The Calcasieu Council on Aging and Evangeline Home Health will host its second annual Caregiver Conference 10 a.m.-1 p.m. March 19 at the Calcasieu Council on Aging, 3950 La. 14.

Evangeline Home Health was founded by the Evangeline Parish Council on Aging in 1972 to meet the “unmet needs” of the rural parish and provide home health aid, nutrition, facilitation of heath, adult education and transportation.

“We’ve always wanted to have a conference — we’ve talked about it for several years,” said Annette Tritico, a registered nurse and clinical liaison for Evangeline Home Health. “We really felt that, at a conference, we could have specific topics each year that were important and vital to the role of a caregiver.”

Tritico has worked with Evangeline Home Health for 18 years, and facilitates three caregiver support groups in Lake Charles that have met the past five years.

“The most important thing is to be educated and informed, and then you’re not as afraid,” she said. “Then you can make an educated decision because you’re aware of the choices. To help people understand the process of caring for someone, I think, helps their journey be a little smoother, because it’s already very stressful. Knowledge is power.”

The goal of the Calcasieu Council on Aging is to “assist older adults in order to remain independent in their own homes.”

The first Caregiver Conference centered around care for the caregiver, but this year will focus on the legal aspects of caregiving. Participants will learn what one needs to know legally in order to give care.

Attorney Leslie Knox will be the keynote speaker for the event with her talk “Planning for Change.” The later half of the event will invite guests to listen in on a “Levels of Care Health Care” panel.

“Levels of Care involves various types of medical and living arrangements, so we will have about 10 or 12 various professionals and people that work on the living arrangement industry to be on a panel in order to explain the various levels of care and living arrangements to help people know, and make sure they’re educated on — not only medical care levels, but also making decisions on living arrangements,” Tritico said.

Representatives from Home Health, hospice, hospitals, outpatient clinics, long-term acute care, psychiatric hospitalization, and nursing home facilities will attend the conference and speak on the panel.

Organizations will include Evangeline Home Health, Harbor Hospice and Cornerstone along with two nurse practitioners. Other living facilities from the community will also be present at the panel.

“I made a commitment when I was going through it, when I was taking care of my mom, because it was very difficult. And being an RN, I thought I knew exactly how to provide care because I’m a professional caregiver, but when it is your family member it is very different,” Tritico said. “I knew that if I had a hard time, people that are elderly or children of someone that are ill can use all the education and help that they can get to help get their loved one either better or transitioned to another level of care.

“If I can provide the care for care for them, for caregivers, to help their role and experience as a caregiver, I feel like I met a goal that I have set for society, for others. It’s a way of serving others. It’s become a purpose and passion for me because of the pain I went through,” she said.

“It is so rewarding, personally, because I take care of my mom and I know how important it is to be educated and informed about not only caring for them, but what you need to do to prepare for the future for them — the person you’re caring for.”

Prior to the panel, there will be a skit and a light lunch. The event will also have door prizes and host a collection of vendors.

“We have a little fun skit we always do … it’ll be fun. We try to make it fun,” enthused Tritico.

Tritico stressed that RSVP will be required by calling 474-2583, but the event is free to the public.