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Participants complete caregiver training at NMC
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Posted on Dec 23 2015
Ten participants are presented with certificates of completion after undergoing training in caregiving at the Northern Marianas College. (Contributed Photo)
Ten participants recently completed 24 hours of training in caregiving with an emphasis on developmental disabilities, aging and physical disabilities at the Northern Marianas College, Nursing Program.
The training was made possible as part of a collaborative partnership with the CNMI Ayuda Network’s Commonwealth Respite Services Program and NMC’s Pacific Basin University Centers of Developmental Disabilities, according to UCEDD director Floyd Masga.
A caregiver is a person who helps another individual with impairment with his or her activities of daily living. Any person with health impairments might use caregiving services to address their difficulties. Caregiving is most commonly used to address impairments related to old age, disability, a disease, or a mental disorder.
Pamela Sablan, Developmental Disabilities Council executive director and Ayuda Network board chair, said that the Commonwealth may have as many as 800 families providing long-term care at home to family members with little or no help.
Public Law 14-36, or the Community Respite Services Program, was created to develop and encourage statewide coordination of respite services and to work with community-based private nonprofit or for-profit agencies, public agencies, and interested citizen groups in the establishment of community lifespan respite services programs.
With the increasingly aging population within the Commonwealth, the role of caregiver has been more recognized as an important one, both functionally and economically, Sablan said.
She said the typical duties of a caregiver might include taking care of someone who has a chronic illness or disease; managing medications or talking to doctors and nurses on someone’s behalf; helping to bathe or dress someone who is frail or disabled; or taking care of household chores, meals, or bills for someone who cannot do these things alone.
Nursing program director Rosa Tudela and nursing instructor Johnny Aldan handled the course, which was paid with federal funds made possible by a grant from the Pacific Basin University Centers of Developmental Disabilities. (NMC)
