Six siblings and extended family take turns caring for their matriarch, Rosie Dobbins of St. Louis, who has needed constant care for the past eight years due to Alzheimer’s disease.
“Her disease progressed after my father passed, and I think it’s because they were married for 58 years when he passed away (in 2007). I think it had a bearing,” said Rose Perry, her daughter. “Mom got dementia through ministrokes – and we didn’t know.”
The Alzheimer’s Association St. Louis Chapter recently received at $432,000 Caring At Home Grant from the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services (DHSS). It provides funding for the Respite Assistance Program, which helps Missouri caregivers like Rose Perry of St. Louis and her siblings, provide care at home for their 84-year-old mother.
They are wonderful … a great outlet – the Alzheimer’s Association,” Perry said. “Because there was a stressful time at one point when she got really, really, sick and they were calling, checking –just wonderful people, period.”
The Respite Assistance Program is available statewide offered by St. Louis, Greater Missouri and Heart of America Alzheimer’s Association Chapters. The program provides up to $1,000 per year for respite support or care-related products to families caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s at home.
Perry and her siblings decided on receiving products – adult disposable briefs for urinary and bowel incontinence; a bed alarm, as well as supplemental nutritional drinks for their mother.
“We chose to have the products because we start noticing that was what we were in need of,” she said. “By my mother not eating, the Ensure, the Boost, was a great help as well.”
The caregivers were approved for the program in December 2014, and products arrived at in January.
“They deliver it right to your home, so it’s very convenient; and it was really a blessing for her and our family,” Perry said. “I made the first purchase in January and I just finished those up in April. You don’t have to do anything; just call and tell them what you need.”
More than 60 percent of Alzheimer’s and dementia caregivers rate the emotional stress of caregiving as high or very high and one-third report symptoms of depression.
“It’s a lot,” Perry admitted. “It’s a terrible disease.”
The Respite Assistance Program is vital for those facing this disease every day,” said Stacy Tew-Lovasc, president/CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association St. Louis Chapter. “Caregiving is a rewarding, but tiring responsibility. By providing respite, caregivers are given the opportunity to refresh and rejuvenate themselves in order to continue giving quality care to their loved ones.”
Anyone who is caring for a loved one with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease should contact the Alzheimer’s Association, Perry added.
“It is really a great help, not just in assisting others but also in their respite program, there’s another part where people would come in and sit with your loved one as well,” Perry reminded. “And that’s a great help as well – to give you that break, that down time to kind of walk away. Because there are days where there’s a challenge and it can be very hard sometimes.”
The Alzheimer’s Association is currently accepting applications for the Respite Assistance Program. For information on how to apply or additional resources available in your community, or call 800-272-3900 or visit www.alz.org/stl.
