Seniors Get the Basics and More in Birmingham: Center at Midvale Also Offers Support Group for Caregivers

By Alex P. Kellogg, Detroit Free Press

Apr. 15–Some folks haven’t heard of reflexology. But Karen Balog, a veteran nurse who is also trained as a reflexologist, says many people are sold after she shows them what it’s all about.

Reflexology is, essentially, specialized foot and hand massage, often used to improve the health of the entire body. It’s caught on throughout the United States in recent years, and Balog will be teaching about it May 8 at the Birmingham Area Seniors Coordinating Council & Center.

“It’s just so soothing,” says Balog, who lives in Troy and works part-time at Progressive Chiropractic in Royal Oak. “It’s very calming and very relieving … it can help caregivers and the care receivers who are in pain.”

Filling a need

The BASCC senior center is housed in the Midvale Early Childhood Center, an old school at 2121 Midvale in Birmingham. Balog’s talk is part of a support group for spouses, children and others who take care of elderly friends or relatives in need. The support group first met in February and will continue as long as there is enough interest from the center’s membership and the community.

The support group meets on the second Tuesday of each month at 10 a.m. Balog will speak at the next meeting.

“We increasingly saw there is a need” for those who take care of others to receive support from each other, says Patrice Lynch, a program manager at the center.

BASCC is a nonprofit that is designed to serve seniors in the Birmingham school district and elsewhere. Lynch says having speakers like Balog talk about caregiving techniques is very useful.

“As word has spread among our seniors, attendance has grown” at the monthly support group meetings, she says.

The center offers a host of services, primarily for elderly people and their relatives, year-round.

The support group is one of the many services the center offers free. There are services it charges for, as well. Starting April 26, for example, the center will offer a four-part discussion series entitled “Aging … Doing it Well.”

The series runs from 7 to 8:30 p.m. for four consecutive Thursdays. For those living in the school district, the series will cost $8 per session, or $25 for the series. It’s $30 for a family. It’s $35 per person and $40 for families living outside the district.

Fast-acting relief

Balog says that reflexology, in her experience, helps with Alzheimer’s. Her husband, Stephen, was recently diagnosed with the disease. She says it also helps those with chronic aches and pains due to arthritis or other nagging ailments.

“He is calmer and less anxious,” after receiving reflexology treatment, says Balog of her husband. “It’s definitely a benefit for people to know how to do this on a basic level with their loved ones.”

Balog has spoken about reflexology at other senior centers, health care facilities and community events throughout metro Detroit, and says it’s particularly beneficial for elderly people, from what she’s seen.

Lynch says speakers for the aging series include a social worker who will talk about how to cope with grief and loss and a lawyer who will talk about how to prepare a will.

Community service

The center serves seniors and families in Birmingham, Beverly Hills, Bingham Farms, Franklin and parts of Bloomfield Township and a few other nearby communities that are in the school district.

Founded in 1978, it partners with the school district and has about 1,700 active members.

Lynch says the impetus for some of the recent offerings was interest from members and their children on how to care for friends and relatives.

“Over the last 18 months to two years, we’ve noticed an increasing number of children of seniors and others calling about things that are concerning them about their parents,” such as how to handle the potential burden of being solely responsible for their care, she says.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Detroit Free Press

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