Who is the Family Caregiver?
Many families and individuals are caregivers to a loved-one who is afflicted with an illness, injury - or most commonly - an elder. These caregivers can be the daughters, sons, parents, spouse, siblings, other relatives, or even a friend of the person in need of assistance. They frequently make great personal sacrifices to provide care for their loved ones, sometimes to the detriment of their own health and wellbeing. Often, the family caregivers are the ones relied upon to provide care when they are at home. In fact, according to the National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA), the service provided by family caregivers represents 80% of all home care services. Due to the humility of many of these dedicated individuals, the everyday sacrifices of family caregivers are sometimes unrecognized and under-appreciated.
Click here to read more about the history of the National Family Caregiver of the Year award, and read about the 2009 award recipient.
How will the winners be recognized?
Homewatch CareGivers, the largest, most experienced international provider of full-service in-home care, is honored to recognize the care, compassion, and sacrifice of these family caregivers at both the local and national level.
Each local winner will receive a scholarship to Homewatch CareGivers University, our professionally developed online caregiver training platform, to help them develop new skills to better care for their loved one.
Local winners will be entered to win the grand prize of $5,000, and title of National Family Caregiver of the Year.
Rules and Guidelines
Overview of the Nomination and Judging Process
The National Family Caregiver of the Year Award nomination entries will be judged based on the magnitude of care and support provided to an individual, personal obstacles that were overcome in order to provide this care, health care industry obstacles faced on behalf of the individual receiving care, and the impact this care has ultimately had on the individual.
A third-party must submit each nomination, and it’s recommended that the nominator include a nomination letter of 500 words or less with the application. Homewatch CareGivers must be able to verify the individual for which the nominee provided care, and the nominee’s care must have been provided within the 12 months prior to July 31, 2010.
This year, the application will be available electronically. As applications come into our office, we’ll route them to the franchise partner nearest the nominee. Nominations must be received by July 31, 2010.
From these applications, a panel of care experts will select the winners. Ideally, these experts will include 5-6 highly placed individuals in the community. Examples: a CNO of a major hospital network, the executive director of a local disease organization, key individuals affiliated with Geriatric Case Manager’s Society, etc. Last year’s national panel consisted of individuals from several companies, including: AARP, CMSA (Case Management Society of America), CareScout/Genworth, AALTCI (American Association for Long Term Care Insurance), NPDA, Holiday Retirement and the National Alzheimer’s Association. New this year, the local panel will be aided in their endeavor by a selection that will be available on HomeShare, detailing some questions the panel can discuss to aid them in choosing their local winner.
Local winners will be announced September 1, 2010. The national winner will be announced October 25, 2010. All winning nominations should be prepared for possible interviews and media appearances.
About Homewatch CareGivers University
Homewatch CareGivers University will give an educational foundation, and the necessary skill set and confidence to help winners continue this very important labor of love. We believe that educated caregivers bring pride and confidence to their job. Homewatch CareGivers University is a professionally developed caregiver training platform designed to train caregiver employees, family members providing care and the greater community. It’s a one-stop training solution for all caregivers.