You have a looming deadline at work and your mother keeps calling because your father has fallen yet again. You are notified by your mother’s housing provider to find immediate overnight care due to your mother’s dementia and wandering at night time. You are for late for work due to taking your Dad to this… Read more…
My Dad is 95 years old and honestly, some days I can’t believe he is still alive. I’m his only daughter and caregiver. I’ve been looking after him for 4 years now. In those years, we’ve had pneumonia, a broken hip and a stroke. What I’ve really learned is there are always unexpected challenges. I… Read more…
Did you know that family caregivers provide upwards of 80% of care and support for aging parents or spouses? Phew! That’s a lot of time and energy. When I was seven months pregnant, my father had a massive stroke. The next few months were like a rollercoaster as our family struggled with the many difficult… Read more…
Mr. Jones is an 83-year-old widower living in his own home. When asked, he’ll tell you he is doing “fair to middling.” He’ll go on to tell you his legs are tired and wobbly and he doesn’t get out as much as he’d used to. He has a scooter, which gets him to town and… Read more…
For most of us, February finally feels like life is back to normal and we are back into the swing of a more even-perhaps-less-busy routine. However, for family caregivers caring for a spouse or older parent, life is always busy juggling the many demands of caregiving and everyday life. Family members who are feeling overwhelmed… Read more…
One of the main reasons family members take on the role of caregiver is because they love their aging loved ones and they want to help them with a better life and prolonged independence. Sometimes though, the rewards of caregiving are outweighed by the stress, physical and emotional work, which invariably leads to burnout.… Read more…
If only balancing work and eldercare were as simple as a basic mathematical equation! But wait, maybe it is… Assessing work situation + assessing how eldercare activities affect your work = identifying a plan to achieve balance OK, OK, it’s a stretch but a good place to start. Our last column talked about the first… Read more…
You are in a work meeting and your cell phone vibrates. You ignore it. Two minutes later, it vibrates again. You check the number and see it’s your mother calling. Between meetings you call her back and she tells you she needs to go to a doctor’s appointment this afternoon. You wish that she had… Read more…
One of the main reasons family members take on the role of caregiver is because they love their aging loved ones and they want to help them with a better life and prolonged independence. Sometimes though, the rewards of caregiving are outweighed by the stress, physical and emotional work, which invariably leads to burnout. How… Read more…
What is Caregier Burnout? At first most caregivers accept their new role as caregiver with a sense of idealism, hope and eagerness to do well. As time goes on fatigue may set in, disappointments and frustrations can and do occur. Caregiver burnout or compassion fatigue is a sense of being completely overwhelmed and unrewarded (Carter,… Read more…
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