Title: A Young Caregiver's Guide to Medication Management
Abstract: Three semesters ago, I took a USF Honors Major Works/Major Issues course on youth caregiving. When we talked about our future goals in life, I made sure to tell my professor, Dr. Donna Cohen, that I wanted to be a pharmacist. Her response was to immediately describe how important the content of this course would be for my future training, because pharmacists and other health care professionals do not recognize the challenges facing youth caregivers. Youth caregivers are children and adolescents under age 18 who sacrifice their education, health and well-being, and leisure of their childhood to provide care for family members of all ages who are sick, injured, or disabled. The link between the needs of youth caregivers and my dream profession engaged my interest in the course over the entire semester and beyond. The next semester, I contacted Dr. Cohen to discuss my interest in writing a resource manual to help youth caregivers with medication management. She immediately saw this as a wonderful opportunity, because no resources existed for this age group. Not long into the project, Dr. Cohen suggested I add a committee member-- Dr. Connie Siskowski of Boca Raton, Florida, who is the President and Founder of the American Association of Caregiving Youth (AACY). Dr. Siskowski has been a pioneer as a national advocate for caregiving youth, and she established the country’s first Caregiving Youth Project (CYP) based in Palm Beach County middle and high schools. With her expertise and involvement, I not only knew that Dr. Siskowski would be an invaluable resource but also that this workbook would find its way into the hands of youth caregivers who needed the information Later in my project, Dr. Siskowski introduced me to Cristy Kovach Hom, LCSW, a social worker on the AACY staff. I am also indebted to Cristy for the effort she invested going through chapters with me and offering anecdotes from her experience. I came to understand through Dr. Siskowski and Ms. Hom
Publication Year: 2012
Publication Date: 2012-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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