Elder CareTips:
Mastering The Eldercare Maze™
November 20,
2007
A hearty
welcome to all our new readers. We're glad to
have you along on this up and down ride!
Remember, there's no such thing as a dumb
question, and none of us know what we don't
know.
Can You Be Paid
To Take Care Of Mom?
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Marcy Jackson's mother needs
someone to help with shopping, fixing meals,
some housekeeping and transportation to the
doctor. Marcy, who works during the day, is
stretched to give her mother the attention she
needs after work.
"If only," Marcy thinks every day, "I could get
paid for taking care of Mother."
Caregivers taking care of elderly relatives are
spending an average of more than 20 hours each
week giving unpaid care. They give this kind of
care for an average of over 4 years. Many
caregivers have had to make adjustments to their
work hours, cutting back to part-time, or even
quitting their jobs to stay with an elderly
person. Over and above immediate lost salaries,
the lifetime costs in loss of raises and
promotions, retirement and health benefits, and
reduced Social Security income has been
estimated to be $650,000 or more.
And these numbers don't include the hidden costs
of exhaustion and depression as caregivers try
to sandwich other family obligations into the
job and caregiving mix.
How much easier would it be to keep an older
loved one at home if you could be paid for the
time you spend giving care?
Maybe you can.
Can You Be Paid To Take Care Of Mom
Continues...
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If GH can stand for P as in Hiccough
If OUGH can stand for O as in Dough
If PHTH can stand for T as in Phthisis
If EIGH can stand for A as in Neighbor
If TTE can stand for T as in Gazette
If EAU can stand for O as in Plateau
Then the right way to spell POTATO should
be:
'GHOUGHPHTHEIGHTTEEAU'
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The Undertaking is an extremely moving, and
important, television special that is now
available on the PBS website. Without maudlin
sentimentality and with exquisite sensitivity Thomas
Lynch, a funeral director in a small Michigan town,
gave PBS behind-the-scenes access to his world. From
advance funeral arrangements to the embalming room to
a cremation and a burial, we are allowed to accompany
the living, the deceased, and those at Lynch & Sons
who care for both. I encourage you to watch this
magnificent presentation, which I personally found to
be surprisingly comforting.
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It's not
entertaining, you can't eat it, and it
won't keep you warm, so why do you want
one? Because it will keep you alive!
If your elder (or
you) have a flame burning in the house for
the water heater, the heating system, the
oven or the range (any one of these) you
could be breathing carbon monoxide. Carbon
monoxide is a colorless, odorless,
tasteless gas that is produced when fuel
such as gas, coal or oil is not
efficiently and completely burned. Every
year we hear stories about whole families
who were found dead in their beds because
of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Now that our
houses are being sealed up for the winter
the danger of CO poisoning increases
several-fold. Get a carbon monoxide
detector installed if you don't have one.
If you have a problem it will let you know
before the gas can do its work. Your local
hardware store will carry them, as does
Amazon if you don't feel like going
out. Wherever you get one, install it as
soon as you can and sleep worry-free.
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The most unselfish thing you can do
is to look out for #1. Too
often caregivers put their own
needs last. If you destroy yourself financially or
physically by
neglecting your own needs to take care of
those around you, you'll simply be setting up your children
to have to face the same difficulties caring for you.
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That's it for this time around.
Live Well!
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