Community Services While every community is different, most offer services to lighten the load. Here is a list of the types of services that might be available in your area.   Help From Family And Friends Caring for a loved one is hard enough without trying to do it all yourself. How To Share The Care Ideas to form a caring network of family and friends, so caregivers won’t shoulder the burden alone.   Support For The Family Caregiver Ideas to help ease the burden on caregivers of terminally-ill loved ones.

Are you a faith-based leader looking to start or expand caregiving ministry work in your community?

This starting point provides general information on the caregiving phenomenon as well as the Leader's Guide, an administrative “How To“ kit for leaders who are starting or growing ministries.

The Leader's Guide addresses general concerns and administrative issues for any type of Caregiving Ministry. It offers suggestions for determining your congregations needs, developing programs, recruiting volunteers and persons in need of care, and maintaining programs by assessing success, locating existing resources in your community, and much more. The Leader's Guide is intended to be used in conjunction with all of the need-specific programs.

Glossary of caregiving terminology.

A Profile of Older Americans  The older population--persons 65 years or older--numbered 35.0 million in 2000. They represented 12.4% of the U.S. population, about one in every eight Americans. The number of older Americans increased by 3.7 million or 12.0% since 1990, compared to an increase of 13.3% for the under-65 population. However, the number of Americans aged 45-64 – who will reach 65 over the next two decades – increased by 34% during this period.

Emotional And Spiritual Health 
Caregiving is more than just monitoring medicines and driving to doctor’s appointments. Emotional and spriritual health are as important as one's physical condition.

Respect And Dignity 
Helping your loved one maintain a sense of dignity can be one of the most difficult aspects of caregiving.

The Caregiving Process
Caregiving is a process that evolves over time. Understanding and anticipating changing situations will help you be a better caregiver.

Survey of Fifteen States' Caregiver Support Programs  Family members and other informal caregivers are the backbone of our long term care system, providing largely unpaid assistance to loved ones with chronic illnesses or disabilities. An estimated one in three Americans, or about 52 million persons, care each year for one or more ill or disabled family members or friends of all ages (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1998).

The caregiver role results in enormous emotional, physical and financial hardships, even though it is willingly undertaken and often a source of great personal satisfaction.

Caregiving Basics
What is a caregiver? What does a caregiver do? Things to consider in the caregiving process.

Communications Skills
Communicating effectively is a key to maintaining a good caregiving relationship.

Good Listening Skills
Communicating effectively is often simply a matter of learning to listen. Get tips to help you be a better listener.

Dying As A Spiritual Event  can be a great source of comfort to both the dying person and his/her loved ones.

How To Be With A Dying Person  A guide to helping a loved one through the final days.

Taking A Spiritual Inventory  As death approaches, it’s natural to take spiritual stock of one’s life.

Talking About Death   is one of the most difficult tasks for caregivers.