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Interfaith CarePartners’
signature educational service program was created by its
founders in 1985. At the time, Dr. Earl Shelp was teaching
medical ethics at institutions in the Texas Medical Center. His
research assistant’s diagnosis with AIDS prompted a pledge by
Dr. Shelp and Dr. Ronald Sunderland (professor of pastoral
theology and pastoral care) to participate in his support and
care. In order to meet this challenge, Drs. Shelp and
Sunderland began to relate to medical staff and patients in an
AIDS treatment clinic. They observed firsthand the intense
needs of people with AIDS for basic assistance with daily tasks
and the companionship of non-judgmental people. They observed
that these patients often had no family or other support system,
including no compassionate and non-judgmental support from faith
communities.
Drs. Shelp and Sunderland began
to provide hands-on care for people with HIV/AIDS who were in
their last days and alone. They realized that the needs were
greater than one or two people could meet for a prolonged time
so they recruited a few other clergy friends to constitute a
team of volunteer caregivers who would coordinate and share in
the care of people with AIDS. This initial response to provide
home care and support was the prototype for the Care Team®
concept and method of volunteer caregiving.
In consultation with community
clergy, Drs. Shelp and Sunderland began in 1986 to recruit
members of congregations to form an
AIDS Care Team®
to provide a ministry of presence and practical assistance with
people with HIV/AIDS. This formalization of a grassroots
congregation-based caregiving ministry followed publication of
the landmark article discussing the AIDS epidemic from a
theological and ministry perspective in September 1985.
Additional articles, books, and presentations by Drs. Shelp and
Sunderland spurred the development of specialized AIDS
ministries in many cities and communities across the nation.
Drs. Shelp and Sunderland
continued to develop and coordinate the AIDS Care Team project
as they maintained their academic responsibilities until
September 1988 when they founded Interfaith CarePartners to
continue the development of the Care Team concept and methods of
volunteer caregiving. They recognized that the concept and
practices of shared caregiving could assist individuals and
families facing other chronic debilitating conditions at home.
A Care Team could as easily be a secondary support system, a
surrogate and extended family, to others who needed basic
assistance to remain at home.
By 1992, therapies for AIDS and
government funded social services were enabling people to be
more independent and self-sufficient than had been possible
since the epidemic began (1981). These positive developments in
AIDS allowed Drs. Shelp and Sunderland to apply the principles
and practices of Care Team ministry to individuals and families
coping with special support needs caused by other diagnoses and
conditions.
In 1992, the Care Team concept
was adapted to meet the needs of caregivers and persons with
Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia.
The Alzheimer’s Care
Team® project was launched to fill a gap in
congregational care of people with dementia and their caregivers
who were members of the congregation sponsoring an Alzheimer’s
Care Team or neighbors in the community. Team members provide
individualized social, emotional, spiritual, and respite care to
caregivers who often are overwhelmed and isolated. They engage
persons with dementia in appropriate conversations and
activities for periods of time which enable caregivers to rest
or attend to other needs. Direct care of persons with dementia
may occur in the family’s home or at a ‘Gathering Place’
activity program at the Team’s congregation.
The
Second Family Care Team®
project was launched in 1994 to respond to the long term support
needs of adults who are cognitively intact but increasingly
impaired by a debilitating physical condition. Most of the
people served by a Second Family Care Team are older adults
whose support systems are overwhelmed, inadequate, or
non-existent. Teams participating in this project serve adults
of all ages, conditions, and needs that are appropriate for
laypeople to address. The Second Family Care Team project again
filled a gap in a congregation’s care of its older members and
younger adults typically not served by existing ministries for
short term needs.
In 2000, the
Kids’ Pals Care Team®
project began to provide respite care for parents and family
members caring at home for a physically or neurologically
impaired child. Studies of these families document a desire for
respite which can ease some of the stresses of caregiving that
may contribute to marital discord or adjustment problems among
other children. As with the other Care Team projects, this
initiative fills a void in a congregation’s compassionate
ministry with members and neighbors facing these challenges
alone.
Caregivers are encouraged to take
care of themselves so that they may provide quality care for a
loved one as long as it may be required. Research shows that
caregivers experience less ‘burden’ when they have access to
multiple forms of support. Care Team members are a sustaining
presence to caregivers and provide many forms of practical
assistance and respite. The home-based support of Care Team
members was supplemented in 2002 with educational and
skill-building conferences for caregivers and in 2008 with
Common Ground: Caregiver Conversations, a professionally
facilitated support group program for caregivers.
The pioneering and innovative
caregiving programs of Interfaith CarePartners have earned a
national reputation for excellence (see
Awards).
Interfaith CarePartners promotes caregiving nationally by
sharing its expertise and practices with congregations and
faith-based organizations (see
Consultation and Replication).
Even though Interfaith CarePartners is delighted to share its
expertise and practices with other organizations, Care Team®,
AIDS Care Team®, Alzheimer’s Care Team®,
Second Family Care Team®, Kids’ Pals Care Team®,
and Interfaith CarePartners® are registered
trademarks which cannot be used by other organizations without
permission of Interfaith CarePartners.
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