Local caregivers get free support under new partnership

In late May, the New York State Office for the Aging (NYSOFA) announced that it and the Association on Aging in New York had partnered with Trualta — a company and platform that provides evidence-based caregiver training and support — to make Trualta’s full catalog available for free for any caregiver in New York state.

New York residents can access the service at newyork-caregivers.com. Users will need to fill out some personal information as well as content preferences based on their caregiving situation, and once registered, they can “select personalized training and track their progress on topics like self-care, stroke recovery, dementia care, medication management and more,” according to NYSOFA (tinyurl.com/2ykkxg8t).

As Jackson explained, she had her eye on Trualta before NYSOFA announced its partnership, hearing about it while on a Zoom call and immediately thinking it sounded like a good resource. So, she got in touch with Leda Rosenthal, director of growth at Trualta, to talk about bringing Trualta’s services to county caregivers.

“After discussing it further, we decided to wait a bit and keep it as an option for an addition to future caregiver programming,” Jackson explained in an email.

Fortunately, Jackson didn’t have to wait long.

“All of a sudden, we found out that NYSOFA had actually been in talks with Trualta, … and then NYSOFA bought the rights or whatever it is for all of New York state, for all the counties, to use the program,” she told Tompkins Weekly. “So, I was like, ‘This is wonderful. Good thing we didn’t do this a few months ago.’ … I think it’s a really important piece for caregivers, or will be when it becomes more popular. But that’s how I learned about Trualta, because I actually wanted to bring it to our county, and then the state ended up [supporting it], so it worked out really well.”

Trualta’s platform includes offerings like videos, articles, courses and toolkits, and Jackson said the topics covered are expansive.

“You can look up any topics — for example, how to get the keys away when mom or dad needs to stop driving and how to navigate that with them, how to have that conversation,” she said. “From what I’ve seen, it’s not just resources; it’s some self-care pieces and stuff like that. … And they’re adding all the time. So, as people find things that aren’t on there, if they message Trualta, let them know, they look into and add them. They just added a bunch more in the last couple of weeks of some new topics.”

While the local Office for the Aging does provide many resources to support county caregivers, Jackson said Trualta helps to fill in the gaps.

“I see it as being a very good resource,” she said. “In this day and age, so many people, they’re on their phone or on their computer in the late hours. They can’t necessarily have time to talk to someone, but they can quickly look up something on a database when they have a chance, especially caregiving. You don’t know when you’re going to have that free time. So, having a database like that, once it starts becoming more popular, I think it’s going to be really good.”

Though the local Office for the Aging is still working to promote Trualta’s services across the county, the platform has already shown considerable success in other markets.

According to NYSOFA, a 2021 study in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease Reports “found a high rate of retention and engagement among caregivers who used the Trualta platform to support their care for loved ones with dementia.” Data showed 84% of participants used at least one skill they learned from Trualta and 56% allocated more time for self-care after using Trualta.

That attention to self-care is especially important for Jackson, who said it’s often not something caregivers prioritize.

“Caregivers always put themselves last because there’s no time,” she said. “So, I preach a lot of self-care. … It makes a big difference. You get overtired or too stressed out, and then you’re snapping at your loved one when you don’t need to. And it’s totally understandable. But, I always tell caregivers, try to take a few minutes somewhere in the day, fit it in, because it really is important.”

Jackson added that, when caregivers take care of themselves, they can better take care of their loved ones, which is particularly important in a day and age when more people are wanting to age in place, meaning stay in their own home for as long as possible.

“It’s, first of all, cost savings because it’s very expensive to go in a facility,” she said. “And obviously, being at home and aging in place is more ideal than going to a facility where you’re not home, you don’t have the comforts of home. You also don’t have the independence because that’s a huge thing, aging in place. People want to be in their own home; they don’t want to give up their independence.”

In addition to Trualta, Jackson explained other offerings her office provides to support caregivers, like personal emergency response systems (PERS), elder care managers, friendly visitor programs, educational presentations and, as mentioned in January’s Thinking Ahead, companion pets (tinyurl.com/2cw5uefz).

“In our office, we have two outreach workers that will go out and install the PERS and show people how to use the units,” she said. “If the person is still a little bit more independent and can go outside and go for a walk by themselves, GPS unit is wonderful for that. We obviously have all the caregiver support services. So, we have the weekly group for caregivers. And we have a whole library in our office of caregiver services. I also do monthly caregiver presentations, so I bring in a guest speaker every month on a topic.”

For Jackson and others at the Office for the Aging, all this work is a labor of love to show caregivers just how important they are and help make their jobs easier.

“Any way we can support caregivers is wonderful,” she said. “I’m always looking for new ways to support them, trying to find out what I can do to support them, because obviously, everyone has different needs. But I just it’s so important. Without caregivers, everybody would be placed somewhere. They wouldn’t have a choice. So, caregivers tend to downplay that they’re even a caregiver in a lot of cases. They don’t think of themselves as being an important piece, but they’re definitely important.”

For more information about Trualta, visit trualta.com. To view its full catalog, visit the previously listed website.

Thinking Ahead appears in the fourth edition of each month in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@VizellaMedia.com.