The Respite Education and Support Tools training program or REST will be offered at the end of the month on the UNMC campus.
18 individuals will be trained to travel throughout the state of Nebraska and offer training to paid and unpaid caregivers.
Those caregivers will then provide respite or short breaks to those caring for a loved one long-term.
Lois Shaeffer, REST Program Director, says as a whole, the respite system used to be based around people with disabilities but that has changed.
"As we have the baby boomers coming up, we know a lot of aging folks haven’t purchased long term care insurance because they just haven’t anticipated needing any kind of care which means they are planning on staying in their homes. So as their kids are trying to help them out and raise their own children, caregivers need breaks.”
Shaeffer says without breaks, caregivers have a tendency to burnout quickly. The breaks are necessary for them to sustain themselves.
The Respite Education and Support Tools training program will be offered at UNMC’s Munroe Meyer Institute April 28th and 29th.