AARP’s Cheyenne Office Will Host Dementia Caregiver Webinars

The Wyoming Center on Aging (WYCOA) and Wyoming’s chapter of The Alzheimer’s Association offer a webinar series for caregivers, friends, and family of dementia patients. The webinars may be seen online, or at a viewing site around the state, including the AARP State Office in Cheyenne.

The webinar series takes place each Friday starting May 11 and running through June 8 and will feature a different topic specific to caregivers of dementia patient each week. The webinars focus on providing family care partners information and resources related to dementia and self-care.

“We have been working with dementia caregivers for several years and one key thing that we have learned is that there is so much uncertainty among caregivers about where to turn for accurate information about the disease, how to find quality care and resources, and taking care of themselves as the caregiver, ” says WyCOA Associate Director Catherine Phillips Carrico, Ph.D. “Everyone feels like they need to learn more. I think that is what we have considered when developing this project.”

The topic schedule for the webinars, which take place from 10:30-11:30 a.m. are –

• May 11 – Advance Care Planning
• May 18 – Caregiver Values in Action
• May 25 – Identifying Community Resources
• June 1 – Medicare Made Easy
• June 8 – Medicaid – What you need to know

Caregivers interested in viewing the webinars from home may do so by contacting WYCOA at www.uwyo.edu/wycoa, emailing WyCOA at wycoa@uwyo.edu, or by calling (307) 766-2829.

The webinars may also be viewed at the AARP Wyoming office at 2020 Carey Avenue, Mezzanine Level in Cheyenne free of charge. AARP Wyoming’s office is one of roughly 25 viewing sites for the webinars statewide. The others include:

“These webinars will be very easy to join,” says Carrico. “Viewers may join from a computer, a smartphone or a host site in your local community. We will also be recording these sessions and will have them available for viewing online after the event.”

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, there are 16.1 million Americans battling Alzheimer’s Disease. Wyoming currently has around 9,700 Alzheimer’s patients in the state being taken care of by 28,000 caregivers.

The webinar series is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the US Department of Health and Human Services through a Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program awarded to the Wyoming Center on Aging.