Event provides relaxing day off for Metro Detroit caregivers
(CBS DETROIT) - It's arguably one of the most selfless roles someone can play in life, a caregiver. It's a job that requires around-the-clock care and compassion.
On Sunday, the caregivers were the ones getting taken care of at West Bloomfield's "A Day off for Caregivers" event hosted by The Dorothy & Peter Brown Adult Day Care Center.
"It's a day for all the caregivers to relax and enjoy and not think about everyday life for our loved ones," said Beth Sadoff, a Metro Detroit caregiver to and wife of Edward, who lives with dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
According to the Alzheimer's Association, nearly 7 million Americans live with the disease, making Sadoff and the several other caretakers in attendance on Sunday part of many people who have countless stories the disease has brought into their lives.
"We're giving them an opportunity to take a breath and re-evaluate, and you know, when stress is high, it affects memory, it affects health, it affects all these different things, so this is a really important day to kind of reset a little bit," says Debi Banooni, the Director of the Dorothy and Peter Brown Jewish Community Adult Day Program.
She says greeting the caretakers with food, guided meditation, horticultural therapy and other activities gives them the opportunity to be among like-minded individuals who face similar adversity.
"They meet other people that although they have different journey's they're all caregivers and they find out that they're not alone and they all have similar struggles and they're all doing the best they can in a not so great situation," said Sadoff.