Caregiver Assessment
Do you provide unpaid care to a family member, friend, or neighbor who has an illness, disability, memory loss, injury, or special need? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are a caregiver! Are you feeling overwhelmed, constantly worried, tired, sad, easily irritated, and/or extremely stressed? You are not alone and there is support available. If you would like to learn more about resources, tools, and supports available for caregivers, please answer the following questions to get connected to the right starting place.
1. Are you over the age of 18 and caring for an older adult (age 60+)?
2. Are you over the age of 18 caring for an individual (any age) with Alzheimer’s disease or a related disorder (e.g., dementia, traumatic brain injury, mild cognitive impairment, chronic traumatic encephalopathy)?
3. Are you over the age of 55 and living with and caring for a child (not biological) under the age of 18?
4. Are you over the age of 55 and living with and caring for an adult (can be a biological child) aged 18-59 with a disability?
If you answered yes to any of the questions above, you are eligible for the National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP). If you would like to learn more about how this program can assist you, please take this short screen for an initial assessment of your wellbeing, and a Program Specialist will reach out to discuss the results. The evidence-based screener asks you to reflect on your experiences and respond to a series of statements based on identified rating scales in each section. This screener is used to help you and the Program Specialist better understand your situation and define an individualized plan to meet your unique caregiving needs.
If you answered no to all the questions above, or you are not interested in taking the evidence-based screen, there is still help available to you through the Any Care Counts - New York (ACC-NY) Campaign which recognizes and supports the millions of unpaid caregivers across the state! Through ACC-NY you can discover your caregiver intensity score by taking the ARCHANGELS Caregiver Intensity Index (CII). It takes just 2 minutes to complete. You will find out whether you are “in the red," "yellow" or "green," and be connected to trusted resources. Do you prefer to search resources on your own? Visit the NY Connects Resource Directory. NY Connects links individuals of all ages and their caregivers to long term services and supports and provides one stop access to free, objective, comprehensive information and assistance.
Do you provide unpaid assistance to a frail or disabled loved one on a regular basis? Then you are a caregiver! A caregiver can be a spouse, son, daughter, grandparent, or even a friend or neighbor. Providing care to others can be both rewarding and a challenge. At Niagara County Office for the Aging, we understand and are here to help care for you, while you care for others. Caregivers often feel tired, stressed, and overwhelmed. Not sleeping well, lack of energy, and feeling frustrated or irritable can be linked to the caregiving you provide.By taking a short assessment it will help us to determine the type of supports you need as a caregiver to help make your journey a little less stressful.
If you would like to start the assessment process and have a care manager contact you, please click the link below:
TCare Assessment
The TCARE (Tailored Caregiver Assessment and Referral Program) is designed to support family members who are providing care to adults, of any age, with chronic or acute health conditions. The process begins with an initial intake assessment to assess the caregiver and the care receiver. Key information is entered into a computer database, and scores are calculated for each of the key measures. The care manager is notified and will then contact you to offer the full assessment and to identify goals, strategies, and an initial list of recommended services and resources (e.g., respite services, skills training, cognitive behavioral therapy, family counseling) from a catalog of 90 types of services. These recommendations, including the type of services and the amount of services, are tailored to the caregiver’s needs, preferences, and availability. The care manager consults with the caregiver to discuss the findings and provides the caregiver with information to make informed choices on whether to use the recommended services and how the services will help with their caregiving needs. The process is repeated at 3-month intervals so that the care plan can be adjusted as appropriate.
If you have any questions about the TCARE assessment, contact a Caregiver Specialist at 716-438-4023. TCARE is an enterprise Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, grounded in the Caregiver Identity Theory and over 25 years of longitudinal studies, that assists care managers working with older adults, dementia patients, developmentally disabled individuals, disabled veterans, and their family caregivers. We are the only evidence-based, CMS 1115-Approved and ACL-Accredited solution for preventing family caregiver burnout. As a pioneer in the healthcare industry the TCARE protocol significantly reduces caregiver stress levels, service utilization and insurance expenses through precisely targeted interventions and customized care plans. Our system insights allow caregivers to delay nursing home placement which keep families together happier, healthier, and longer. Organizations using TCARE have affected positive change in the lives of over 100,000 family caregivers nationwide.