Caregiver Advisor

Talk to your Caregiver Advisor:

• If you are a caregiver who needs information, support, or advocacy
• If you are a professional who wants assistance supporting a caregiver (e.g. as your primary client or the family member of a patient/client), or
• If you are interested in learning more about training programs for professionals who want to better support caregivers.

Please do not hesitate to contact Lori Therrien, RSW, our Caregiver Advisor:

In Edmonton: (780) 453-5088
Toll-Free: 1-877-453-5088
Email: advisor@AlbertaCaregivers.org

The Alberta Caregivers works in partnership with Eldercare Edmonton to provide Caregiver Advisor services in the Capital Region. Caregivers for a senior in Edmonton are invited to contact Tove (pronounced Toe-va) Nielsen:

Phone: (780) 444-2273
Email: t.nielsen@eldercareedmonton.ca

About the Caregiver Advisor Concept

“Caregiver Advisor” is a concept that was developed independently by the ACGA and coincidentally exists in a slightly different form in some American states. Ultimately, the Caregiver Advisor concept is intended to help caregivers find and access useful resources and services to make their lives less difficult.

One facet of the concept is an in-house professional (e.g. social worker or nurse) who provides one-to-one support, advocacy, and linkage for caregivers in the interests of helping them resolve critical issues now and prepare for challenges later. This staff position arose from the expressed need of caregivers to have someone who would work on their behalf, not solely for the care recipient as many professionals are trained and mandated to do. In other words, the Caregiver Advisor works exclusively with and for the benefit of the caregiver.

The primary objectives for the role at this early stage in its development include:

• Providing one-to-one support, linkage, and advocacy to caregivers
• Gathering information resources that could benefit caregivers
• Establishing two-way relationships with other service providers and professionals, especially those serving seniors, families affected by illness or disability, or special groups like immigrant and Aboriginal communities
• Developing “tool kits” and protocols for preparing caregivers who will inevitably face certain challenges in the future (e.g. a caregiver of a person with Alzheimer Disease needs to think about long-term care and associated financial issues)
• Learning from cases to foster ongoing development of the Caregiver Advisor role and process improvement