Family caregivers who spend their days lifting, bathing, feeding and worrying over a loved one now have a new place to learn how, and to be heard. Chesapeake Life Center, a program of Hospice of the Chesapeake, has launched the Caregiver Academy, which combines emotional support, practical education and hands-on skills training, according to an Oct. 8 news release from the nonprofit.
The Academy is open to every family caregiver in the community, whether or not their loved one receives hospice services. Josh Magariel, the hospice’s director of service excellence and community health, said the decision reflects the region’s needs. “The counties we serve have some of the highest concentrations of dementia patients in Maryland,” Magariel said in the release. “We’re responding to clear evidence of increased demand, and the Caregiver Academy is part of that response.”
Maryland as a whole has the highest prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias of any state, with nearly 13% of people over 65 affected, according to reporting by WYPR. The Alzheimer’s Association has estimated that about 258,000 Marylanders provide roughly 292 million hours of unpaid care, a load that has already prompted state lawmakers to pass new measures aimed at unpaid caregivers.
Caregivers can join one, two or all three parts of the Academy, in any order; there is no required sequence.
The Virtual Caregiver Support Group meets on Zoom from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. on the second Thursday of each month. It is led by licensed clinical social worker Khiana Simmons and focuses on emotional support, stress management and connection with other caregivers. The sessions are free, and participants are never required to speak. The next sessions are Nov. 12 and Dec. 10.
The Virtual Caregiver Education Series, also on Zoom from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month. Michelle Welle-Countiss, a clinical practice specialist for nursing, leads it. Each session draws on a 12-topic curriculum developed by Dr. Mary Lynn McPherson, executive director of graduate studies in palliative care at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Topics include communication, difficult behaviors, personal care, eating and swallowing, skin and wound care, mobility and falls, and end-of-life changes. Topics are grouped so that a caregiver who joins in any month receives both an overview and practical content. Upcoming sessions are Oct. 27, Nov. 24 and Dec. 22.
The most hands-on piece is Bedside Boot Camp, a four-hour workshop run by Welle-Countiss with Alena Dailey, manager of integrative arts at Chesapeake Life Center. Caregivers practice transfers, bathing, incontinence care, feeding and positioning, and take part in immersive empathy training. By the end, the release says, caregivers “will leave able to do something they may not have been able to do that morning.”
Two sessions are scheduled, both from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Monday, Nov. 9, in the Lovelace Learning Lab on the John & Cathy Belcher Campus in Pasadena, and Wednesday, Dec. 9, in the simulation lab at the Charles Inpatient Care Center in Waldorf, the hospice’s inpatient facility on Davis Road. Each session is limited to six participants. Registration is required, and a waitlist is available, so Charles County caregivers interested in the December date may want to sign up early.
The release did not state a fee for the education series or the boot camp; only the support group is described as free.
Family caregivers, health care professionals and community organizations can learn more and register at bit.ly/CLCCaregiverAcademy or by emailing caregiveracademy@chesapeakelifecenter.org.
The hospice has been widening its dementia and family-support work in recent years, including a dementia care program introduced in 2024 and a caregiver-and-grief retreat at its Burnett Center in Prince Frederick. Chesapeake Life Center, which serves hospice families and the wider community with bereavement services, can be reached through its website.
