6 caregivers from Toledo, Lima set for state honor

5/17/2008

COLUMBUS State officials and lawmakers next week will honor 15 people who are caregivers for elderly relatives including five Toledo sisters who care for their mother and a Lima woman who cares for her centenarian step-grandmother.

All will be recognized at 2 p.m. Thursday during the 15th annual Elder Caregiving Awards at the Capitol Theatre in Columbus.

Barbara E. Riley, director of the Ohio Department of Aging, and members of the General Assembly will take part.

For more than 16 years, the Toledo sisters Delores Latson, Sally Helm, Bobbi Simms, Candace Coates, and Earma Algee have cared for their mother, Leola Latson, 97.

Over the last eight years, Margaret Reynolds-Van Waning of Lima has bought groceries, fixed meals, and kept house for Verda Partee, 104, her step-grandmother.

Ms. Reynolds-Van Waning, after a day of work, often is responsible for nighttime care.

The recipients exemplify the challenges faced by caregivers and the need to find ways to help family caregivers as our population ages, Ms. Riley said.