Programs offer respite to caregivers, help people stay at home

Published: 2003-11-10

ST. LOUIS (CNS) -- Jaclyn Meyer has looked at caregiving from all angles. She gained firsthand knowledge from her work at the Cardinal Ritter Institute, the St. Louis archdiocesan agency that serves older adults. Meyer, who has since retired from the institute, experienced receiving care for a time after she was laid up from hip surgery. And now she helps care for her older sister, Ann Meyer, in their home. Ann Meyer has Parkinson's disease and has daily visits from Home Helpers, a nonmedical home-care company that provides services to enable people to stay in their home as long as they are physically able and that gives caregivers a needed break. "With the help that's coming in, I'm able to have Ann stay at home," Jaclyn Meyer told the St. Louis Review, newspaper of the St. Louis Archdiocese. "She's taken care of by someone whose whole emphasis is on her. She's being taken care of very, very well. I'm pleased with the initiative they show -- how they make suggestions."

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