CareGiver360

In a previous posting I recounted my travel experiences in the mid-to-late 1980’s. One of those trips was to Honduras when I met with a Honduran relief and development agency that was assisting rural and very poor communities throughout the country. It was an enlightening experience for me as I was able to observe an agency committed to caring for its people in a manner uncommon to the approach used in the United States.

 The agency focused on four main areas of relief and development: medical, education, agricultural and livestock. If these four areas could be addressed then the community stood a much greater chance of improving their living conditions. With such a wonderful opportunity before it what did the agency do? It waited. It waited until the community could demonstrate it could sustain the improvements the service agency was going to provide them. The agency knew from experience that if the community was lacking the will and leadership to work through the tough times, they would give up and the project would not only fail, but leave the community feeling even more discouraged.

In order to help the community succeed in the tough times the agency required the community to select four leaders - one for each of the areas of the relief and development effort. The leaders were then required to spend a year preparing for their role. Part of the preparation involved meeting with the agency at a location outside of their community and part of the time was spent meeting with the members of the community to gain their confidence and understand their expectations. This approach, although often seen as tough love, resulted in an amazingly high rate of long-term success.

 The lesson for us is that effective caregiving cannot take place in isolation. We must prepare for the long-term challenges. We must engage a larger group of individuals, some of whom may be family and friends and other that may be paid professionals and service agencies. We must learn all we can about the tasks we will be undertaking, the experience and expectations of the support team, and the unique needs of the individual for whom we will be providing care. If we embrace this long-term perspective we will greatly increase the odds of success for a highly quality life for the people we love so dearly.