Tuesday, July 08, 2008

NEWS

North Carolina Leaders Seek to Replicate CARE NET Concept

The twelve Georgia CARE-NETs met in September for their quarterly meeting. Georgia’s CARE-NETs are coalitions of caregiver support organizations representing family and professional caregivers. There were special guests at the meeting – individuals from North Carolina who have heard about the successful CARE-NET concept and are considering replicating it in a portion of their state.

Representatives from the United Way of Central Carolinas and a community leader from Moorseville, North Carolina visited. This community leader is interested in working with the United Way to organize a CARE-NET in the Charlotte region. The Georgia CARE-NET liaisons presented details about their individual CARE-NETs, describing their members, their programs, and unique aspects of their region.

In other CARE-NET business, RCI staff updated the attendees on various RCI initiatives, including the Telephone Learning Series, the National Summit and Healthcare Georgia Foundation Grant. The CARE-NETs have been very instrumental in marketing RCI programs to interested parties throughout the state.

Gayle Alston reported that all twelve Care-Nets submitted nominees for the Georgia Caregivers of the Year Awards. She said there were some wonderful nominees, which would make the selection process very difficult. The Georgia Family Caregiver of the Year, the Georgia Para-Professional Caregiver of the Year, and the Georgia Volunteer Caregiver of the Year will be honored at the Awards Gala on October 25 at the National Summit.

Representatives from Emory Healthcare-Fuqua Center for Late-Life Depression were also on hand at the meeting to make a presentation about their latest program. Their successful program provides peer counseling for older adults suffering from depression.