Caring Today Magazine and Home Instead Senior Care Announce the Winners of the 2008 Caregiver Essay Contest

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Everyone I speak with tells me to take care of myself. Good advice! . . . I desperately need help to continue to be a caregiver.

Fairfield, Conn (PRWEB) November 5, 2008

Three devoted spouses, all of whom share a commitment to caring for their aging loved ones, are the winners of the national "Give a Caregiver a Break" essay contest.

The sponsors of the third annual contest - Home Instead Senior Care and Caring Today, a national publication for family caregivers - have announced that Laura Wetherington of Bluffton, S.C., won the Grand Prize: $5,000 worth of professional non-medical caregiving services funded by Home Instead Senior Care. Wetherington, a recent retiree whose dream retirement was interrupted when her husband became ill, now has taken on the role of full-time family caregiver.

Morton Blumenthal of Hooksett, N.H., and Evelyn Cooper of Boulder, Colo., both took home First Prize, each winning $2,500 worth of Home Instead Senior Care's services. Blumenthal is a 76-year-old business consultant who is the primary caregiver for his wife with Alzheimer's disease. Cooper, organizer of a caregiver's advocacy group in her community, cares for her 90-year-old husband who was injured in a fall and now needs help herself. In addition, 12 Extraordinary Caregivers from across the country who wrote essays each will receive $500 in free respite care from Home Instead Senior Care. (Extraordinary Caregiver names and locations are listed below.)

Each will receive help from Home Instead Senior Care, the world's largest source of companionship and non-medical home care services for older adults. The company's franchise network is comprised of more than 800 offices located in the United States, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Portugal, Spain, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, South Korea, Finland and Austria.

"We are well-acquainted with the many stresses that family caregivers face each day across our country," said Home Instead Senior Care Co-Founder and CEO Paul Hogan. "These prize-winning essays certainly exemplify the very best in family caregiving. Home Instead Senior Care is honored to provide a much-deserved break to these devoted loved ones of seniors."

Caring Today, based in Fairfield, Conn., is the premier national magazine offering practical advice, support and resources to the family caregiver. It has a circulation of 500,000. Consumers receive Caring Today at the point of care in doctors' offices, hospitals and via professional home care services.

In recognition of National Caregivers' Month, observed every November, these three winning essays were published in the November/December issue of Caring Today. These essays along with those of the 12 Extraordinary Caregivers can be found on Caring Today's website, http://www.caringtoday.com.

"I never cease to be impressed by how much love, time, care and compassion family caregivers so willingly give their loved ones," said Susan Strecker Richard, the magazine's editor-in-chief. "Although each one of the more than 300 entries we received was moving, the judges found these winners best represented the spirit of being a family caregiver - so we're thrilled to give these deserving caregivers the break they need."

According to her Grand Prize essay, Wetherington and her husband, Gary, looked forward to a dream retirement when they moved to a senior retirement community in South Carolina in January 2007. "Soon after our move, however, I was puzzled by Gary's behavior," Wetherington wrote in her essay. "He was not his usual, congenial, dynamic self."

Months later, her husband was diagnosed with Pick's disease, a form of dementia. "No longer was I a dream-filled retiree," Wetherington said. "As I struggled to help Gary deal with this awful disease, I discovered that there is much to learn about being a caregiver."

Wetherington's caregiving lessons include: go with the flow; appreciate the small stuff; be plugged in; ask for help; share your knowledge; and endure the hardships. "Watching my husband's brain slowly die is unimaginably distressing," she said. "There is terrible heartache, and much hard work. But quitting is not an option. I will endure, doing the best I can for Gary."

A similar dedication can be found in the story of the 76-year-old Blumenthal, who still runs a consulting business and cares for his wife of 54 years, Joyce, who has Alzheimer's disease. "Needless to say, day-to-day caregiving for Joyce is exhausting, but I feel it is the best quality of life for her," he said. "Her abilities for daily functioning and cognitive function have declined considerably over the past five years."

Blumenthal said he has relied on a resource system of adult day care, home health aide, family and support group to manage. "I hope I have inspired others to keep their loved ones at home. It's not always easy, but with the proper support system and commitment, it can be done."

The other First Prize winner - Evelyn Cooper - turned her caregiving experience into action for others. "I have spent many years of my career in the healthcare field. I could see what happened to caregivers. This interest made me organize the Older Women's League of Boulder County. As its president, my primary goal was to find relief for women caregivers and to promote legislation for issues pertaining to older women."

Cooper has cared for her 90-year-old husband since a fall in 2007 left him with a head injury. "My husband exhibits the short- and long-term memory loss of a brain injury patient. I do not leave him without supervision. Since his fall, we have spent more than $10,000 in nursing home and in-home care."

Last year, Cooper herself suffered a fall, which has made caring for her husband more difficult. "Everyone I speak with tells me to take care of myself. Good advice! . . . I desperately need help to continue to be a caregiver."

Caring Today is the premier national magazine offering practical advice for the family caregiver. It provides expert, up-to-date information on medical, social, financial, legal, lifestyle and support issues - and, in each issue, reinforces the importance of caregiver well-being and self-care. With a circulation of 500,000, Caring Today is published quarterly and distributed primarily through doctors' offices, hospitals and professional home-care services. The magazine's offices are located at 34 Sherman Court, Fairfield, CT 06824, and it's newly designed, interactive website is at http://www.caringtoday.com.

Extraordinary Caregivers

The following 12 Extraordinary Caregivers who wrote essays will each receive $500 in free respite care from Home Instead Senior Care:

1. Anna Mae DuCharme - Riverview, Fla.
2. Linda Fingleson - Calabasas, Calif.
3. Joanne Jennings - Vero Beach, Fla.
4. Diane Lozier - Leesburg, Fla.
5. Alice Kennedy - Frederick, Md.
6. Helen Buffington - Elyria, Ohio
7. Naomi Beck - Waynesville, Ohio
8. Martha Jupinko - Tucson, Ariz.
9. Linda Elliott - Canton, Ohio
10. Catherine Perkins - Grass Valley, Calif.
11. Sandra Goldring - Baltimore, Md.
12. Shelly R. Miller - East Fallowfield, Pa.

For more information about Home Instead Senior Care and caregiving challenges facing families, contact Dan Wieberg, Public Relations Manager at 888-484-5759, email dwieberg@homeinsteadinc.com or visit http://www.HomeInstead.com.

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