25 Weeks of Gratitude: University of Central Arkansas, I-TAP program
Caring for the caregiver
The last several weeks have been emotional ones for Jennifer Hobbs.
After devoting almost a decade of care to Wayne, her husband of 47 years, she determined it was best for his health and her own to move him to a memory care center close to their longtime home in Conway.
The change is difficult, but Jennifer attributes the University of Central Arkansas’ Interprofessional Therapeutic Activity Program (I-TAP) for giving her the support she needs and allowing her to have more quality time with Wayne.
“Finding this program has been life-changing for us,” Jennifer said.
A grant from Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas, along with an earlier grant, helped make the sessions possible. The Foundation* has provided such assistance throughout the state for the past 25 years.
Jennifer was holding everything together at home, both the household chores and her husband’s care. As the sole caregiver for him, she tried to slip out occasionally for brunch with her friends, but as he progressed, her time for herself decreased.
She learned about the I-TAP program, a lifeline for people living with dementia and their caregivers. It offers multiple programs to help caregivers and their loved ones with Alzheimers disease and related dementias. Its Student-Led Therapeutic Activity Program (S-TAP) offers weekly sessions of intensive physical and cognitive stimulation from students and faculty in health professions for those with dementia during the spring and fall semesters. It also gives their caregivers some respite, a three-hour block of free time for themselves.
“My husband loved it because he got to go somewhere and talk to other people for three hours,” she said, laughing. “And it gave me a chance to have brunch with my friends again, run some errands or just get out of the house, instead of feeling like a prisoner.”
The second part of the program is the biweekly support group meeting for the caregivers, where they connect with others and learn new information from experts, while elsewhere, the UCA students engage with their loved ones in a separate group.
Caregivers and the people they care for are also offered workshops to teach them how to engage in meaningful activities at home. The program offers personalized, one-on-one coaching sessions for caregivers, tailored to each family’s specific needs.
Coached caregivers also receive a caregiving notebook that is divided into sections on various problems or issues they may encounter, along with advice during their coaching sessions on how to address them.
In his younger years, Wayne, now 70, an Air Force veteran, was social, vibrant and active. He loved flying, hang gliding and hiking in the wilderness. Through the military, he and Jennifer moved to Colorado and Spain before returning to Arkansas.
As Wayne aged, his heart began to fail. He received a stent in his heart at 48, then two double bypasses, and after a heart attack in 2018 a pacemaker was installed.
Being outgoing and sociable, Wayne hid it for years, but he was also showing signs of dementia. That November, he was let go from his job because he was no longer able to perform his duties. Jennifer kept working, trying to reach 65 before retiring.
Whenever she’d leave the house for quick errands or work her two jobs, he’d occupy himself by disassembling items in the home. Then there were his increasing falls, and the battles about eating and showering. When he began wandering from home, she knew the time had come.
“I almost made it; I was eight months away from turning 65,” she said.
Enrolling in the I-Tap program also proved educational in ways Jennifer hadn’t expected. She discovered her husband’s dementia was much more advanced than she realized.
“When I talked with the program director, Kerry Jordan, PhD, RN, she told me that he didn’t know how to use a paintbrush or get on the equipment to exercise. This was very revealing because those were situations that he and I would not encounter together.”
Instead, the director found new ways to connect with Wayne, from dancing to his favorite pop rock music from the 70s and 80s to discussing his favorite hobby with him.
“When she pulled up hang gliding videos for him to watch, he just came alive and started telling her all about the sport,” Jennifer said.
“The support of the I-Tap programs has been wonderful because I’ve met people who are going through the same experiences, emotions and frustrations that I am going through,” Jennifer said.
“Being a caregiver is very different when it’s your spouse. You are losing the person who has been your partner, your closest friend. You really are losing a part of yourself.”
In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Blue & You Foundation, 25 Weeks of Gratitude spotlights 25 stories of Arkansans whose lives have been impacted by Foundation-funded work.
*The Blue & You Foundation was established in 2001 through an initial gift from Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Since its inception, the Foundation’s financial base has grown through wise and prudent investment strategies. This has enabled the foundation to support its mission by making grants funded by the interest earned on those investments.