For many families, figuring out how to navigate care for an aging parent doesn’t happen until there’s a crisis. By then, the questions are harder and the options can be confusing.
Jill Pietroburgo wants to move that conversation further upstream.
Pietroburgo, a community educator with the Alzheimer’s Association, came up with the idea for the United Way of the Ozarks’ annual Senior Resource Fair after witnessing families struggle to find help.
The fourth annual event was held Sept. 11 at First Baptist Church in West Plains, bringing together agencies offering transportation, health programs, in-home care, legal assistance, meal programs and other community resources.
The initiative originally grew out of an Alzheimer’s support group. While attending the West Plains meetings during her mother’s battle with dementia, Pietroburgo began talking with then-group leader Cynthia Haigler.
As participants left each meeting, Pietroburgo kept thinking about what she observed.
“People just don't know what to do — they don't know where to get help or find resources that they need,” she told Haigler. Then came the question that launched the annual event: “Well, what are we going to do about it?”
For its first two years, the event was billed as a dementia resource fair. Organizers eventually realized the specific wording might be keeping people away.
“I think we're scaring people away,” Pietroburgo recalled thinking. “Even though it's really the same resources we have now, we realized, let's just change it, because really everything we're talking about is for anyone.”
The rebranded fair has grown steadily, drawing health care providers, transportation services, in-home care agencies, elder law attorneys, residential facilities and senior nutrition programs.
Pietroburgo, whose professional background is in education, has been a family caregiver for years.
“As far as caregiving, I've been in it for a long time because we cared for my dad, then we cared for my mom, and it's been a long journey,” she said. “You're going to come out different from that experience, so you have to decide, how's that going to look? How do I want to come out of this at the end? Do I want to be bitter or do I want to be better?”
Looking back, Pietroburgo said she wishes she had known about available community support when caring for her mother, particularly regarding the importance of keeping her mother active and socially connected. Her mother eventually stopped attending Sunday school, gradually withdrawing from long-loved routines.
“Sometimes you don't learn about these things until it's too late,” Pietroburgo said, encouraging families to research options early. “If we don't know somebody right now, or a family member right now, we're going to have somebody in our lives who's going to need care. You want to be thinking, ‘What can I do?’ Think 10 years ahead about ‘What would be good for me later in life?’”
The fair is designed to help make those conversations less intimidating.
“It's really just a learning opportunity,” Pietroburgo said, noting that visitors sometimes travel an hour or more to attend. “Here are all these people who can help, and so many people don't know how to access them, who to call or which one to start with. It can be overwhelming.”
For Pietroburgo, success isn’t measured purely by headcount. She recalled attendees approaching her at previous fairs in tears, grateful for answers after months of searching.
“I’m not about numbers, necessarily,” she said. “I hope they leave feeling like we've given them hope and that they've been able to be helped. The hope and the help are the two big things.”
