The Fallon Clinic Foundation Lifetime Center is a health education and information resource center that is open to the public. Our mission is to connect, educate, and empower individuals, families and communities to improve health throughout a lifetime.

A health library, free Internet access to health information, health education classes, and support groups are just some of the services available. The Lifetime Center is located in the atrium of Worcester Medical Center, and is comfortable, private, and welcoming. Parking validation is available.

The Fallon Clinic Foundation Lifetime Center offers:

• Full-service Health Library - books, magazines and videos…read on site or take home on loan. (Free to join.)
• Free Pamphlets, Brochures, and Handouts on a wide variety of health topics.
• Free Internet Access to Health Resources - If you are unable to come to the Lifetime Center, just call. Our staff can help you by conducting the research and mailing it to your home.

Free Blood Pressure Screening held each month at the Worcester Medical Center. Monthly Information Tables that highlight different health issues or concerns.

Corporate, School, and Community Activities, including health fairs and lectures. Support Groups held each month for people dealing with infertility issues or coping with cancer. Health Education Classes and Lectures - CPR and Home Blood Pressure Monitoring, etc. Internship Programs and Much More - Contact us to see what's new at the Lifetime Center, or check out the program calendar and program offerings on our website--www.fallonclinicfoundation.org/lifetime/indexlifetime.aspx

We invite you to visit, call, or email us at Lifetime.center@fallonclinicfoundation.org for more information.

The Health Sciences Library at Rutland Regional Medical Center became aware in 2004 of a population within the community in need of consumer health information - grandparents raising their grandchildren. Serendipitously, this awareness coincided with an invitation from the NN/LM NER to consider applying for outreach subcontract funds, targeting an underserved section of our community.

The diversity and urgent need of this population led us to immediately partner with other community organizations to develop the methods to respond to the issues and needs of these individuals and families. This collaboration was facilitated through the Rutland County Caregivers Coalition, of which the RRMC Librarian is a founding member. Ultimately, we have engaged the regional Council on Aging, community social services and family support personnel to develop, implement and continue to grow Grandparents and Relatives As Surrogate Parents (GRASP), an information-based support program for the adults and children in this emerging social situation.

In Vermont, as across the nation, the issue of grandparents raising their grandchildren has been growing and has begun to garner attention as a distinct social issue needing community, state and national support. In many cases, laws have not been re-visited to reflect the reality of kinship care needs. In Vermont, 4,067 children live in grandparent-headed households and 966 children live in households headed by other relatives.

I recognized the varied need for physical and mental health care information that would benefit the caregivers as well as the children being cared for. Developing a comprehensive information program supported by direct and easy access to such information through handouts, guidance and instruction on Internet access and searches, and topic specific speakers has proven to be a fundamental asset for these individuals and families.

Even prior to receiving notification of the NER outreach education award, the Southwestern Vermont Council on Aging provided a small grant to begin a support group for grandparents. A location was found that afforded both adult meeting space and a separate area for the children to play under supervision. The provision of childcare is critical to the ability of grandparents to attend the meetings, and the provision of a healthy meal for all supports the educational goals while also alleviating a major stress and additional barrier to attendance.

The NN/LM NER funds were used to hire a social worker with experience in group facilitation, who was able to handle the planning, scheduling, and promotional work for the first year. Ads were placed in the local paper, flyers posted in libraries, senior centers, and any public place we could think of, and a descriptive information letter was sent to local pediatricians.

The group meets twice a month from 5:00 - 7:30 p.m. Each meeting begins with a light congregate meal; then the adults break off to a separate room to discuss issues of interest. One meeting per month usually is dedicated to a particular topic, or features a guest speaker. Some of the topics presented include: bullying, stress reduction, incarcerated parents, the probate/court system, daycare subsidies, behavioral issues in children, substance abuse and family dynamics, and use of the public library's online catalog.

During the first year, I attended almost every meeting, bringing handouts on topics relating to parenting, as well as sharing resources purchased with the grant money. She provided presentations on evaluating health information on the web, demonstrated the library link on the hospital's public website (www.rrmc.org), shared information on preventing medical errors and patients' rights, and promoted MedlinePlus as one-stop-shopping for reliable health information.

Since the group began, the numbers have been small, varying from 4-6 regular attendees up to a dozen sparked by interest in a particular topic. Continued promotion and raised awareness throughout our community, has garnered attention and interest, including a planned editorial series in the local newspaper.

The project has not been without difficulties. Challenges have included:

• Inability to meet requests for care for children with severe behavioral issues
• Confidentiality concerns, especially inevitable in a small rural community
• Instilling sense of ownership rather than entitlement
• The fact that the stress of grand-parenting contributes to depression, anger, separation, among the grandparents themselves

When there is a true need in the community, ways must be found to continue the project once started, and I again turned to our Development Officer & Grants Coordinator to help find further funding for GRASP. Within a few months, we applied for a grant from the Vermont Community Foundation. Our award came through in December! Along with continued support from the Southwestern Vermont Council on Aging, the group has another strong year ahead.

I am fortunate to have the support of my hospital in the outreach work that I do, and a lot of autonomy in how my time is spent. The Community Education and Public Relations Departments of the hospital have provided in-kind support in the form of advertising our meetings on a regular basis, which demonstrates their support and the importance of this project to our community.

I continue to be involved and the project does require a fair amount of time. The role I have chosen to assume at this point is to attend planning meetings with the facilitator and co-facilitator, help establish goals for the group, arrange for guest speakers as needed, submit expenses and quarterly reports for all grants, bring health information topics of interest to the group and share resources.

This is time well repaid, because the project has allowed promotion of the Library and other hospital services not only within the group itself, but with guest speakers and with members of other community organizations. Best of all, I have connected to an underserved part of our community deserving of improved health information and health care access. What price Good Will?

Future plans include:

• Promote the group by a mailing to daycares, physicians, and schools in the county to spread the word about GRASP and seek referrals to grow the group.
• Plan special events such as a summer picnic
• purchasing access to online parenting classes offered through a local university account finding new space for the group
• helping the group define itself by stating a mission, establishing group guidelines and rules, structure the time available for the meeting, share roles such as time-keeper, etc provide a bit more structure for the children's time together, incorporating a story, a beginning or ending activity that will help them transition from leaving the grandparents at the start of the meeting, and leaving each other at the end of the meeting.

In addition, the group has become affiliated with a newly formed statewide grassroots group called "Vermont Kin as Parents," that has become incorporated, formed a board of directors and captured the ear of the Director of the Department of Children & Family Services of the State of Vermont, all within the past year. Their third annual Kinship Care Conference will take place on April 19, 2007. At this conference, grandparents, other kin, and all sorts of professionals and interested organizations come together to share stories, swap ideas and form partnerships that last well beyond the conference. This year, two members of GRASP will participate in the conference: one is a teenager who will join other teens to tell attendees what it's like to be raised in a household without parents, and the other is a very young grandmother who has had to take on a legal fight against her own substance-abusing daughter to win custody of the grandchild for whom she has served as primary caregiver since birth.

It's wonderful to think that an initial grant from NN/LM NER has provided the foundation at a very local level for these individuals to find the confidence and the voice to speak out at a statewide conference on behalf of their peers.

Michelle Eberle, Consumer Health Information Coordinator
michelle.eberle@umassmed.edu