Nevada Senior Services Receives Prestigious Rosalynn Carter Leadership in Caregiving Award

Photo Credits left to right: Susan Hirsch-NSS Director of Care Partner & Community Initiatives, Jane Gruner-NSS Director of Special Projects, Marissa Shoop-NSS Care Partner Institute Manager, Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter-RCI Board President, Jeffrey Klein-NSS President and CEO, Bonnie Petrauskas- Executive Director of Global Community Impact at Johnson & Johnson, Leisa Easom-RCI Executive Director

The Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving hosted its 29th Annual National Summit & Training Institute which culminated with an awards banquet. This year, Nevada Senior Services CEO Jeffrey Klein graciously accepted the bronze Leadership in Caregiving award from former first lady, Mrs. Rosalynn Carter, on behalf of the organization she founded, the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving (RCI). The Rosalynn Carter Leadership in Caregiving Award is the country’s highest award given in the caregiving field. Klein shared, “We are so grateful and proud to bring this esteemed award home to Nevada where we strive to reach out to the over 500,000 caregivers who provide over 348 million hours of care annually. It is our mission to serve these unsung heroes with support, education and services in our state.”

In October 2010, the RCI released “Averting the Caregiving Crisis: Why We Must Act Now,” a position paper outlining twelve recommendations for addressing our nation’s caregiving crisis. To sharpen the focus, they restated the original recommendations as six strategic initiatives in “Averting the Caregiving Crisis: An Update.” The Rosalynn Carter Leadership in Caregiving Award is given to the individual or organization that has taken concrete action in making these initiatives a reality. These initiatives include: Educating the public about the critical role of family care partners and the risks associated with that caregiving role; offering caregivers effective, evidence-based programs & services; supporting programs in community settings; tax/public policy changes; securing sustainable funding for programs and; providing leadership for coordination of efforts to support family caregivers.  “Nevada has an urgent need for these services” states Klein, “We are experiencing the aging “tsunami” in Nevada where our 65+ population will increase over 260 percent by 2030.”

"There are only four kinds of people in the world:  Those who have been caregivers, Those who are currently caregivers, Those who will be caregivers, Those who will need caregivers." - Rosalynn Carter

Nevada Senior Services (NSS) operates the only non-profit adult day healthcare programs in Southern Nevada. It was Klein’s mission to make these services available to any family who needed respite care regardless of their ability to pay for services. With the support of the state Aging and Disability Services and other community partners, this mission was achieved. Over the past 6 years NSS has expanded its services to add 14 programs to support senior wellness/education, in home respite care, early memory loss therapeutic workshops, and a cadre of programs under their Care Partner Institute including 5 RCI affiliated programs: RCI REACH (Coaching for dementia caregiving), Caring for You-Caring for Me (Workshops for professional and family caregivers), Care Consultation (A phone-based caregiver support and information program in conjunction with Cleveland’s Benjamin Rose Institute), Skills to Care (An OT facilitated program in conjunction with Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia) and Operation Family Caregiver (Veteran and active military caregiver coaching- starting 2017). NSS also operates Nevada’s Care Connection Resource Center for all of Southern Nevada.

Nevada Senior Services provides compassionate care and services to adults facing the challenges of chronic diseases, disabilities, and aging to remain in the community with dignity. We accomplish our mission by improving the physical, spiritual and emotional health of individuals and families through providing a comprehensive range of health, education, and social services for those facing the challenges of chronic disease, disability and aging.