learning and find practical applications for use by America's Caregivers."

RCI believes that all caregivers deserve to have access in their communities to proven, effective support programs that improve the quality of life for themselves and those they are providing care for. RCI's long-term goal is to assist in making quality caregiver supports more widely available and more easily accessible by embedding them in diverse service delivery systems including primary care, managed care, HMO's, the aging network, other insurance vehicles, hospitals, community-based organizations, voluntary health organizations, etc.

To learn more about how the RCI provides supports to caregivers; please visit: http://www.RosalynnCarter.org .