To the Editor:

I want to thank Judy Rothstein for her many years of service to Community Caregivers and to personally thank her for the kind words she expressed in a recent “Caregivers’ corner” column. However, the concept for Community Caregivers was not mine alone.

In September of 1992, Mary Therriault, Vic Ross, and I realized we were all concerned by the growing needs of the elderly and their caregivers, particularly in areas where social-service programs were not readily available or easily accessed. We met together over glasses of wine at my kitchen table to explore how we might be able to improve the quality of life for area seniors, individuals living alone, or in need of assistance.

Vic and Mary shared information about the Parish Nurse Program model whereby individual churches helped meet the needs of parishioners by having  a registered nurse on staff and available for those in need. I shared my understanding of the Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers initiative being developed by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation whereby volunteers provided services to those in need within their communities.

After realizing the commonality shared by these two programs, we decided to blend them, using portions of each program to meet the needs of individuals in the Altamont area. The result was the dream of developing a not-for-profit organization we decided to name “Altamont Community Caregivers.”

The basic model for the organization was a registered nurse, acting as the program director, would assess the needs of the care receiver, which would subsequently be provided by a core of volunteers under the direction of the RN program director.

One of our first realizations was we could not do this alone. As a result, we decided to form an organizing committee to deal with the myriad details required for program development, obtaining legal not-for-profit status, recruiting and training volunteers to deliver the services, finding the financial support necessary to sustain the organization, hiring the program director, completing a needs assessment for the Altamont area, and developing the first board of directors to govern the fledgling organization.

The needs-assessment program identified several areas of opportunity for service, including providing transportation to appointments, home visits, respite care, shopping assistance, meals, minor home repairs, telephone assurance, and help with housekeeping.  These became the services that defined the mission for the organization.

In March of 1994, Martha Walrath, RN was hired as the program director. Supported by a group of 50 volunteers who had been recruited and trained, Altamont Community Caregivers began to provide  services to individuals in the Altamont area. With time, experience, and a growing core of volunteers, the decision was made to expand our services beyond the Altamont area and, in 1996, the board of directors changed the name to Community Caregivers to more accurately reflect our mission and coverage area.

Today, thanks to the dedication and efforts of hundreds of people, and the financial support of individuals, businesses, civic organizations, foundational and governmental agencies, Community Caregivers has a core of over 300 active volunteers who, supported by a dedicated office staff, provide non-medical caregiving services to those in need in most areas of Albany County.

On behalf of Mary, Vic (posthumously), and myself, we want to thank the many individuals who have answered the call to volunteer their time and talents in caring for others. You are the heart and soul of Community Caregivers.

N. Joel Edwards, co-founder

Community Caregivers Inc.