Caring for others requires caring for oneself - an understandable statement but not always easy to implement for those who dedicate their lives to the service of others. This one-hour webinar will examine the issues that cause caregiver burnout, and offer some solutions to keep caregivers refreshed, rejuvenated and able to balance care for themselves, as well as those in their care.

Long-term care providers may find themselves facing unparalleled challenges, resiliency skills are crucial to maintaining the belief that individual efforts do impact results, and keeping focused on the goal of assisting others.

The results of this uncertainty can be to inhibit creativity, to reinforce rigid thinking, and to increase the stress that individuals experience. In order to meet the growing demands of the workplace, long-term care providers need to develop strategies for professional/ personal life enhancement and move toward the positive "know-shun" of knowing what needs to be done and shunning depowering approaches. This program is organized around the principle that resiliency is a skill set that can be developed and enhanced. The program offers the individual the opportunity to improve personal and organizational performance

Proactive person-centered care helps us to understand the needs of the resident and the care giver, it helps to strengthen and maintain trusting relationships. The latest advances in technology can make this easier. Based on the results of a study led by The Avila Institute and the Center for Excellence and Aging and Community Wellness, this presentation will discuss the fundamental components of person-centered care and how technology can be used to achieve it. Programs such as"It's Never 2 Late"are successful in implementation, helping communication between resident and caregiver, engaging residents - decreasing behaviors and creating a learning environment. It allows for individual choice and preference. Caregivers can benefit by accessing residents'life stories, background, personal interests and creates more consistent care across the care team. The Retirement Research Foundation of Illinois funded the grant.

The presentation reviews the current trends in U.S. Adults, how it relates to the aging population, and how the growing rates of obesity contribute to significant health issues. There are direct links between the higher body mass index and the quality of life in the elder generations. The higher BMI index also contributes to a host of other medical illnesses including the five most expensive health conditions.

Historically, it was assumed that rapid aging and dementia symptoms were the result of genetics and biology. The only way to age gracefully was to choose our parents carefully and preserve our biological processes. Only in this manner could we avoid rapid and progressive loss of memory, conscious processing and executive abilities. In this antiquated scheme the environment was seen as a background factor of which the prime factors of genetics and aging biological processes reacted. Dementia and increased frailty were viewed as an unavoidable, and progressive decline. Long term care was seen as a means to manage this decline as gracefully as possible. This presentation documents the aging process from a genetic and biological perspective by reporting research findings on those few, irreversible losses and also by reporting the myriad of age related changes which are reversible. These findings are then used to demonstrate interventions that may be used to minimize and override genetic and biological losses through the use of an enriched and adaptive environment.

This session will focus on the possible contributing factors of falls in the older adult and will discuss the importance of determining the root cause.

This webinar is designed to provide some insight and helpful hints to assist those working with elder religious as well as those seeking a way to meet the challenges of aging and the on-going spiritual journey.

Speaker: Sr. M. Peter Lillian Di Maria, O.Carm., BA, LNHA, DCP
Director of the Avila Institute of Gerontology in Germantown, New York

Speaker: Howard Gleckman, B.A.
Resident Fellow at The Urban Institute, Author "Caring for Our Parents"

Speaker: Fr. Thomas Nairn, O.F.M., Ph.D.
Senior Director, Ethics at the Catholic Health Association

Speaker: Alfred W. Norwood, BS, MBA
President and Founder of Behavior Science, Inc

Speaker: Alfred W. Norwood, BS, MBA
President and Founder of Behavior Science, Inc

Speaker: Sr. M. Peter Lillian Di Maria, O.Carm. Director, Avila Institute of Gerontology
Co Sponsored by the National Religious Retirement Office