MURFREESBORO - The 50+ Boomers are now becoming the care givers for their parents. The first annual Lean On Me Caregiver Conference is set for 9:00 o'clock Saturday morning, June 14th, at Southeast Baptist Church, 708 Minerva Drive. Refreshments and lunch are provided, plus registration is free at www.leanonme2014.eventbrite.com or phone 615-430-7612. Space is limited.
No one can tell the future, but you can learn about what to expect. Today’s Boomers are turning 65 at a rate of more than ten thousand a day. The unfolding numbers are crushing. According to census extrapolations of 2010 the U.S. now has a population in excess of 50 million people aged 65 and older. This number now grows at a rate of more than 3.5 million per year extending outward for the next 15 years.
Experts predict that these staggering numbers will outstrip the government’s ability to manage our current health care system, if it hasn’t already.
Additionally, our now fragile system will have little choice but to continue in shifting the burden back to home care. The expanding pressure on care giving at home continues to rise each year. Sadly, there is no easy or inexpensive fix.
The learning experience can be equally as beneficial to area churches. Shut-in members of church families are sometimes fending for themselves almost alone or being cared for by an exhausted spouse or family member. A significant number of these families have little to no experience in taking care of the home bound.
Expanding church outreach programs now include this type of forward thinking. Educating church congregations to become more effective in tending to their shut in members has always been a staple church mission. Today the mission is being accelerated.
What to expect
Family and professional care givers can expect advice from physicians specialized in aging and disability, care giver advocates, insurance advisers, Social Security specialists, elder law professionals, homecare and facility coordinators and specialists in locating funding for home care.
Who Should Attend?
Children of aging parents, parents caring for children, spousal caregivers, long-distance care givers, grandparent care givers, church committee members, volunteer and professional caregivers.
Again, the Lean On Me Caregiver Conferences is set for Saturday, June 14th at Southeast Baptist Church. Doors open at 8:00 o'clock that morning, meetings begin at 9:00AM and continue until 2:00 that afternoon.
Rutherford Senior Connections is a not for profit ministry working in conjunction with Greenhouse Ministries.
