Family Caregiver Support Program

Memory Café – Click here

November is Family Caregiver Month

During this month, we want to raise awareness, not only of what caregiving is, but also how essential caregiving is as part of our long-term services and supports system. Washington is home to more than 850,000 unpaid family caregivers caring for aging or disabled loved ones and 43,000 kinship caregivers caring for grandchildren or other young relatives.

New Website Provides Clear Strategies to Support Family Caregivers

Olympic Area Agency on Aging (O3A) is excited to share a new website that supports the National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers — SupportCaregiving.org.

 SupportCaregiving.org shares specific actions from the National Strategy that different audiences can take to support caregivers, including resource guides for family caregivers, employers, funders, managed care plans, and state officials.

For more information about family caregiving, visit

ALTSA Website: https://www.dshs.wa.gov/altsa
Washington Community Living Connections: http://www.waclc.org
DSHS Website: https://www.dshs.wa.gov/

Life’s Journeys

Most people don’t even think of themselves as a caregiver. In fact, they may become one and not even realize it. For instance:

  • Do you, or someone you know, take a parent to his or her doctor appointments regularly?
  • Perhaps you, or someone you know, have taken over a sibling’s bills because he or she is no longer capable, perhaps due to memory loss?
  • Do you, or someone you know, take a neighbor shopping because they don’t drive?
  • …or perhaps you, or someone you know, fix a regular meal for a community member because you know it’s the only warm meal he or she will get that day.

Caregiving comes in many different forms, but it’s our unpaid family caregivers—and that includes our support network or neighbors and friends—that act as the backbone of our long-term care and support system.

When does one become a caregiver?

  • Perhaps when a spouse shows the first signs of Dementia or Alzheimer’s.
  • Maybe when a parent, who lives alone, falls and fractures a hip and is in need of 24-hour care.
  • Or, when a sibling is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Whatever the situation, often folks are left wondering as they reel from events or news, what do I do next? Where do I begin?
    With Us.
    We offer a number of services to unpaid family caregivers, age 18 and older, living in Clallam, Jefferson, Grays Harbor, and Pacific Counties.
  • Find local resources/services
  • Find Support Groups and counseling
  • Get training needed on specific caregiving topics or supplies and equipment
  • Get respite care for needed breaks

Talk through issues, offering practical information and caregiving suggestions.

Family Caregiver Resource Coordinators

Clallam County
Fran Koski
360-417-8549
1-800-801-0070
koskiff@dshs.wa.gov

Billie Jo Jacobs
360-417-8559
1-800-801-0070
billie.jacobs1@dshs.wa.gov

Heather Patterson
360-417-8551
1-800-801-0070
heather.patterson@dshs.wa.gov

West Clallam & Jefferson Counties
Susie Brandelius
360-374-9496
1-888-571-6559
brandcs@dshs.wa.gov

East Jefferson County
Janice Svien
360-385-2552
1-800-801-0050
svienjl@dshs.wa.gov

Grays Harbor County
Eric Nessa
360-538-2458
1-866-582-1485
NessaEM@dshs.wa.gov

Pacific County
Bob Powell
360-642-3634
1-888-571-6558
powelrm@dshs.wa.gov