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A father with developmental disabilities tries alone to raise a young son who has surpassed him in cognitive ability.<\/p>\nA 75-year-old grandmother cares for a legally blind teenage grandson and a 10-year-old foster child with behavioral issues.<\/p>\n
A father with developmental disabilities tries alone to raise a young son who has surpassed him in cognitive ability.<\/p>\n
A young mother raising her two children provides around-the-clock care for her aging mother who suffers from dementia.<\/p>\n
These are just a few examples of Rhode Islanders struggling with caring for a loved-one in the home, an all-encompassing prospect that can leave little time for them to lead their own lives. Sometimes, it\u2019s the caregivers who need to be cared for, and University of Rhode Island Nursing students are there to help.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt consumes your whole life,\u201d URI Nursing Professor Diane Martins said of caring for an ill, disabled or aging loved one. \u201cSometimes, you need help providing care, or you just need someone to watch them while you go to Stop & Shop. Sometimes, family members just need to go out and take a walk. This provides care for the caregivers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The URI College of Nursing students have combined with students at Rhode Island College to provide respite care for family caregivers throughout the state, thanks to a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Human Services Lifespan Respite Grant Program. The students visit the home and provide whatever assistance caregivers need, whether it\u2019s help feeding a paralyzed patient, modeling appropriate parenting behavior, or simply sitting with a patient so the caregiver can break away for a short time. URI students have focused on providing pediatric respite care, while RIC students have concentrated on geriatric care.<\/p>\n
Students will continue to provide respite care in the community for the next three years now that the Lifespan Respite grant was been extended, Department of Elderly Affairs Director Charles Fogarty announced during a tour of URI\u2019s College of Nursing Monday. The DEA is receiving $831,000 in federal funds to continue the respite program with URI and RIC, and extend it to include students at Salve Regina University and New England Institute of Technology, Fogarty announced.<\/p>\n
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\u201cOne of the things the governor has a strong interest in is respite care,\u201d Fogarty said, noting the state had a long waiting list of caregivers seeking help before the program with URI and RIC. \u201cIn the last three years, we haven\u2019t had a waiting list. This takes a need in the community, combines it with the resources at the university to create a real win for the state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nursing students are particularly qualified to provide respite services for caregivers who are sometimes hesitant to leave their infirmed loved ones in someone else\u2019s hands. Nurses and nursing students have the education and clinical experience to handle many potential health issues, helping give family members peace of mind, according to Chris McGrane, assistant clinical professor in Nursing at URI.<\/p>\n
\u201cNursing is one of those professions that is respected in society,\u201d McGrane said. \u201cPeople feel more confident knowing they\u2019re nursing students. They see a nurse as a good resource who can provide the care they need.\u201d<\/p>\n
That care is provided not just to the patient, but to the caregiver as well, according to Kathy McKeon, of the Diocese of Providence Catholic Social Services, which directs caregivers looking for respite help to the nursing college. The vital role home caregivers play is often overlooked, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of our big purposes is to be able to speak on behalf of caregivers,\u201d McKeon said, noting that for those with low incomes, the service is provided free of charge. \u201cThey are often the unseen person in the background who does so much. It is very important that we stay focused on the people who are really giving a bulk of the care.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lifespan Respite Care Program provides that needed care, while serving a dual role of giving nursing students real-world, practical experience with patients, according to URI Nursing Dean Barbara Wolfe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe number of lives we\u2019ve been able to touch has been really impressive,\u201d Dean Wolfe said. \u201cOne of the things we\u2019re seeing is what students are getting out of it. They really see what it\u2019s like working with families. It\u2019s an opportunity to gain experience and really learn to provide first-rate care.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lifespan Respite Care Grant Program will fund the program for the next three years, expanding the Caregiver Alliance of RI beyond the Rhode Island Nursing Education Center (a partnership between URI and RIC Nursing) to include Salve and NEIT. Any caregivers interested in receiving respite care can fill out an application at dioceseofprovidence.org\/elder-services or call 401-278-4500.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
URI Nursing students provide respite for those caring for loved ones in the home A 75-year-old grandmother cares for a legally blind teenage grandson and a 10-year-old foster child with behavioral issues. A father with developmental disabilities tries alone to raise a young son who has surpassed him in cognitive ability. A young mother raising […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1710,"featured_media":5827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1710"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/nursing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}