AAA can point you to many resources and services that assist caregivers of older adults, as well as older adults caring for children under the age of 18.

Information and Assistance

For information about services for the care recipient, or for the caregiver, call the 2-1-1 Texas information and referral service by dialing 2-1-1.

In addition, the following resources are available

Alzheimer's Association of Tarrant County

Benefits Counseling

Care Coordination

Education and Support

Family Caregiver Workshops: Getting Support You Deserve

Internet Resources for Caregivers

     National Sites

     State Sites

Library Caregiver Resource Center

     Books

     Videos

Publications-Online and Print

Respite Providers

Respite Services

Alzheimer's Association of Tarrant County

The Alzheimer's Association will provide books and tapes at all of the public library branches about Alzheimer's disease and ways of coping. For more information, call 817-336-4949.

Benefits Counseling

AAA has staff and volunteer benefits counselors who work with clients on the telephone or in person to help with insurance and health benefits. To speak to a benefits counselor,
call 817-258-8125.

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Care Coordination

Area Agency on Aging provides a care coordination service to help meet the needs of the individual.  A social worker will come to the home and assess the client's situation to determine what services he/she may need, such as home health care, homemaker chores, emergency response, assistive devices in the bathroom, etc. For more  information,

call 817-258-8081.
 

Education and Support

Several agencies and organizations provide support groups and educational programs for caregivers:

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Family Caregiver Workshops: Getting Support You Deserve

These informal workshops help family members who provide care for an older adult with chronic illness and health and human service needs.  All classes are free of charge. For more information, call 817-258-8081.

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You will receive information and materials including:

 • Aging Information

 • Behavioral and emotional aspects of aging

 • Community and Internet resources

 • Financial and legal planning

 • Independence, home safety & residential options

 • Meeting caregiver needs.

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Internet Resources for Caregivers

If you are caring for an older family member, or anticipate that you will be in the future, you will need to determine what level of care you will be able provide to them. To help you with this process, visit the many caregiver resource sites available through the Internet:

  • National Sites

      Administration on Aging

      Alzheimer’s Association

      National Alliance for Caregiving

      National Association of Elder Law Attorneys

      National Family Caregiver Association

      National Resource Center on Supportive Housing and Home Modification

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  • State Sites

      Family Caregiver Alliance

      Metropolitan Area Agency on Aging

      Texas Department on Aging – Caregiving Resources

      Texas Department of Insurance

Library Caregiver Resource Center

The following books and videos have been placed at the Fort Worth public library by the Area Agency through a grant funded by the National Family Caregiver Act.

To access any of these materials, visit your nearest public library and type "caregiver" as the key word into the computerized card catalogue. If your selection is not available at your local branch, ask the librarian to order it for you through inter-library loan.

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  • Books

      The Comfort of Home – Maria M. Myer

      The Unofficial Guide to Eldercare – Chris Adamec

      The Caregiver’s Guide: Helping Elderly Relatives Cope with Health and

           Safety Problems – Caroline Rob

      Elder Rage of Take My Father . . . Please!: How to Survive Caring for

           Aging Parents – Jacqueline Marcel

      The Lost Art of Caring – Leighton E. Cuff

      Telling the Stories of Life through Guided Autobiography Groups –

           James E. Birren

      Dying at Home – Andrea Sankar

      Nursing Homes: The Family’s Journey – Peter E. Silin

      Dutiful Daughters – Jean Gould

      Coping with Your Difficult Older Parent – Grace Lebow

      A Caregiver’s Survival Guide – Kay Marshall Strom

      How to Care for Aging Parents – Virginia Morris & Robert Butler

      Elder Care – Thomas M. Cassidy

      Caring for Yourself While Caring for Your Aging Parents – Claire Berman

      A Family Caregiver’s Guide to Planning Decision Making for the Elderly –

           James A. Wilkinson

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  • Videos

      How to Choose a Nursing Home

      A Prescription for Caregivers: Take Care of Yourself

      Surrounded with Love: Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

      Curtain Call

      My Mother, My Father

      My Mother, My Father – Seven Years Later

      Elder Parent Care: The Family Meeting

      Big Mama

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Publications - Online and Print

Handbook for Family Caregivers of Older Adults by Mildred O. Hogstel, Ph.D., R.N.C.

This handbook has been written to help adult children, grandchildren and siblings learn how to help older family members maintain and/or regain a healthy and happy lifestyle as long as possible. The author is a registered nurse with national certification in the nursing care of older adults. She also was a caregiver for her parents for many years. 

Cost is $20.00.

  • The Caregiver’s Handbook

      Published by the Visiting Nurses Association of America and Deni

      Brown, Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc. March 1998.

  • Home Safety Assessment

      This site contains a room-by-room checklist which may be used to

      ensure that an existing residence is safe for older people, or to

      prepare a new residence for an older person.

  • New Lifestyles Online

      This site offers an array of resources and tools to help caregivers and

      older people make informed choices about living arrangements and

      care options for older adults.

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Respite Providers/Caregiver Supplemental Service

The following agencies have contracted with the AAA to provide respite care services for the caregivers and some supplemental services to assist the care recipients:

  •  Cancer Care Services will provide respite care and homemaker

      services to low-income cancer patients in Tarrant County. For

      information, please call 817-921-0653.

  •  REACH Inc. will construct wheel chair ramps at the residence of low-

      income individuals age 60 and over who have mobility problems and

      a caregiver. For information, call 817-870-9082.

Respite Services

Through our flexible Respite Voucher Program, caregivers of people age 60 and over may receive vouchers to pay for respite services provided by family members, friends, neighbors, or other providers.  For more information, call the 2-1-1 Texas information and referral service by dialing 2-1-1.

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