SubscribeCaregiver Confessions: When You’re Sleeping Poorly — Or Not at All
Sleep problems are rampant among caregivers — although they often try to hide this fact from family members and the person they’re caring for, out of misplaced worry that it’s selfish to complain.
Caregiver Confessions: When You Don’t Feel Appreciated
By Paula Spencer Scott, Caring.com senior editor Caregivers focus on giving, not getting. It’s the nature of the job. Even so, it’s only natural to sometimes feel taken for granted by those you’re helping, or to feel like your efforts are making no difference. “Making a difference motivates women,” says TV-radio personality Leeza Gibbons, who [...]
Caregiver Confessions: When You Feel Consumed by Guilt
For caregivers, guilt carries a double whammy: It’s almost always unproductive, yet it’s ever-present. Guilt over not doing enough. Guilt over not being there enough. Guilt over wrong choices, broken promises, lost tempers, unfinished conversations.
Caregiver Confessions with Leeza Gibbons
By Caring.com Staff Last updated: November 07, 2011 TV and radio personality Leeza Gibbons knows firsthand the dark, lonely, and stressful emotions that can be triggered by caring for a frail or sick loved one. While caring for her late mother, who had Alzheimer’s disease, she conceived the Leeza’s Place support centers for caregivers — [...]
Respite Care Services: Helping Caregivers Get a Break
Sometimes you just need a break. You need the opportunistic break that offers a few moments to rejuvenate, to enjoy, or accomplish those tasks that seem to sit idly in the proverbial “inbox” of life. As a caregiver for your senior loved one, you spend many of your waking hours working in your daily profession, commuting, coordinating, and making the world around you happen as seamlessly as possible. But, where do you find those mini-moments of time off from housekeeping chores, preparing meals, managing medications, bathing and dressing your senior family member?
Alzheimer’s Disease — No Longer Thought of as a One-Way Street
As you age, it is as important to take as much care of your brain as you do your body. Getting older affects our minds as much as it does our bodies. Over your lifetime, the ability of your brain to fight the damage of getting older, known as cognitive reserve, is no better than the response of your other muscles if you do not keep them toned. As the brain ages you begin having trouble focusing and performing actions that used to be a breeze. Don’t get discouraged, you can strengthen up your mind just like you strengthen those other muscles, by exercising your brain.
CAREGIVER HIRING CHECKLIST AND REPORT
Mary Scanlon, 70, of Pleasant Hill, made the mistake of her life. She hired a private, live-in caregiver through Craigslist, taking what she considered to be the least expensive route to hiring in-home care. In the end, Mary paid the most expensive price possible for her mistake – her life. Within three months of hiring the caregiver, Mary was dead. She was murdered by the same woman she had hired to take care of her.
How to Choose the Right In-Home Care Provider Agency
The time has come to hire the services of an in-home caregiver. You have decided that seeking a caregiver through an agency is the best option. But how does one go about choosing among the many agencies available? How do you judge the quality of the agency? What are the criteria to consider?