From personal experience, I know that dementia care is the care of two people: the person with the illness and the person taking care of him. With this in mind, I established Refreshing Waters Respite Foundation.
Our Goals:
- Educate caregivers about their need for respite. Help them let go of feelings of guilt or duty that would deter them from taking a break. Remind them that caregivers need care, too.
- Provide respite for caregivers to receive encouragement.
- Demonstrate the love of Christ and provide resources that present the gospel.
Approach:
- Provide the caregiver (and a personal friend) with rest, relief, and encouragement at a water-view condo or cabin for a two or three night stay roughly three times per year.
- Demonstrate the love of Christ and provide resources that present the gospel. This may include:
- Welcome basket with Christian reading material.
- Follow-up conversations.
- Allow and encourage the local community and friends to actively participate in this ministry.
- Utilize opportunities for written and spoken presentations to share our vision, to educate about the need for respite, and to give respite and fundraising updates. This may include:
- Social media
- Magazine and newspaper articles
- Blogs
- TV announcements
- Club and church meetings
- Vision nights
- Etc.
Core Values:
- Christ-centered – We believe in the pre-eminence of Christ. He empowers the Church to fulfill His mission. We are dedicated to transforming the lives of others as we follow Him.
- Vision-driven – We believe that vision is revealed by God, and where there is vision there is power.
- Excellence – We believe excellence honors God and inspires people.
- Alliances – We believe that alliances will enable us to enhance our effectiveness and leverage our resources.
- Service focused – We believe in serving rather than in being served. We will follow Christ’s example to serve with joy and compassion.
Our Ministry Verses:
- “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” (Matthew 5:7)
- “The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But the Lord will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will make rivers flow on barren heights and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs.” (Isaiah 41:17-18)
Our Future Goals:
- Have a retreat center of our own at Lake Martin consisting of a central meeting/fellowship space, an apartment for the Director(s) and 10-12 two bedroom, two bath duplexes to accommodate 20 to 24 caregivers at once. A beach, dock, and covered deck/porches would be ideal.
- Encourage impromptu support groups and conversations.
- Invite speakers to further educate caregivers on how to take care of their loved ones and how to take care of themselves.
- Provide a kitchen, game tables, and a library for caregivers’ use while they are at the retreat center.
- Provide a trained, insured substitute caregiver to stay with the patient while the family caregiver is away.