6 Safety Tips for Home Health Care Workers
With these safety tips for home health care workers, you can provide the best experience for your loved ones or residents.
Creating a Plan: Caregiving for Loved Ones During COVID-19
If you’re a caregiver that’s creating a backup plan, take a look at these key points.
5 Red Flags to Look Out for When Choosing a Care Facility
If you need a little help with the decision-making process, be sure to steer clear of facilities that demonstrate any of these red flags.
6 Ways Caregivers Can Celebrate Senior Citizen’s Day, Every Day
Why wait a whole year to use Senior Citizen’s Day to spend time with a loved one? Take inspiration from this list to show older adults you care.
There for him
His independence taken by stroke; he fights back and I am there for him. Near, aware, anticipating his needs, but reaching out only as he calls. Standing silently by as he struggles to regain all that he has lost Recognizing little steps, slow...
How Do Primary Caregivers Stay on Top of Medical Information?
With so much to think about and consider, it’s hard for many to stay on top of all the medical information they’re in charge of. Thankfully, there are productive ways to organize medical information and focus on caregiving.
Transitioning From 24-Hour Care to Live-In Care
Making care decisions for elderly parents or loved ones can be difficult, especially since so many factors influence care — from personal preference to location to health requirements. Professional caregivers provide a wide range of services, including 24-hour care...
Exploding Waves
Like pent up ocean waves rush exploding toward safety on the shore; I write words; expose my soul; find release in scattered poetic verse. Crammed full with new tasks Filled with fathoms of frustration Heaving with heavy responsibility Hardened from...
How AI Could Provide a Solution to the Caregiving Gap
While there are a lot of ideas in development, none of these can help right now. However, the present is not fruitless. There are a few technologies currently being implemented to help with the caregiving process.
Don’t underestimate the power of caregivers
The first session at the Aging in America conference that I attended last week was titled, “Is family caregiving the next public health crisis?” I’m sure all of you can guess what the answer was: a resounding yes. After attending this year’s...
Clearing out the clutter
When a loved one dies, we often go into cleaning mode. There is an urge to bring order to a world that has been turned upside down. I began cleaning out my mother’s condo the same day that she died. I was desperate to stay busy, to wear my body out with...
Why you shouldn’t rule out medical marijuana just yet
One of the hardest jobs in the world is being a caregiver to a terminally ill loved one. You want to take away their pain and bring joy back into their bodies, but many times are unable to do so. When modern medicine can no longer treat patients with late stage...
Have Courage and Be Kind
“Have courage and be kind” is one of those wonderfully memorable movie quotes to live by that is so simple yet so profound. In the 2015 action version of the Disney film, Cinderella receives this advice from her dying mother. Have courage and be kind Click To Tweet...
Making paid leave for eldercare a political priority
No matter what the outcome of the 2016 presidential election is, caregiver advocates will continue to push for greater support and recognition. A recent report called family caregiving a “critical issue of public policy.” This is an exciting and...
Sundowning & Cinching
My latest hang-up is with Sundown Syndrome. Sundowning is the term or condition used to describe late day confusion, agitation, and restlessness typically associated with seniors with some form of dementia. As nightfall approaches the mood in the house changes....
5 essential skills of a caregiver
Being a caregiver is not an easy task, no matter the needs or level of dependence of the individual receiving care. While taking care of one’s own personal needs is more or less automatic most of the time, switching gears and caring for someone else is not. Putting...
Embracing creativity as a caregiver
The last thing you may feel like doing when you are actively caregiving is engaging that creative spark. Heck, if you were creative before caregiving, you may believe that your creative fire has been extinguished forever. Be open to opportunities for expression during...
A Graduation Ceremony for the Rest of Us
A Graduation Ceremony for the Rest of Us Each year, I have the rare privilege of having a front row seat to one of the few respected rituals in contemporary life: college graduation. It’s beyond unfortunate, however, that we don’t ritualize life’s other markers...
(not so) Super Hero
When you’re a teenager, you spend a lot of time figuring out exactly the path you want your life to take. You’re going to be married (or not), have kids (or not), have such and such career, live here, work there–on and on. Life sure is funny...
The Key to Fitness
It’s 5:30pm, the end of a hectic workday and you are looking forward to going to your gym to take a 6 P.M. exercise class. But just as you are about to walk out the door, your boss informs you that you must complete and important project so that it’s ready...
(not so) Superhero
When you’re a teenager, you spend a lot of time figuring out exactly the path you want your life to take. You’re going to be married (or not), have kids (or not), have such and such career, live here, work there–on and on. Life sure is funny...
This Thanksgiving, give yourself a big thanks
You owe yourself something. We are always so quick to thank others for their kind actions that sometimes we lose sight of ourselves. Of course we should thank those special people in our lives who have made the caregiving journey a bit easier. Take time to reach out...
Caregiving is not a contest
Caregiving is an emotional endeavor by its very nature. When people discuss their own caregiving experiences, or write about them, raw emotions are often shared. We want someone else to understand what we are going through, as caregiving can be such a lonely and...
How involved is too involved when a client passes?
As a professional caregiver, you’re well aware that death is inevitable. While you’ve probably had specific training on the steps to take when a client passes away while under your care, many instructors fail to address the crucial interaction you may face with your...When caregiving comes your way
Pamela Nelson is an artist living in Dallas, working in painting, mixed media, and public art installations. Pamela has exhibited in over 100 national venues, including the Dallas Museum of Art, Austin Museum of Art, Arkansas Art Center in Little Rock, Beaumont Museum...You can’t firm fat!
The difference between weight loss and toning.
Constant Caregiving Requests: How Can You Cope?
My husband is disabled and requires more assistance than some care receivers. More assistance means more requests. I’ve been his caregiver for two years and, as the months passed, realized I was being interrupted constantly. When I was doing laundry, or preparing...
Never stop hugging: Don’t treat the dying like porcelain dolls
Though I had been keeping track of my mother’s weight and vital signs like some people analyze the statistics of their fantasy football players, I was still unprepared when I saw my mother’s emaciated body in person. How much weight could one lose in a month? A lot,...
What’s the Difference Between Parent and Caregiver?
Throughout the years of our son’s life, the identity of caregiver has pulled and pushed me like tides ebbing and flowing.
Do sweat the small stuff: Why nurturing is just as vital as nursing at the end of life
It may sound crazy, but if there was ever a time to employ the cliché, “Stop and smell the roses,” it is when taking care of a loved one who is dying. Family caregivers can become so preoccupied with monitoring, managing, and documenting their loved one’s...Top Posts
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