Essentials of Caregiving – Preparing for the Holidays

Debbie James has been working in the Adult Critical Care arena for the last 45 years. Positions she has held include clinical nurse, nurse manager, nurse educator, and Clinical Nurse Specialist. She is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the UT Health School Nursing San Antonio. Debbie collaborates with MD Anderson Cancer Center, directing of the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) Program. In addition to the degrees she has earned, she has also formal and informal training in various aspects of bereavement as well as bioethics. She is a certified bereavement facilitator and was responsible for the formation of two support groups in San Antonio: one for those touched by Near-Death Experiences and the other for families of organ donors. Debbie lectures throughout the country on multiple topics including Critical Care nursing, Death and Dying, Bioethics, and Palliative and End-of-Life Care. After completing her master’s thesis is on Near-Death Experiences and Disclosure, she was appointed to the Board of the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS). In 2009, Debbie co-authored and edited the first compilation of research on Near-Death Experiences, Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation. Debbie enjoys teaching and mentoring healthcare providers in Clinical Ethics. She has held numerous positions in Nursing organizations as well as the American Heart Association. She has received many awards and appointments in AACN, ELNEC, ANET, Sigma Theta Tau, and Texas Gulf Coast Affiliate Nursing Staff Development Organization and served on the editorial board for Progress in Transplantation. Debbie was identified as one of 20 Outstanding Nurses in Houston November 2005 and recognized as a 2013 ELNEC Award Winner.  October 2018, Debbie received the Best 25 Nurses of South-Central Texas Award: University Health System

Ms. Sheran Rivette is the Family Caregiver Specialist on the Caring for the Caregiver program since 2018.  She is committed to bring education and support to fellow caregivers in need of guidance as they care for their loved ones. She has worked in the private and public healthcare field for over 40 years. Mother to a special needs son for over 50 years. Also, the caregiver to her husband as they traveled the Alzheimer’s journey together for 10 plus years. As challenging as it was, she is grateful to have filled that role for both.
She feels it a privilege to come alongside fellow caregivers through educating and empathically supporting them in their day-to-day journey as caregivers.  She knows firsthand the stresses and challenges caregivers face. Believing that self-care is vital for every caregiver, she stresses its importance to them. Her strong faith and trust in God to provide for the strength, empathy and wisdom gave her the tools she needed to fulfill role of caregiver to her family.