|
|
 |
Support For Caregivers
Family caregivers are the backbone of all senior care in our country. Caregivers provide the bulk of elder care, and they also pay the bulk of caregiving costs. Caregivers need a whole lot more support than they usually get.
In this department we offer support, information, and encouragement to family caregivers, the unsung heroes of the caregiving world.
|
My Elderly Mother is Never Happy
No matter what I do I can't seem to make my mother happy. I manage to get just about everything I do for her wrong. There was something wrong with all her Christmas gifts. If I take her out she is too cold, too hot, the food isn't cooked right, the car is uncomfortable and everything is too crowded. I'm too fat. My kids are lazy - they are 3 and 7! She calls every day to complain about how sick she is (she's perfectly healthy) and how no one ever comes to see her. She has no friends. I'm getting stomach pains when I hear the phone ring . . . keep reading
|
Should I Make My Parent Move When Home Isn't Safe?
Does worry about your parents living alone keep you up nights? Do you want them to move to a "safer" place with more help now that they are getting older? Do you feel guilty all the time that they still live at home and you can't do enough to be sure they're safe? . . . keep reading
|
Talking to Your Parent About Hygiene
My elderly mom smells and I want to discuss it with her but don't know how to broach it without upsetting her. She has a little dementia that is well managed - mostly forgetfulness and some confusion. She claims to shower every day but I can't believe everything she says about anything. Her apt. also smells - I think it's related to urine. I literally cringe when she getting in my car. Any suggestions? . . . keep reading
|
Just Say "No" to "Yes"
It sounds so easy..."Just Say NO!" So why is "No" the hardest word in the English language for most everyone to say? "I'll try," and "I'll see what I can do" both have more words, yet they surely do come spilling out of our mouths faster and easier than "No." As caregivers with more than enough on our plates as it is, here are some quirky ways to say "No" next time we're someone's target . . . keep reading
|
How to Enroll in Hospice
My father has heart disease, Parkinson's, and macular degeneration. He is now almost blind. He now faces kidney failure, and his doctors are talking about dialysis. I believe him when he says he is ready to go. His doctor doesn't want to talk about Hospice, but my father does. I support my father with whatever decision he makes. How can I enroll him in Hospice? . . . keep reading
|
Real Holiday Survival Tips
As I read the 12-dozenth caregiver holiday advice column about how to survive the holidays I must agree, they all have great suggestions about reducing expectations, delegating chores, and accepting that things will probably be "different" this year. Good suggestions all, yet why don't they seem to be as helpful as we'd hoped? . . . keep reading
|
PACE: The Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly
How many seniors who can no longer get along without regular assistance would benefit from a program that provided medical oversight by doctors and nurses experienced in caring for the elderly, physical and occupational therapy on site, daily recreational opportunities, social services, personal care and homemaker services, nutritional counseling, a day program with meals, and transportation to get there and back home every day? . . . keep reading
|
Financial Caregiving For an Ill or Disabled Adult
Are you helping with bill-paying, insurance claims, applications for benefits, investment decisions, tax issues, housing, budgeting for care and living costs,...? There are innumerable pitfalls when you are responsible for managing someone else's financial affairs. Making a mistake can cost your elder financial security, can lead to irreparable rifts with other family members, and could conceivably even lead to legal difficulties . . . keep reading
|
Traveling With Dementia
Every year when the holidy season approaches families wonder whether they will be able to travel one more year with their loved one who has Alzheimer's Disease or another dementia . . . keep reading
|
Need to De-Stress? Play With Blocks and Hit the Pause Button
Just about the time you think you have everything under control for the moment, you find muddy footprints all over the laundry room, the dog upchucks, and your mother calls to tell you she needs more yogurt, preferably blueberry. You're feeling just a little stressed and you wonder if it's even possible to ever catch up. Can you stop the world, 'cause you want to get off...just for a little while? . . . keep reading
|
Self-Neglect: The Most Common Form of "Abuse"
When we read in the news about adult abuse or neglect it is usually a horrific story about a vulnerable senior who has been physically or financially injured by someone. Yet considerably more than half the cases investigated by state adult protective agencies involve elder self neglect with no involvement of another abusing person . . . keep reading
|
When Resentment Builds Up
It just does not seem right to resent caregiving, but the truth is that many of us have days when we resent the disease of the care receiver, having to take on the task of caregiving, the health care system, lack of or over-involvement of siblings, step children who don't help with their own parent, or even resenting the person that we care for. If we don't find ways to cope, resentment can take a heavy toll . . . keep reading
|
Three Keys to Sane Caregiving
We recently participated in a seminar for experienced caregivers who talked for more than two hours about what worked and what didn't. After condensing our voluminous notes we distilled their experiences into three core "keys to sane and successful caregiving" that go like this . . . keep reading
|
Independence vs Control: A Caregiver's Dance
As caregivers, we often get caught up in what we think are the urgent needs of the moment, and we lose sight of the fact that there are two people dancing this caregiving waltz. One of us may be more "able" than the other, but both of us have our own notions about what's most important at any given time . . . keep reading
|
When Elder Care Jeopardizes Your Job
John Jay recently took the trip of a lifetime, using every minute of his accrued vacation time. Back only three weeks, he just heard that his father is in the hospital and he must make emergency arrangements for the care of his disabled mother. His co-worker, Jenna Roberts, is taking several hours every week to drive her mother to chemo treatments. She also needs more time off that she can't pre-schedule when her mother needs care for chemotherapy side effects. Both John and Jenna were extremely worried about losing their jobs . . . keep reading
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| Sign up for our free
Tip of the Week
Get your Free Handbook
"What You Absolutely,
Positively
Need to Know
When You're Planning
For Elder Care"
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Alzheimers Disease
