The Area Agency on Aging of the Capital Area, a division of CAPCOG, was the only Texas organization to attend the Caregiver Nation Summit in Washington D.C., hosted by the National Alliance for Caregiving, in October to discuss caregiver advocacy. AAACAP staff shared advocacy efforts conducted in the ten-county CAPCOG region and returned with additional best practices for providing consistent messaging, effective outreach and data analysis meant to enhance sharing the family caregiver’s story to improve their health and wellness.
“There are about 3.1 million family caregivers in Texas providing more than 2.9 billion hours of care,” said Patty Bordie, AAACAP director. “Today’s challenges with paid direct-care workforce shortages, makes it imperative that we support the — Caregiver Nation — of family caregivers.”
During the summit, AAACAP shared information collected from three family caregiver forums called Share Your Voice. The forums sought to develop a stronger coalition of family caregivers and craft uniform messaging and included strategy sessions to plan for approaches for raising community awareness about family caregiver supports. Caregivers who participated identified two important priorities: the creation of a local Caregiver 101 Guide with frequently asked questions and access points to begin their family caregiver journey, and a plan to support a Family Caregiver Advocacy Day.
The Changing the Care Conversation grant, which CAPCOG and AAACAP were awarded through the St. David’s Foundation, funded these projects.
