Each year we collect over 1,000 coats, jackets, scarves, gloves, and mittens for the Road Home (the homeless shelter). If you can’t do anything more, please go through your closets and save those warm winter items for our ‘special elves’ to take to the Road Home. The drive begins the day after Thanksgiving and continues until December 22nd. After sponsoring this drive for the past five years, we can assure you that your donation is needed and appreciated. If you want a real ‘hands-on’ experience, we can always use volunteers for collection and delivery, coordination and media management. Call Home Caregivers for more information at 801.485.6166.

Candy Cane Corner: Each year at Christmas time, employees and staff of Home Caregivers donate time to assist the case managers at the Road Home (the homeless shelter) to staff their “Candy Cane Corner”. This is a ‘store’ for the homeless and residents of the Road Home to ‘buy’ gifts and articles of clothing for themselves and their children. This is a wonderful and rewarding experience. We especially need volunteers on Christmas Eve, yep, on Christmas Eve. This is when the entire ‘store’ must be dismantled and boxed up for the next year. Call Home Caregivers at 801.485.6166, if you want to have a meaningful volunteer experience.

“Somehow, there is nothing cooler than coming home late on Christmas Eve, all sweaty and sore and tired, but knowing you have helped in a meaningful way. I used to hang out with friends or gorge myself on delicious food on Christmas Eve, hitting the malls for last minute gifts or catching a movie, all the while anticipating all those presents the next day. Now I spend the day packing and moving boxes and eating stale donuts. It’s fantastic … and reminds me that this is the true meaning of Christmas. Thanks Home Caregivers for letting me take part.”
         ~ Sincerely, Charlie Ainscough, age 20 (Candy Cane Corner volunteer 2006).

Home Caregivers is proud to host meetings for the Living After Loss research project by the University of Utah. The  Living After Loss is both a program and a research study designed to help improve the quality of daily life of recently widowed men and women over the age of 50. Losing a spouse can impact nearly every aspect of one's life and usually requires emotional, social, physical, spiritual and other kinds of adjustments. We have found that many widows and widowers appear to adjust much better if they learn new skills and receive support through sharing experiences with others. Living After Loss is a free program that has been developed from over 25 years of research by faculty at the University of Utah, San Francisco State University and work done by others throughout the U.S. and other countries. We have learned a great deal about how to help people through their grief and be better prepared to manage many of the long-term adjustments that follow. The Program is not only for those who feel they are having the most difficulty, as the sharing and learning environment applies to everyone. This project is part of a larger research project funded by the National Institute on Aging. For more information, you can contact them at:

Salt Lake City phone: 801-581-7954 (with voice mail)
San Francisco phone: 415-405-7582 (with voice mail)
E-mail:livingafterloss@nurs.utah.edu

In conjunction with the Wasatch CNA Center, Home Caregivers offers tuition reimbursement for students obtaining their CNA certification through attendance at the school. Students must apply with Home Caregivers and must meet stringent requirements to qualify. The total cost is only $275.00, which is the lowest cost classes in the valley. With an employment agreement with Home Caregivers, you can recover the entire cost of the program over a one-year period.

The Wasatch C.N.A. Center is committed to the growth and well-being of aides trained in their program but also in promoting a positive regard and respect for all aides in the Salt Lake valley. For this reason, their C.N.A. classes, though a bit longer in duration than the required 80-hours, include a personal and professional development component, which emphasizes the skills necessary for aides to enjoy success in the field both professionally and personally. This development course is interwoven with the 80-hour program and includes information on: Self-esteem, Social Support and Fostering Positive Relationships, making an effective Back-Up plan for work and home, Fostering a Professional Identity, Career Advancement, Positive Thinking, Voting and Community Involvement – including volunteering, Networking for Success, Budgeting and Financial Management, establishing a Rainy Day Fund for emergencies, and Individual Development Accounts. Please call Home Caregivers at 801.485.6166 for more information on the tuition reimbursement program.

Home Caregivers is a proud and active member of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce. As a home health agency operating near the downtown area, we have an interest in the over-all issues confronting our community, especially as it affects long-term care, Medicaid and Medicare as well as other healthcare issues.

One measure to keep involved is participation in the Leadership Utah 2008 program, in which key members of companies from the valley come together once a month for lectures, tours and speakers, addressing a range of issues facing the valley. Acceptance to the program is selective and available only by application. Terri Holland, the administrator and co-owner of Home Caregivers selected as a participant in this program, will be attending their monthly meetings over the next year. If you have any interest in leadership training, please contact the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce. Although classes have already begun for Leadership Utah 2008, the Chamber offers many opportunities for organizations and groups to become involved in community activities, networking and planning the future of Salt Lake City. You can contact the Chamber at 801.364.3631 or find them on the web at www.saltlakechamber.org.