What is 'Respite'?

Do you provide care and assistance to someone who needs help with daily living? Whether you provide care for a parent, child, spouse, sibling, or loved one due to aging, disability, or a chronic condition, you are a caregiver. You may have suddenly become a caregiver without warning, or perhaps your role evolved slowly over time.

Do you find the care tasks prevent you from doing things you want or need to do to have a healthy and balanced lifestyle? Is it getting difficult to maintain your social and family relationships or to be involved in your community because of the care you provide? Respite can help restore and strengthen your ability to continue caring for your loved one.

Respite is temporary care that relieves primary caregivers from their caregiving responsibilities. The length of a respite break depends on your situation. It might be a couple of hours to go shopping, have a medical appointment, nap, visit friends, exercise, or enjoy a recreational or community activity. Or it might be a couple of days or weeks to tend to personal business, participate in a special event, or take a vacation. It is a resource to help ensure your health and well-being as a caregiver and your family as a whole. The care you provide is important; it is equally important to take a break and rejuvenate.

Respite care can be an informal arrangement provided by a friend, neighbor, or relative. It can also be a formal arrangement provided by a trained individual you select and hire or by personal care workers sent to you through a service organization. Caregivers can choose between in-home respite and out-of-home respite options.

The benefits of respite care are life-changing for reducing stress and anxiety, strengthening and preserving families, ensuring caregivers have time to care for their health, empowering families to stay involved in their communities, and delaying out-of-home placements.

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About the Kansas Lifespan Respite Care Project

The Kansas Lifespan Respite Care Project began in 2010 with a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Community Living/Administration on Aging. This was made possible by the authorization of the Lifespan Respite Care Act in 2006 under Title XXIX of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C 201).

The goal of the Kansas Lifespan Respite Project is to expand access to and improve the quality of respite services for residents across the state regardless of age, disability, or special need. The Kansas Lifespan Respite Project has worked to advance the following objectives:

• Expand coordination, participation, and dissemination of respite resources, resulting in a statewide respite network.
• Increase family caregiver access to and ease in securing respite providers.
• Increase availability of qualified respite providers and skilled caregivers statewide.

Key Partners

Key partners of the Kansas Lifespan Respite Project include the following:

Kansas Aging and Disability Resource Center - The Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) is a trusted source of information where people of all ages, abilities and income levels - and their caregivers - can go to obtain assistance in planning for their futuKansas caregivers through community awareness, public/political advocacy, education, and collaboration, by providing a statewide respite care system.

• Objectives of the Coalition
  • Educate those responsible for and in need of respite care
  • Connect existing resources that provide respite services
  • Explore and obtain funding to provide respite services
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  • Locate training options for those interested in providing respite care
  • Identify gaps within care programs and develop strategies to address these gaps

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Contact

KDADS
Attention: Kansas Aging and Disability Resource Center
New England Building
503 S. Kansas Ave.
Topeka, KS 66603-3404
855-200-ADRC (2372)