Caregiver to the community

Written by Katie Mills Giorgio

Photos by John Richard

Christine Scheetz is a very private person despite her very public profile.

As the president and CEO of United Way of Johnson County and former director of community and patient relations at University Hospitals, her face, name and role in the community are familiar to many in the Iowa City area. 

But few people know how interwoven her professional roles and her personal life have become over the past few years. For the sake of the work she does and the community she grew up in, she is willing to share a part of her story.

Several years ago, Scheetz’s brother-in-law suffered a debilitating brain injury. At that time, Scheetz promised her sister that she would care for the couple’s three sons — her nephews C.J., Daniel and Nick, now 22, 20 and 18 respectively — should anything happen to her sister.

In April 2006, after a long illness, her sister died and Scheetz made good on her promise. She is now the caregiver for her three nephews — one of whom lives with her — and her brother-in-law, overseeing his care in an Iowa City nursing home.

Scheetz, 45, is not alone in her caregiving role. According to the National Family Caregivers Association more than 50 million people, provide care for a chronically ill, disabled or aged family member or friend during any given year, with about 60 percent of those caregivers being women. “Caregiving is an issue of our age,” Scheetz says of herself and other baby boomers. “Ultimately it’s a choice that we make, but it changes everything.”

Despite the statistics, Scheetz says it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and alone in a caregiving role. “There are a terrific number of people dealing with this but in many ways when you are caregiving you feel isolated.”

Several things have helped Scheetz battle that isolation. The friendship she has formed with her colleague Connie Benton Wolfe — who also is a caregiver — has been a great support, she says.

“Connie reached out to me and it was nice to find someone who had had that experience,” Scheetz says. The two have since collaborated on a talk titled “Choosing to Care: When Professional Women Face Family Health Issues,” which they presented at the 2007 Iowa Women’s Conference to help other professional women like themselves realize the impact of caregiving on their lives. Benton Wolfe is the former director of United Way of Johnson County. She left the post to become president and CEO of the Center for Active Seniors Inc. in Davenport.

Benton Wolfe said Scheetz’s personal experiences have helped her in her role as leader of the local United Way, and that her background in human services has aided her needs as a caregiver.

“Christy came into this job with a wonderful background in human services and health care issues and patient advocacy. She had all that professionally. There’s just something about living it yourself that helps you see it with clearer eyes and you just have a more clear sense of what families are trying to deal with these days,” Benton Wolfe said.

Scheetz said she feels that it is important for her to balance doing motherly things without being a mother and parenting without taking the place of the boys’ parents. “I provide affection and support,” she says. “Give them their space, but offer guidance.”

Benton Wolfe said Scheetz is able to handle her new family so expertly because she recognizes what her role should be.

“She’s really tuned into the needs the boys have at this age and stage of their lives,” she said. “She has no desire to try to replace their mother, but she does want to give them that same kind of central support that a mom would give. She walks a fine line, but she does it really, really well.

“She is remarkable. I look at what she’s done in terms of how much it’s changed her life,” Benton Wolfe said. “She considers it a privilege to have these young men in her life. She very much chooses to approach it like that.”

Scheetz says her personal experiences and new caregiving role for her family have put her even more in tune with her work helping others in the community.

“There are certain things in my work that are an extension of what I would be doing outside of work. I am very lucky,” Scheetz says. Values instilled in her
growing up — making sure basic needs of food, clothing, access to healthcare and education are met — tie directly to the work United Way does with its partner agencies. “It’s tremendously rewarding work. And it’s wonderful to do work that is an extension of everything I believe in.”

While she is not busy caring for her nephews and brother-in-law and engaging and improving the community through United Way, Scheetz makes time to care for herself as well. “I am committed to getting a good night’s sleep,” she says. “And I live an active life. I walk as much as I can or bike instead of driving.” She also loves to get out and enjoy nature, especially while hiking with her Akitas, Theo and Charlie.

Despite the emotional rollercoaster of the past several years, Scheetz says she is pleased to be at this point in her life. “If anyone had told me how much I would enjoy being 45 years old when I was younger, I wouldn’t have believed it,” she says. “There is a freedom that comes from the confidence of everything you have accomplished, learned and experienced. I grow more comfortable in my skin each year.”