COALA® Caregiver Education & Support Program

A recent study by the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP discovered that in about 25% of all homes, a person over the age of 18 had been a caregiver to an adult over the age of 50 at some time during the previous year. Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio (COA^SM) recognizes the importance of the involvement of these informal caregivers (spouses, children, friends, neighbors and other relatives) who may provide everything from minimal assistance with personal care and homemaking and errands to 24-hour assistance.

If you or someone you know is providing care for an older adult 60 years of age or older in your home or in theirs, and needs some help in handling their care, the Council on Aging Learning Advantages (COALA®) Caregiver Education & Support Program can help to make things a little easier for everyone.

A Registered Nurse will make a visit to their home at NO CHARGE and will assist the person who is providing the care with HANDS-ON teaching about medications, diabetic care, bathing, stress, and more.

You will receive a FREE Instruction Manual and a FREE Resource Directory. These services are just a phone call away.

To assist these caregivers, COA has developed and published a Caregiver/Client Training Manual. It was written by Registered Nurses with over 35 years of combined Home Care experience. This Training Manual is printed in large font and in easy-to-understand language. The Manual is given FREE to all Caregivers who are visited by the Caregiver Support Nurse to use as a reference tool. This manual covers:

• Understanding the Needs of the Caregiver
• Safety and Body Mechanics
• Infection Control
• Communication and Observation
• Nutrition
• Mobility
• Personal Care
• Medications
• Bowel and Bladder Problems
• Skills and Procedures
• Sleep Disturbances
• Coping with Grief and Death
• Common Diseases and Conditions
• Accidents and Emergencies
• Ethical, Legal and Financial Issues
• A Glossary of Terms
• Hiring Help for Home Care
• National & Local Resources for Informal Caregivers
• Information on the Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio

The COALA Caregiver Training addresses Client / Caregiver tasks and instructional needs such as: Assessing the care-recipient and caregiver’s situation (physical, mental, social, medical and environmental); How to form an organized plan for meeting the needs of the care recipient and caregiver; How to balance personal and caregiving responsibilities; Financial concerns; Physical and mental health of the caregiver; Planning for the future; Community resources including support groups; and Internet and literary resources on caregiving.

To qualify for an RN visit(s) the caregiver or person receiving care must be 60 years old or older and live in one of the 5 counties COA serves (Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton or Warren).

Caregiver Manual Sales

Through a grant from the Administration on Aging (AOA), the COALA program was evaluated by Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.  The project evaluation, completed in 2005, showed “that over a three-month time period, after receiving training, caregiver burden decreased, self esteem and competence improved, and objective knowledge of caregiver issues improved.  The number of hours of care provided by the primary caregiver declined, while a larger proportion of caregivers reported using formal services such as personal care, homemaking and respite. More caregivers were making time for themselves, and injuries such as back strain were reduced.  Our [Scripps] findings indicate that the program is worthy of replication.”

The COALA program provides a model for replication by other organizations wishing to provide supportive services for caregivers.  The training manual could be easily adapted for use by changing resource lists to reflect what is available in each community.  Caregiver training could become an integral part of assessing older adults for home and community based services.

COA offers the COALA® Caregiver / Client Training Manual to interested entities for their own programs for $60.00 a manual for 1- 3 manuals, $45.00 for 4 - 9, and $20.00 a manual for 10+.  It should be noted that the manual is copyrighted and no changes or reproduction of the manual is permitted.  COA will also provide a copy of the forms used in their training program for no additional fee for those purchasing 10+ manuals. We hope these forms may be used as a reference for developing other forms, or feel free to reproduce them for your own use.