Handling with care: Learning how to help loved ones as they age
NBCC has been running a series a successful workshops for informal caregivers to help them navigate the system
Paul Henry Leblanc's father moved into a nursing home a little over two years ago, but having lived together up until then, the Moncton man still wanted to maintain a role in caring for the now 96-year-old.
"I go almost every day to make sure everything's in order," LeBlanc said. "I make sure that he does get out of the wheelchair once a day and goes for a walk with a walker."
This is not new for Leblanc — he played a similar role in his mother's care a few years ago — to be an "informal caregiver," someone without any formal training.
Even with that previous experience, he still faced a certain lack of knowledge of how to meet all of his father's needs.
"I thought I knew a lot, but what I find hard is navigating the system," LeBlanc said.
'The system' isn't actually one thing — it's a number of them, including navigating nursing home waitlists, financial planning, managing medication, home care and end-of-life planning.
That's how Leblanc ended up at a recent workshop in Moncton for informal caregivers, put on by NBCC. He wanted to better understand how all those systems work together, and how to use them to his advantage.
"Everything's online today, and I'm like so many people, I Google," he said. "But…there's a lot of information that's either old or coming from other countries, and in this day and age with fake news, you don't know what's right or wrong."
Sharing the burden
The senior care navigation workshops began back in 2022, a collaboration between the Allied Health Programs at NBCC and the Department of Social Development.
"We really hope to enhance the quality of life of informal caregivers and the quality of care provided by informal caregivers to seniors aging at home," Tammie Black, academic chair for Allied Health Programs at NBCC, said
Since it first began, there have been more than 20 workshops held across the province and also virtually, with more than over 200 participants.
Workshops also have an added accessibility tool: participants can bring the person in their care to an adult day centre during the sessions.
"If people want to come in and play cards, bake, make crafts, talk to the students, talk about their life story, there's all kinds of wonderful activities that that older adults can do while their informal caregiver is learning more about how to navigate the systems," said Black.
Over three days and a total of 12 hours, participants learn about the aging process, what community supports are available at various stages, and how to best care for themselves.
"If we don't keep our informal caregivers healthy, both physically and psychologically, they'll be less able to care for seniors, and that burden will shift to the healthcare system," Black said.
Participants take home a plethora of physical resources too — pamphlets, workbooks and a list of contacts for additional information.
"The book that they gave us on aging in New Brunswick ... has everything. It's going to be my bible going forward," said Ruthmary MacPherson, a participant at a recent Moncton workshop.
"I am astonished by how much information was out there that I just didn't know about."
The book MacPherson mentions is called Aging in New Brunswick: A User's Guide, which anyone can get a free copy of online or by calling 211.
Black says New Brunswick has the highest proportion of seniors in the country, at more than 22 per cent of the population. By 2037, it will be 32 per cent.
The workshops, save the province's health-care system money, Black said, pointing to an assessment last year that found that keeping 114 seniors out of nursing homes for one year alone would save the province more than $4.7 million.
"And at this point, we've educated twice that many."
Better prepared for the future
After the workshop, MacPherson said she felt educated on how to care for her father-in-law, her husband, and even herself.
"As I go into my 70s, I know that it just takes one illness or one accident to change your whole life," she said.
"What they gave us here is all very vetted information and it's all pertinent in New Brunswick … I feel so much more prepared for dealing with whatever the future may bring."
Black says funding for the workshops will run out in March, but she hopes they will be able to continue past that, and sees how much of an impact they've had.
Meanwhile, Leblanc left the workshop feeling like he'd never have to Google anything about senior care again.
"Because I know where to find everything locally and I know I can count on that being the proper information and local," he said.
He said understanding the systems that have to be navigated will make things easier in the long run, whether it's for his father's care, or his own.
"It's not only to help him out and give me some tools to be able to interface with the staff in the facility," Leblanc said. "But I'm also learning things here myself, because I'm following him. I'll be 75 very soon, and I'll be next on the list maybe."
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