Help for Eagle County’s caregivers

EAGLE COUNTY, Colorado ” Nancy Hill’s 90-year mother has a sweet disposition, a wonderful sense of humor and dementia.

That’s why Nancy, and her husband, Tom, decided to move the smiling, white-haired woman from her home in Iowa, where she was not doing well, to their modest home in Eagle.

Once the wife of a college dean, she still has a great memory for words, and is amiable in a social setting. But her short-term memory is gone. She’s confused about her relationship to other members of the family. She has trouble remembering to eat and drink properly. She really can’t be left alone for any length of time.

The Hills feel that for the time being, their home is the right place for her. The familiar surroundings and faces seem to hold the dementia at bay a bit. They fear she will descend into complete dementia if she is moved to a nursing home where strangers provide the care.

The Hills became caregivers willingly, but they would love a break every once in a while.

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“It would be nice to have something where you could leave somebody for even part of a day … but that kind of relief is hard to find,” says Hill.

Lorene Gallagher, of Minturn, is a woman on a mission. She’s been traveling the valley, handing out surveys to gauge the interest and need for what’s called “respite care” for adults. Think of it as a sort of quality day care for senior citizen.

“My dream would be that we could have a resource center that would offer day programs and respite care 24/7 for families that need some help,” says Gallagher.

A self-described “interested citizen and social activist,” Gallagher spent 26 years in the local school district working with kids with disabilities. During that time, she observed how the families of the disabled struggled to care for them; that opened her eyes to the needs of seniors in the community, and the people who care for them.

“We’re losing our seniors … day care would help us keep our seniors in their homes much longer,” says Gallagher.

She says the lack of programs and facilities locally has created a situation where many seniors end up being institutionalized before such a measure is absolutely necessary.

Gallagher refers to a recent Eagle County survey that indicated most senior citizens and disabled persons aren’t interested in assisted living.

“Eighty-five percent of them want to stay in their homes,” Gallagher says. “It’s (adult day care) a thing whose time should have come already.”

In recent years, the county has considered building an assisted-living facility. Gallagher says that for the same amount of money, three to four times as many people would benefit from a respite-care program.

“The first thing we need is adult day care. Anyone who wants to take care of a loved one doesn’t want to put them in a nursing home,” says Peggy Nichols of Vail.

She has been caring for her 66-year-old husband, who suffers from Alzheimers. Had there been a respite care program in the valley, she would have been using it from the start, she says.

“There is a terrible need for it in the valley, especially for elderly people whose kids are taking care of them,” Nichols says. “You’ve got to have a life.

“I don’t know what this community is going to do as people continue to age,” she says.

Nichols says she wants to stay in the valley, where her kids and grandchildren are. She says her family is her biggest support system.

She admits that placing her husband in a nursing home would probably be a little more convenient.

“But it would kill him, and it would kill me,” she says, “As the disease progresses, at least he has the comfort of being in the surroundings he’s always loved.”

In Minturn, Rosa Cordova has enlisted her entire family in helping to care for her 88-year-old father-in-law, Candelario Cordova. He suffers from emphysema, and is recovering from a broken hip. He has lived with Rosa’s family for the past 17 years.

Candelario did spend some time in a recovery facility recently.

“All he wanted to do was come home,” Rosa says. “Being in a facility to him was like being in prison.”

Her father-in-law is well enough that he doesn’t need to be in a nursing home, but he does need assistance throughout the day she says.

“Oh, by far I would be able to use this (adult day care),” says Rosa.

Candelario can cook his own meals and manage his medications. The family’s biggest concern is that that somebody be around to ensure that he stays safe.

Both Rosa and her husband work full time. This summer, their 16-year-old son, R.D., is caring for his grandfather.

Lorene Gallagher can be contacted at 376-8770. Printed copies of her survey may be obtained by sending a written request to Disability, P.O. Box 681, Minturn, Colo. 81645.