Caregiving is difficult under the best circumstances, but the spread of the coronavirus and resulting need for social distancing has left many caregivers unable to visit their loved ones. Although families are banding together to support family members they can’t see, and there are still ways to support your loved ones in nursing homes, it is still incredibly hard to adapt to a new way of providing care.
Luckily, Nourish for Caregivers, can help. The nonprofit was founded by Deb Kelsey-Davis and Kelly Johnson, who banded together after becoming caregivers themselves and noticing the lack of community.
Deb and Kelly met at their local parish and decided to create a curriculum to support caregivers through weekly meetings at their church.
“It gives the churches the tools in order to minister to family caregivers,” Kelly said.
As the coronavirus began to spread, Deb and Kelly began to hear from caregivers about how social distancing was changing—or not changing—how they provided care.
Deb and Kelly explained that some caregivers feel unaffected because they are always isolated in caring for their loved one, while others are unable to have healthcare nurses come into the home or visit their loved one in nursing homes.
Nourish quickly stepped up to provide support and community for those caregivers who are struggling. To do this, they started offering “house calls.”
“House calls are a daily virtual support group,” Kelly explained. “[The group] is centered on prayer and something we call Scripture RX, where we look at a piece of scripture, a part of scripture and how that [Scripture] is relating to what caregivers are going through now.”
The house call attracts some people every day and some who only pop in once a week or so. Those interested in joining the daily gathering can sign up on Nourish’s website.
Another way Nourish is helping is through the library on their website, which collects dozens of articles and resources to help caregivers in all situations. Nourish is also providing resources on their Facebook page and through their newsletters, which they are sending out more frequently to provide the most up to date information possible.
In the meantime, they want caregivers to know they’re not alone.
“We spoke this morning about the decisions, responsibilities, [the need] to anticipate things that we didn’t need to anticipate before,” Deb said. “Then we talked about the serenity prayer. That brings peace to a lot of caregivers to really truly look at what you can control and what you can’t control.”
For more information and resources visit NourishForCaregivers.com.
