ADAKC Director of Development, Julie Juarez-Ceja, joins Kait Hil in Studio 17 for Covered in Kern to discuss resources and support for caregivers and the upcoming Caring for the Caregiver event.
Transcript:
Supporting caregivers is more important than ever and this week we are spotlighting an event that’s designed just for them. Joining us today is Julie who’s the director of development with the ADAKC. Here to share what to expect at the upcoming Caring for the Caregiver event, who should attend, and how the community can get involved. Hi Julie.
Hi Kate. Great to have you back.
Thank you for having me.
Okay, so let’s talk about this event. I’m very excited about it. So, what can people expect when they’re attending Caring for the Caregiver?
Absolutely. So, Caring for the Caregivers is our annual educational conference that ADAKC holds. And this is an opportunity for caregivers if if you’re a caregiver for somebody at home one of your loved ones, this event is for you. It’s an opportunity for caregivers to to join us for a nice meal, to receive education, to receive resources, and most importantly to find a partner, to find a support system, to know that you’re not alone on the Alzheimer’s journey.
I I think that it’s so amazing that you guys focus not only on, you know, your patients and your day-to-day in the care center, but you also focus on the families. to focus on those people who are helping the people on their journey because it can get very hard and they can get bogged down and it’s emotional. So to be able to find that support system is so crucial for them.
We we all know that if you’re not a caregiver now, maybe you have been in the past but a caregivers job is 24/7 and it and it doesn’t end. And most often as a caregiver, we forget to pour into ourselves and we forget to take care of ourselves. And so we like to remind caregivers that
um in order for you to be a good caregiver, you got to take care of yourself. So this year’s theme is refill your cup. And so we’re very excited to bring resources, community resources. These are our our friends, our colleagues, um our neighbors that are here to to support us um along the journey, as well as our keynote speaker, Carrie Alberts. We’re so excited. She’s also known as Dementia Darling and she’s here to give us a different perspective on Alzheimer’s so that we can um stay positive and still find joy amongst this this disease/
I think you guys say this phrase all the time, but you can’t pour from an empty cup. So, it is something that that you need. I mean, even if you don’t necessarily need the education, sometimes you need just like the morale boost of being able to hang out with people who understand what you’re going through.
So, let’s talk about the the the other types of resources that are going to be there besides our keynote speaker.
Yes. So, we’re going to have a number of different resources there at the event. We’re going to have if you’re looking for long-term care information, if you’re looking for in-home care at home, if you’re looking for residential, if you’re looking for information about medication or nutrition, we are going to try to have um every resource available that we think caregivers could need. We like to call it a one-stop shop. We’re even going to have opportunities for caregivers to see how easy it is for us to do a little bit of self-care. So, that’s going to be fun and something for us to to look forward to. We will have a massage therapist on site doing some 10-minute chair massages. So, come on down even if it’s just for the for the chair massage.
And this is a free event every year you guys do?
Yes, this is free for caregivers again for if you’re a family caregiver. There’s no charge for you to attend. You can call, you do need to register ahead of time. So you’ll call our center at ADAKC to get your name on the list, but other than that, there’s no charge. We are also looking for community partners so if you’re if you’re a community partner, you want to have a vendor table at this event. Again, call our organization and and we can give you the details.
Can anyone outside of vendors help you too? Can we can we donate to the event? Can we help and give you stuff for swag bags? I mean, can we just reach out and help you?
Yes, absolutely. We are accepting items for for swag bags. So, if you want to add your hand sanitizer, your first aid kit, your lip balm, we we will take it. We are also seeking sponsors to help fund the event. Again, it’s free to caregivers, so there is no cost to caregivers. So, if you want to help pay for the lunch, we’re seeking also a book sponsor and we’re seeking a respite sponsor. So, for those families that need that extra care um to leave their loved one at home, we’re also seeking sponsorship for that.
Amazing. Okay, we’re going to put the flyer up one more time because there is a QR code. So, I would like you to take a picture right now with your phone if you have it out because you probably do. And then you can get registered for the event. Thank you so much, Julie.
Thank you for for having us and I’m so excited and hope to see you at the at the event.
Yeah. No, I’m I’m excited because this this gives some needed love to our caregivers. Thanks a lot.