Scholarship America, Wells Fargo Invite Students to Apply for Disability Scholarships

In honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Wells Fargo and Scholarship America announce the People with Disabilities Scholarship Program call for applications.

In 2016, Wells Fargo committed $1 million over four years to Scholarship America to develop and implement the program. Year 2018 marks the third year of the program. The program's goal is to help people with disabilities obtain the education or training they need to succeed in the careers they choose.

"We are proud to collaborate with Wells Fargo on its People with Disabilities Scholarship Program," said Robert C. Ballard, president and CEO, Scholarship America. "All students deserve an opportunity to obtain a higher education." To date, Wells Fargo has donated $500,000 to Scholarship America to help 74 scholarship recipients with disabilities achieve their higher educational goals.

Applications for the scholarship program are being accepted online through Dec. 6, 2018, or until 700 applications are submitted. The People with Disabilities Scholarship Program will provide awards of up to $2,500 to qualifying full-time students, renewable up to three years. Awards of up to $1,250 are available to qualifying half-time students and are renewable up to seven years, or until a bachelor's degree is earned, whichever occurs first.

More information about the Wells Fargo Scholarship Program for People with Disabilities is available online at scholarsapply.org/pwdscholarship •

U.S. Employees are Facing Multitude of Expanding Family Caregiving Challenges

Torchlight, a leader in employer-sponsored family caregiving benefits, recently released its first annual proprietary report, "Modern Caregiving Challenges Facing U.S. Employees."

The report identifies working caregivers' most pressing needs and concerns across the entire age spectrum and their patterns of resolution for caregiving problems. The report based on a sample of more than 18,000 of Torchlight's users - analyzes data gathered over nearly three years from their real-time, caregiver decision-support platform. Currently, more than one million employees across all industries in the United States have access to Torchlight through their employer sponsored benefit program.

"The goal of the study was to understand the specific issues causing stress and cost for American families around caregiving. While caregiving has traditionally been defined as care for an aging loved one or child with a diagnosis or disability, our data shows that modern caregiving encompasses a wider range of care concerns and issues for the very busy American workforce," said Adam Goldberg, M.Ed., founder and CEO for Torchlight. The study found that employees providing caregiving struggle with a variety of eldercare and adult care issues daily, including:

• 60 percent of elderly family members have some type of medical or cognitive issues.

• More than 50 percent have self-care issues, such as the ability to take medications appropriately or nourish, bathe or dress themselves.

• 36 percent of employees are long distance caregivers, which adds complex travel time, expense, childcare arrangements, and other considerations to their elder care situation.

• 57 percent of elderly family members live independently but with other caregivers.

• 88 percent care for a loved one who is "aging in place" and who may also have issues with finances, legal decisions, safety.

• Over 40 percent of elderly family members have financial issue due to poor estate planning, ill-advised veteran assistance information, or misinformation around reverse mortgages, Medicare, Medicaid or social security resources and rights.

• Nearly 20 percent of users have elder care legal issues to manage, such as hiring elder law attorneys, pursuing guardianship, or managing probate for their loved ones' estates. The report's data also underscores that employees struggle with a variety of diagnoses and daily issues around their children:

• 85 percent of users report that their child does not have a diagnosis or disability; yet they still report their top parenting con cerns to be attention (38.7 percent), learning (31.5 percent), and behavior (31.1 percent).

• The top three reported diagnoses are Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) at 21 percent, autism spectrum disorder (15 percent) and anxiety (11 percent).

• 22 percent of children are diagnosed with other highly-nuanced situations which require specialized and localized expertise to provide assistance. 

"Just as companies have embraced child-care services and paid leave to care for sick family members, increasing support for aging parents and reducing the strain of non-traditional caregiving needs of the multi-generation workforce (many of whom are managers, directors and executives) are becoming higher priorities," said Chris Chan, Lead Innovation Imagineer at Mercer Labs.

"Ultimately, caregiving demands contribute to lost productivity costs to U.S. businesses upwards of $38.2 billion per year, and includes employee replacement, absenteeism, health issues, workday distractions, supervisory time and reductions in hours. These are just a few of today's realities that are impacting today's workforce. Companies are increasingly turning to innovations in familyfriendly benefits design to provide caregiving support as they aim to be employers-of-choice." The full, detailed report can be found here: torchlight.care/modern-caregiving-challenges-report

ABOUT TORCHLIGHT

Torchlight is a caregiver-support program for employers and health plans that provides real-time access to the strategies and solutions modern caregivers need most. With Torchlight, employers have a results-driven model for managing family caregiving – a $38.2 billion challenge in the U.S. alone –so that they can be both compassionate and competitive in the competitive labor market. Based in Boston, the company was founded by caregiving pioneer Adam Goldberg, M.Ed. For more information, contact sales@torchlight.care, phone 844-693-3477, or visit Torchlight.care

WORK CUT OUT: "Over our six years of experience, we have realized that today's multi-generational workforce requires an approach that isn't one-sizefits-all."

The 2018 National Caregivers Conference: Health, Technology & the Family Caregiver

On Thursday October 11th 2018, the New Jersey-based Family Resource Network welcomed caregivers, providers, innovators, and technology enthusiasts to the 2018 National Caregivers Conference.

TAKING CARE OF CAREGIVERS: Adeola Sonaike, PhD, MPH, Senior Vice President of Health at the Family Resource Network, addresses conference attendees. The agenda featured captivating presentations, exciting exhibits, a unique Shark Tank panel, and delicious meals in between!

There are over 63 million caregivers nationwide who are dedicated to providing 24/7 direct care and support for a loved one who has a chronic condition, mental health challenges, disability and/or is aging. As the US population continues to age, the need and reliance on caregivers is increasing exponentially. The National Caregivers Conference addresses these challenges by creating spaces for collaboration, learning and innovation among the leading experts in the field of caregiving nationwide.

The theme of the 2018 National Caregivers Conference was Health, Technology and the Family Caregiver, recognizing that both health and technology, if neglected, may create barriers for caregivers – but if managed equitably may create opportunities and experiences that bridge gaps in care, resources and achieving ones own optimal quality of life. This theme was echoed throughout the conference with keynote presenter Sherri Snelling, founder of caregiv ing.com kicking off the conference and welcoming over 250 guests to Woodbridge, New Jersey. Among other speakers, the conference welcomed Connie Siskowski, RN, PhD, American Association of Caregiving Youth; Donna A. Meltzer, CEO of the National Association of Councils of Developmental Disabilities (NACDD); and C. Grace Whiting, J.D., President and CEO of National Alliance for Caregiving.

An array of breakout sessions highlighted the impact of health on caregiving and the role that new technologies and innovation have played in addressing factors such as loneliness, chronic disease self-management, stress management and resiliency. Additional conference highlights included the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the signing of the New Jersey Family Support Act, during which the New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities invited the families and advocates who were instru mental in the passage of this life changing policy. Attendees expressed their delight to participate in a "full day of learning and collaboration from inspirational leaders who are transforming the experience of caregivers."Pointing to the future of caregiving, the conference closed with the first Caregivers Shark Tank which featured shark tank presentations from Soundmind, Tech.Ur.Elders and Sociavi that were evaluated and judged by 3 sharks; Dr. Simbiat Adighije, Jeremy Grunin and Kevin Jones. Soundmind, a voice-enabled technology for senior living and caregiving which was founded by Andy Kopra and Erum Azeez Khan, was voted as the winner and will be presented with the Caregiver Innovator of the Year award, which they will receive on November 8th at the FRN Impact Awards. 

The conference provided a platform for innovation and collaboration among thought leaders and caregivers. Advances in health and technology have the capacity to significantly transform the role of millions of family caregivers.

Caregivers found the conference to be "therapeutic and cathartic as they thrived in an environment where others understood their journey and process, and vice versa." The next National Caregivers Conference will be hosted in 2020. For more information, please visit nationalcaregiversconference.org •

ABOUT THE FAMILY RESOURCE NETWORK

The Family Resource Network (FRN) is a comprehensive, family-focused, organization designed to meet the growing need for community based programs and services to this rising population. FRN's network agencies are: Autism Family Services of NJ, Caregivers of NJ, Epilepsy Services of NJ and the Family Support Center of NJ. Please visit familyresourcenetwork.org for more information or call (800) 376