Elder Care Cafe

Welcome back!Many caregivers involved in elder care are relatives of the aging senior. In most cases, they are caring for their family member out of love and compassion. By definition, caring is to feel a special interest or concern about someone or something. It takes a special person to care for someone else’s needs, especially on a [...]

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Managing caregiver stress is really on my mind this week. Not only have I had to deal with stress while caring for my elderly father since September 2006, but I have observed relatives who are caring for their family members. We are all of an age in our family where we are taking care of [...]

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Family caregivers have been around for centuries. Many are unsung heroes who are willing to care for one or more family members, whether they are aging parents, a spouse, or children who are unable to care for themselves. They care for their family, their own needs often going unmet. But, if you seriously ask them, most [...]

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Busy caregivers find they often forget about their own needs and desires as they spend many hours with their loved one. While their focus is on caring for someone else, their own needs are neglected to the point where their own physical health is jeopardized. Numerousstudies have shown that care giving can bring about illness and [...]

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As most caregivers know, no matter how stressed we get there are always ways we can improve our ability to take care of our loved one or patient. Sometimes care giving is a short term gig if our family member’s condition is terminal. However, all to often our time as a caregiver turns from months [...]

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Often I enjoy cruising the Internet in search of other websites that have to do with care giving. Not only do I receive information on how to become a better caregiver, but the websites often give me information I can share with others. Caregiver stress is a serious issue. The stress of caring for another [...]

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Most caregivers find out soon enough the stress caring for someone else can bring into their lives. What they may not realize is the toll that stress and chronic tension can take upon their body and mind. We discussed the two types of stress, acute and chronic, and what role they can physically in a caregivers [...]

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An area caregivers should keep an eye on in their own lives is the possibility of chronic tension and stress. As caregivers are caring for others, there is a possibility their own health may suffer. As most caregivers know, caring for someone who has their own health problems is quite a challenge. Over time a caregiver [...]

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God has given me a precious gift since we moved into our new home – the gift of Peace. Both Dad and I are feeling it, and are very much aware that we are living in a space filled with peace. As the new year descends upon us, I am preparing to write my goals [...]

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Every year since the early 1990s I have written down my goals for the coming year. Some years I have had great success by diligently following my goals, while other years life seemed to take its own course and the goals fell by the wayside. Unfortunately, that was the case in 2009. In one of [...]

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Readers of Elder Care Cafe will undoubtedly realize I haven’t posted in quite a while. It has been a long  almost six weeks mainly due to a crashing computer that has since died. I just got my laptop back from my daughter who used it while at school. Today is a new beginning for Elder [...]

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Many caregivers fall into their role when a family member or close friend becomes ill or too old to care for themselves. Most of the time no training in how to give care has been provided, and caregivers are learning on-the-job so to speak. One area that may not come to mind for new or untrained [...]

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An advance directive is a document that allows a person to make his or her wishes for treatment known in advance. Many people choose to have a written document on file stating what medical intervention, if any, they would like in case of emergency or if they become incapacitated.

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Many people don’t yet realize what having an advance directive means to them or why it is important to make sure one is in place prior to giving consent for medical treatment. Patients have the right to make decisions about the medical care they are about to receive. They also have the right to be [...]

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As the holidays quickly approach, there are a number of ways caregivers can reduce holiday stress. Planning holiday meals ahead of time will reduce the amount of stress caregivers experience as they are trying to buy presents, prepare more elaborate meals than usual, adjust to an influx of visitors, and control a budget that threatens [...]

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