GUILDERLAND — Catholic Charities Caregivers Support Services has a simple mission: Help families help themselves.

It recognizes caretakers of the ill and elderly, and the young and vulnerable, elevating them to the level of everyday heroes.

The charity group, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary starting in January, supports families — both financially and through support groups —who choose to take care of ailing members and keep them out of nursing homes.

The organization offers support services such as Elder Care and Kinship Care with respite services, information and assistance, social-work services, support groups, and social recreational activities.

Mary Moller, a social worker for Catholic Charities Caregivers Support Services, said that her organization helps assist some of the 1.9 million informal caregivers in New York State who each year collectively provide over 2 billion hours of caregiving for relatives.

A recent study cited by Catholic Charities Caregivers showed that, if respite delays the institutionalization of people with Alzheimer’s disease by just one month, $1.12 billion is saved annually.
"They are caring for their elderly loved ones. It’s mostly spouses taking care of each other, but we also have a lot of children taking care of their parents," Moller told The Enterprise. "Essentially, they’re trying to keep their loved ones out of nursing homes."

The Elder Care program focuses on families taking care of elderly members, while Kinship Care targets relatives taking care of younger children and grandchildren.

Both programs offer respite services in the form of annual grants that fund home care and adult care for the elderly as well as vacation activities and weekend family camping for youths. The services are designed to help caregivers cope with the physical, emotional, and financial strains of their responsibility.
"It’s vital, it’s very, very important for the community," Moller said of the organization. "It keeps the elderly person in their home."

20 years of caring
"Caregiving is an act of love and is often invisible to society," says the organization’s literature.

The Catholic Charity Caregivers are trying to bring the issue to the forefront as an aging population continues to grow.

Caregivers in the organization have family members with an assortment of ailments from Alzheimer’s and various forms of dementia to kidney failure and other physical disabilities.

According to Moller, many of the individuals who take on the monumental task of personally caring for family members look to the Catholic Charities Caregivers Support Services as their only avenue of help.
"We provide grants to families for respite," said Moller. "However they want to use it, they can"This is what makes us unique."

Moller invited The Enterprise to the Catholic Charities appreciation luncheon last Thursday at Dorato’s in Guilderland. The lunch was designed to reward the organization’s members who sacrifice so much for their loved ones in need, she said.

The luncheon was well attended by several dozen caregivers.
"We’ve had separate dinners for caregivers in the past," said Moller. "This year we decided to bring everyone together."

Moller said this is the first year everyone was brought together, but, she added, they plan on making it an annual event.

After the lunch, dozens of prizes, like Starbucks coffee and music CDs, were given away.
"We’ve added a new rule," Moller told people as they went to pick up their prizes. "You cannot pick a prize for someone else. You have to pick for yourself."

Enduring love
Pointing to one woman in the crowd, Moller said, "She’s been caring for her mother for 14 years. It was a little easier at first, but now she has to help her do just about everything."

The woman’s story is a typical testimonial of the type of care required for many of their family members. The last names have been omitted at the request of the individuals, but here are some of the stories told by the caregivers:

— Jane has been married to her husband for more than 40 years and he has Alzheimer’s disease. As the disease has gotten progressively worse, Jane has had to constantly care for her husband.
"I didn’t know ‘for better or for worse’ would include Alzheimer’s disease," Jane said, referring to her wedding vows. Her husband no longer recognizes her and often wanders away. "It’s exhausting and I’m getting old," she said.

Jane’s husband can no longer be left alone.

— Susan lives near Colonie but travels one hour to a rural community west of Albany in order to care for her parents.
"I worry about them every day. My dad has dementia and my mom now has kidney failure and is refusing to go to dialysis," said Susan. "They refuse any help at all. I don’t know what to do."

— Marie takes care of her 94-year-old mother who moved into her home after she fractured her hip from a fall three years ago. Her husband’s parents, who are also in their 90’s, live in Rochester alone.
"My husband is retired and travels every other weekend to help care for his parents. My mom lives with us," Marie said. "We have to take care of our parents, it’s the right thing to do."

Marie has learned to change her mother’s colostomy bag as well as help her to bathe, dress, and eat everyday.

— John, 78, is a cancer survivor who cares for his wife. She is confined to a wheelchair. He said he only leaves the house to run errands and grocery shop and that a home health aide comes to their house for two hours a week to help him bathe his wife.

John said he is very concerned that, even with the assistance he receives from the Catholic Charities Caregivers Support Services, he will not be able to afford in-home help any longer.

However, John pledges that he will continue to care for his wife as long as he is physically able to.

Moller said there are hundreds of others stories, just like these, told by the members in the organization.

Caregivers who are looking for a little assistance are always welcome, assured Moller.
"We are here to try to support them through the caregiver portion of their lives. They are such great people," Moller said of the recipients. "They are really remarkable people"A through Z, whatever they’ve got to do, they do it."

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The organization is funded by Catholic Charities; the New York State Legislature; United Way of Northeastern New York; the state’s Department of Health; the state’s Office for the Aging; the state’s Office of Children and Family Services; The Community Foundation; Albany County Department for Aging; Rensselaer County Unified Family Services for Aging; Albany County Youth Bureau; Brookdale Foundation; and from private donors.

There are a number of ways to donate to the organization, either financially or through volunteering. The Catholic Charities Caregivers Support Services can be reached at 449-2001 or through its website, cccaregivers.org.

All donations are tax-deductible.