Westchester County will expand its Livable Communities Caregiver Coaching Program with a $22,000 grant from the Westchester Community Foundation.
Caregiver coaches are volunteers trained by health care and social-work professionals to give family caregivers one-on-one support to better care for an older or disabled person. The coaching curriculum was developed by Fordham University”™s Ravazzin Center on Aging in Harrison. Since the program began about one year ago, 38 volunteers have been trained and 26 currently are matched with family caregivers.
The Westchester program is administered by the county”™s Department of Senior Programs and Services and is overseen by the Westchester Public-Private Partnership for Aging Services, which received the grant. Program coordinators said the funding will be used to hire a part-time Spanish-speaking person who has a master”™s degree in social work with a concentration in geriatrics.
There are an estimated 33,000 family caregivers in Westchester, according to the state Office for the Aging.
Westchester Community Foundation Executive Director Catherine Marsh said she hoped the grant will be the stimulus for other foundations and corporations to join in supporting the caregiver coaching program.