Caregiving Expert Schmall is Gerontology Series Speaker

Vicki Schmall, the president and gerontology training specialist with Oregon-based Aging Concerns Inc., will present "Keeping the 'Caring' in Caregiving" at the College on Thursday, February 6. The talk, a part of the Ithaca College Gerontology Institute Distinguished Speaker Series, will begin at 7:00 p.m. in the Emerson Suites, Phillips Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

"Caring is the emotional component of caregiving," Schmall says. "Yet when there are so many tasks to do, sometimes the positive feelings of caring get lost."

Maximizing the emotional benefits of caring makes a difference to everyone involved, including care recipients, family, and professional caregivers, according to Schmall. To provide the best care to others, caregivers must be caring to themselves. In her presentation, Schmall will share programs and materials she has developed to increase understanding of late-life changes and to promote caring relationships.

The author of The Caregiver Helpbook: Powerful Tools for Caregiving, Schmall is well known for the many aging-related training programs and educational materials she has developed. Schmall is a professor emeritus at Oregon State University, where she served as the director of the Program on Gerontology. She served as a gerontology specialist in the Oregon State University Extension Service for more than 20 years.