816-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 31,1988
Ethyl Barnes demonstrates hair care on Melanie
participants look on.
Help
ing Others Grow Old
BY BONNIE BRECHBILL
Franklin Co. Correspondent
CHAMBERSBURG Four
teen adults sit in a room trying to
sew buttons onto pieces of clo
thing while wearing rubber
gloves. Next, they try to do cross
word puzzles while wearing glas
ses that have one lens smeared
with Vaseline.
While these activities may
appear humorous to a casual
onlooker, they have a very serious
purpose. The people with the rub
ber gloves and smudged glasses
are learning about the problems an
elderly person with failing eye
sight and arthritis must face. The
obstructed lens of the glasses
simulates a cataract; the rubber
gloves make the hands clumsy, as
they are in persons with arthritis.
The participants in this exercise
are training to be VIPs Volun
teer Information Providers.
The Volunteer Information Pro
vider Program (VIPP) is an educa
tional program utilizing the Exten
sion network. It was originated by
Burton Halpert, Ph.D., at the Uni
versity of Missouri in 1985 and
was used in rural Missouri coun
ties for one year.
Training teams from ten states,
including Pennsylvania, went to
Kansas City, Missouri in January
1987 for three days of training. In
April 1987, the program began as
a pilot project in Union, Snyder,
Montour and Northumberland
Counties. The state training team
instructed the county teams, who
would eventually train the volun
teers. In November 1987 teams
from Cumberland, Adams and
Franklin Counties were trained.
Franklin County’s team consisted
of a nurse, a retired school admini
strator, the family living program
aide and six staff members from
the Area Agency on Aging. They
began training local volunteers in
April.
The program’s training manual
defines a Volunteer Information
Provider as someone who wants to
share helpful information with a
family member, friend, neighbor,
or any other person who is provid
ing care to an elderly family mem
ber. The caregiver may be assist
ing someone in the home on a dai
ly basis or helping with such
responsibilities as shopping,
meals, transportation, or locating
necessary services when needed.
The objectives of the program
are to help families, friends and
neighbors:
1. Deal with the stress of
caregiving.
2. Reduce the communication
problems between caregivers and
elderly persons.
3. Leant techniques for provid
ing personal care, such as lifting
and transferring an older person,
giving a bath or shower, self
dressing skills, etc.
4. Leant how to use medicines
wisely and deal more effectively
with health care resources to aid
elderly persons for whom they are
providing care.
3. Be able to identify and access
community resources that can
help elderly persons for whom
they are providing care.
An important point is that the
VIP provides information only
he or she does not take on caregiv
ing' tasks.
Sometimes, however, VIPs are
called upon to demonstrate care
giving skills.
Tawnya McNeill, a registered
nurse from Mercersburg, was
asked by her minister to attend the
two and a half day VIP training.
Shortly afterwards, she was
able to share information with a
neighbor whose husband had
recently had open heart surgery.
McNeill demonstrated to the
neighbor the proper technique for
getting the man safely out of bed.
McNeill is active in social mini
stry in her church. She gave a talk
to the church’s senior citizens on
how to give a bed bath, why a bed
ridden person must be turned
often, and on the aging process in
general.
A half day of the course was
spent on such aspects of the aging
process as Sensory Deprivation,
Physical Changes, Mental
Changes, Emotional Aspects, and
Environmental Adaptions.
Blue Ridge Summit resident
Melanie Mcßryde, another VIP,
shares information when she visits
the elderly of her church. She has
also arranged for a nurse to speak
to the Prime Timers (over 55) of
the church on the aging process.
Mcßryde often stays with eder
ly persons so that the caregiver
can go out for little while. The
course helped make her aware of
the stresses involved in caring for
the elderly.
“Caregivers must realize that
le as
Gracefully
they’re not superman,” Mcßryde
said. “They need to let others
help.”
While stress may arise from the
day to day care of an elderly per
son, other areas may also induce
stress. According to VIP McNeill,
the course helped participants to
understand the guilt many people
feel about placing their parents in
a nursing home. They may there
fore decide to take their parents
into their own home and care for
them, “but then they have less
time for their own family,” which
is also guilt-producing, McNeill
said.
Stress reduction techniques
taught in the program include
deep breathing, progressive relax
ation of the muscles, and visuali
zation. Physical symptoms of
stress include dry mouth, pound
ing heart, change in appetite, fre
quent urination, and the urge to
scream, cry or run.
Another helpful aspect of the
program was the emphasis on
referral services. Because
Mcßryde is not native to the area,
she did not know what services are
available locally to the elderly.
“The local government and the
civic clubs all have certain ser
vices that they provide such as
legal aid or transportation,”
Mcßryde said.
Although McNeill is a nurse,
the information on referral ser
vices was new to her. “I work in
critical care,” she explained. “I
never had to make referrals for at
home care the social services
department takes care of that.”
While referral information is
relatively easy and straightfor
ward for a volunteer to share with
a caregiver, some of the informa
tion VIPs are expected to get
across is a bit more touchy. They
are well instructed in ways to
teach information tactfully.
In the introduction to their
Resource Manual, volunteers are
told:
“Having information to share is
not unlike being a salesperson.
First thing you have to do is to dis
cover what the person is like.
Some people are very private and
hesitate to let others know then
needs. Others don’t want to admit
they need help. In approaching
this type of person, it is important
to be indirect. For example:
(Turn to Pago B 20)
See your nearest
I\EW HOLLAIND
Dealer for Dependable
Equipment and Dependable
Service:
PENNSYLVANIA
Baaverlown, PA
B&R Farm
Equipment, Inc
RD 1, Box 217 A
717-658-7024
Belleville, PA
Ivan J Zook
Farm Equipment
Belleville, Pa
717-935-2948
Canton, PA
Hess Farm Equipment
717-673-5143
Carlisle, PA
Paul Shovers, Inc.
35 East Willow Street
717-243-2686
Chambarsburg, PA
Clugston
Implement, Inc.
R.D. 1
717-263-4103
Davldsburg, PA
George N. Gross, Inc.
R.D. 2. Dover, PA
717-292-1673
Elizabethtown, PA
Messick Farm
Equipment, Inc.
Rt 283 - Rheem’s Exit
717-367-1319
Gettysburg, PA
Yingling Implements,
Inc.
3291 Taneytown Rd.
717-359-4848
Greencastle, PA
Meyers
Implement's Inc.
400 N. Antrim Way
P.O. Box 97
717-597-2176
Halifax, PA
Sweigard*Bros.
R.D. 3, Box 13
717-896-3414
Hamburg, PA
ShaiHesville
Farm Service
R.D. 1, Box 1392
215-488-1025
Honay Brook, PA
Dependable Motor Co
East Main Street
215-273-3131
215-273-3737
Honay Grove, PA
Norman D. Clark
& Son, Inc.
Honey Grove, PA
717-734-3682
Hugheeville, PA
Farnsworth Farm
Supplies, Inc
103 Cemetery Street
717-584-2106
Lancaster, PA
Lancaster Ford
Tractor, Inc.
1655 Rohrerstown Rd
717-569-7063
Loyevllle, PA
Paul Shovers, Inc
Loysville, PA
717-789-3117
New Holland, PA
ABC Groff, Inc
110 South Railroad
717-354-4191
Oley, PA
C.J. Wonsidler Bros.
RD. 2
215-987-6257
Pitman, PA
Schreffler Equipment
Randy L. Schreffler
Pitman, PA
717-648-1120
Quakerlown, PA
C.J. Wonsidler Bros
R.D. 1
215-536-1935
Quarryvllle, PA
C.E. Wiley & Son, Inc
101 South Lime Street
717-786-2895
Rlngtown, PA
Rmgtown Farm
Equipment
Ringtown, PA
717-889-3184
Tamaqua, PA
Charles S. Snyder, Inc
RD. 3
717-386-5945
West Grove, PA
S.Q Lewis & Son, Inc
R.D. 2. Box 66
215-869-2214
MARYLAND
Churchvllle, MD
Walter G. Coale, Inc
2849-53
Churchvllle Rd
301-734-7722
Frederick, MD
Ceresville
Ford New Holland, Inc
Rt 26 East
301-662-4197
Outside MD,
800-331-9122
Hagaratown, MD
Antietam Ford Tractor
301-791-1200
NEW JERSEY
Bridgeton, N.J.
Leslie G. Fogg, Inc.
Canton & Stow Creek
Landing Rd.
609-451-2727
609-935-5145
Washington, NJ
Frank Rymon & Sons
201-689-1464
Woodstown, NJ
Owen Supply Co
Broad Street &
East Avenue
609-769-0308