Annual Conference

Conference Agenda

8:30 – 9:00 a.m.
Registration,
Coffee, Tea & Visiting Exhibits

9:00 – 9:15 a.m.
Welcome
Karen Ring, President Caregiver Consortium

9:15 - 10:30 a.m.
Keynote Speaker
Alfred W. Kaszniak, PhD
Wisdom, Growth and Resilience in Care Partnership

10:30 – 10:45 a.m. BREAK

10:45 – 11:45 a.m.
Karen Mercereau, iRNPA
Medical Advances Open New Doors of Wellness

11:45 – 12:45 p.m.
LUNCH & EXHIBITS

12:45 – 1:45 p.m.
Mary-Frances O’Connor, PhD
Optimizing Resilience—What Can We Do?

1:45 – 2:00 p.m. BREAK

2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Joe and Dory Martin
Snap Out of It! How Laughter and Music Can Boost Your Mood!
Join Dory and Joe as they discuss and demonstrate how humor and light- hearted music make life better by promoting laughter, joy, and connections with other people.

3:00 – 3:30 p.m. Evaluations and Closing

Are You a Caregiver?

Do you help a family member or friend with:

• running errands?
• meal planning or grocery shopping?
• bill paying or financial assistance?
• personal care such as grooming and/or bathing?

If you answered “yes” to one or more questions above, you have joined the ever growing number of family caregivers in the United States.

Most of us will be caregivers at some point in our lives. We may care for a parent, spouse or friend. It may be for a few hours a week or all day, every day.

The information provided at this conference will help you be prepared, both practically and emotionally.

 

 

What is the Caregiver Consortium?

The Caregiver Consortium is a not-for-profit organization.
Our mission is to promote awareness of caregiving, to provide access to resources and services and to empower caregivers of older adults through education and advocacy.

 

 

Keynote Speaker:
Alfred W. Kaszniak, PhD

Wisdom, Resilience, and Growth in Care Partnership

A critical component of wisdom is emotional balance. However, life events - particularly being a care partner dealing with another person’s aging and chronic illness - can challenge our emotional balance and coping skills. This presentation examines research on wisdom, aging, and resilience, and emphasizes evidence for enhanced emotion regulation in older age as well as growth opportunities for the care partner. Emotion regulation-enhancing practices - particularly meditation - will also be described.

Al Kaszniak received his Ph.D. in clinical and developmental psychology from the University of Illinois in 1976. He is currently Director of the Arizona Alzheimer’s Consortium Education Core, Director of the Neuropsychology, Emotion, and Meditation Laboratory, Faculty and Advisory Board member of the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute, and a professor in the departments of Psychology, Neurology, and Psychiatry at The University of Arizona (UA).

Conference Presenters:

Karen Mercereau, iRNPA

Learning about the major advances in health care today can protect you and lead to improvements in your own health. Medical research is expanding rapidly— particularly in the fields of chronic illness. Major studies show how to improve brain function, reduce cardiac risk, increase the cancer survival rates, and expand our knowledge about the critical role of nutrients in our wellness. Knowing where to go for new answers can help you be the best caregiver for your loved one and for yourself in this time of immense change.

Karen Mercereau, RN, brings 45 years of clinical nursing, community and home- based healthcare delivery and patient advocacy experience to the development of RN Patient Advocates, PLLC. In her role as healthcare innovator, Karen has evolved the Advocacy Process© which is the Standard of Care of independent RN Patient Advocates. The RN Patient Advocacy program provides for the improved safety and education of both hospitalized and community- based patients.

Mary-Frances O’Connor, PhD

Certain challenges come with
aging - including caregiving, bereavement and health concerns. What can each of us do to optimize our resilience? Although the stress response in our bodies is normal, we can counteract the negative aspects of stress by creating and relying on social support, meditation and exercise, and focusing on the caregiver’s health and well-being.

Mary-Frances O’Connor earned a PhD
in clinical psychology from the University of Arizona. While earning her degree, she completed her clinical internship at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Dr. O’Connor continued her studies at UCLA, where she was a post-doctoral fellow at the UCLA Cousins Center for Psychoneuro- immunology. Currently, Dr. O’Connor is an assistant professor at the University of Arizona Department of Psychology, where she teaches courses in psychoneuroimmunology and clinical psychology.