Elder Care Cafe

Taking care of a family member when they are sick is sometimes a thankless task.  Whether it is a child, spouse, or parent, meeting the needs of someone who is unable to take care of him or herself can be tiring and frustrating at times.  These feelings seem to intensify when taking care of an [...]

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Carol Bradley Bursack has written one of the most eye-opening articles I’ve read in a long time. The title is Who Is Worse Off: People with Alzheimer’s or Their Caregivers? There is a link to the article below. I just wanted to make people aware of the article in case they didn’t see it and [...]

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Last Friday I got up close to my usual early morning time. Love working online early in the a.m. I was going great guns and getting a lot accomplished with my online work when I went into the kitchen for my third cup of coffee around 8:30 a.m.   I glanced into Dad’s bedroom to [...]

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Recently the American Psychological Association’s (APA) released a report highlighting the role stress plays on the health of caregivers and people who suffer from a chronic disease. We’ve known for many years that caregivers are overwhelmed with the role they play in caring for their aging loved one or a family member who is chronically [...]

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While feeding, bathing, and dressing your loved one may play an important role in performing care giving duties, there are other responsibilities that a caregiver may also need to include. Not only will you take care of their physical and emotional needs, but you may also become their primary caregiver and need to handle their [...]

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Everyone needs an outlet. Caregivers are special people but they are still people who have feelings and needs of their own. Journaling is a form of therapy to help caregivers cope with their difficult and often lonely task. Most humans are prone to keeping their feelings bottled up inside. Unfortunately doing so can lead to [...]

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In most cases, caregivers are usually family members who have a vested interest in caring for a loved one or are placed in a position where there is no one else to take care of the person. Also, most of the time they perform their care giving duties not for pay, but out of love, [...]

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Today we are celebrating my father’s 89th birthday. My brother and sister came into town from southern Illinois and Utah for the occasion, as did other family members from around Michigan. It was great to see everyone together. We spent quite a bit of time swapping stories, then went out to a late lunch at [...]

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When the elderly reach the point where they can no longer fully care for themselves, it is often recommended that a family member or close friend consider taking on the role of caregiver. The job description of a caregiver is pretty broad and can include anything from buying your groceries to making sure your Medicare [...]

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Learning how not to worry seems to be a problem for many of us. We caregivers are especially susceptible to worry as we go about our day-to-day duties. We often worry about the person we are taking care of – whether we are doing all we can to provide the care they need. We also [...]

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Hopefully you enjoyed the series about living longer we presented last week. It’s important that we caregivers stay as healthy as possible. This week we are going to return to the topic of care giving and how to cope with the stress. Those of us who are caregivers of aging parents know what most people [...]

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Not everyone can handle being a caregiver, especially when they realize it’s not about them. Caregivers must, of necessity, focus on the one they are caring for. Depending on the circumstances, they may have very little time for themselves. If you are considering becoming the care giver for either or both of your parents, there are [...]

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Well, looks like we took an unplanned one week vacation. Sure didn’t mean for that to happen. Guess reaching five hundred posts was more traumatic than we thought. Anyway, we had quite a week with care giving duties, cable and Internet outages, and a much needed vacation. Sometimes the problem with taking time off as a caregiver, unexpected [...]

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For most caregivers, the idea of needles sticking out of their skin doesn’t conjure up pleasing thoughts of relaxation. Instead, the first thing they probably think of is pain and they immediately abandon any further plans of enduring the procedure. However, in recent years an increasing number of people are turning to the alternative source [...]

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Just before I moved in with my father in the fall of 2006, my sister told me to beware of Dad’s lies. I was shocked! Although he and I had never had a very good relationship due to numerous issues during my childhood, I had never known him to lie. After eleven years of living [...]

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