Senior News & Notes
By Kathleen Collins
Caregivers can get help from
adult day centers
GREATER AKRON — People with dementia can find a secure, supportive environment at adult day centers, while their caregivers receive a break from the daily stresses of caregiving.
Adult day care typically involves a planned program of activities designed to promote well-being through social and health-related services.
Caregivers may feel reluctant to use adult day care services because they seem unfamiliar, or because a loved one is hesitant to try something new. Similarly, it may be hard to convince the person with dementia to attend an adult day center.
According to the Ohio Department of Aging, there are methods adult care center professionals can use to make the transition easier, including:
• Convince the caregiver first. Talk him/her into touring the facility to see what might interest him/her and to discuss anything he/she may object to. If possible, encourage the caregiver to check out more than one center to see the differences and similarities in how they operate.
• Help the caregiver find a convincing reason. Some care recipients attend because they view the center as their “club” or a “class.” Some go for a particular activity or to be with a new friend. Some attend to help others, as a volunteer would. Work with the caregiver to find the benefits that will appeal most to the recipient.
• Look for a hook. Arrange for the person to visit the center when there is an activity scheduled that they might enjoy or even try out on the spot.
• Encourage the caregiver to enlist the support of an “expert.” If it would help, ask the person’s physician, clergy or trusted family friend to talk with them about the merits of attending.
• Reinforce the positive. Support any positive experience that the care recipient has or that the caregiver or someone on the staff notices.
• Try again later. Sometimes a care recipient frets so much that it becomes counterproductive for him/her to keep attending. Trying to reintroduce the center’s activities again after a few months break could prove successful.
Report age discrimination
in the workplace
GREATER AKRON — Many Americans have felt that age was the reason they either lost a job or were not hired for one they were qualified to do. Despite being against the law, there is still evidence age discrimination remains a part of the workplace.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) receives, investigates and, where appropriate, litigates charges of discrimination. In fiscal year 2004, the EEOC received 17,837 reports of age discrimination and resolved 15,792 of them, recovering $60 million in monetary benefits for workers who felt they had been discriminated against.
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 protects individuals who are 40 or older, both employees and job applicants, from employment discrimination based on age. The act, which applies to any employer with 20 or more employees, does not specifically keep an employer from asking an applicant’s age or date of birth. However, it does require the employer to use such information only when it is pertinent to a person’s ability to do the job. The employer’s rationale for asking will be closely scrutinized in an investigation.
Individuals who feel they have been discriminated against due to age should file a charge with the EEOC. For additional information, visit www.eeoc.gov.
|
