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Elder Care Articles
08.31.10
“Families have always cared for their elders, but our parents in old age are different than their forbears, just as we boomers are unlike previous generations of adults,” writes Paula Span, in When the Time Comes: Families With Aging Parents Share Their Struggles and Solutions. Like other books published by Springboard Press, When the Time Comes is aimed primarily at the Boomer generation.
A longtime journalist who currently writes for The New York Times’ “New Old Age” blog, in her book Span depicts families struggling with difficult, often heart-wrenching choices about long term care and coping with the aftermath of those choices during an elder’s final years.
Today’s caregivers are often ill-informed about long-term-care options and finances, she says. They deal with elders discharged quicker and sicker from hospitals. Often, they balance caregiving with demanding jobs. Many still have child-rearing responsibilities. Others qualify as elderly themselves.
But it's not all negative. Much is made of the caregiver burden: the physical financial, and psychological tolls that caregiving can take, Span points out.
“The phenomenon called caregiver gain doesn’t appear nearly as often … but it exists,” she says, noting “Rewards also surface when caregivers talk about what they do: pride in being able to meet the challenges, feelings of competence and mastery, a sense of meaning and purpose.”
08.24.10
A new program launched by SeniorLAW Center, the Fostering Kinship Care Legal Project, aims to help grandparents and other seniors understand their options when the Department of Human Services is seeking to place their grandchildren or other relative children in foster care.
07.13.10
Walter Harris became his widowed mother’s caregiver when he was in his 40s; the increasing effects of Alzheimer’s disease had made it impossible for the family matriarch to live alone. But, he is quick to point out, he did not do it alone.
“It takes a village to help a caregiver,” says Walter Harris, supervisor of the In-Home Support Program at North City Congress, who has dealt with the issue from both professional and personal perspectives. “I think we had that here.”
06.15.10
Gail Sheehy’s entrée into the world of caregiving began with three short words: “It’s not benign.”
Her husband’s tumor was cancerous, the doctor said. “It took me time to realize that I had a new role,” she remembered. “I had had nine months to prepare for the birth of a child and nine hours to prepare to be the caregiver of my husband. It came that quickly.”
Appearing at the recent Boomervision® forum held at the WHHY studio and sponsored by Coming of Age, the prize-winning author and journalist focused on the issues raised in her latest book, “Passages in Caregiving: Turning Chaos into Confidence,” published in May.
06.08.10
My father taught me how to drive stick shift in a little red Volkswagen convertible. He was patient and unflappable, even when I stalled in the middle of an intersection on Route 73 in New Jersey. And so proud when I mastered it!
So it was excruciating for me - and more so for him - on the day when he insisted he would drive to the doctor - because, as he said, "it's probably the last time I'll be allowed to drive."
In American culture, driving is a much-anticipated rite of passage - and a much valued right. Giving it up is something no one looks forward to, and most resist as long as possible. Sometimes family members have to be the ones who take action, but turning the tables on Mom or Dad and taking away the car keys may not work in every family. There are a number of resources to help with this dilemma.
04.20.10
More than five million people nationwide have Alzheimer’s and twice that many people are providing unpaid care for a friend or loved one suffering from it or other dementias. Care ranges from familiar tasks such as shopping for groceries and preparing meals to managing aggression, preventing wandering and helping with bathing, feeding and toileting.
On May 12, the Alzheimer’s Association Delaware Valley Chapter will present a full-day conference titled “Embracing Care, Enhancing Support,” focusing on techniques and coping methods for dealing with difficult situations and the daily challenges of caregiving. Keynoting the conference will be David Shenk, author of “The Forgetting: Alzheimer's: Portrait of an Epidemic.”
Claire Day, director of programs and education for the chapter, says the conference offers an opportunity for families and caregivers to “interact with other caregivers who ‘walk the same walk.’” While the association sponsors frequent trainings, annual conferences like this one “bring everyone together for a day of learning and sharing, “ she notes.
03.23.10
If you're caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's disease, advises Dr. Christine Northrup, internationally recognized authority on women's health, "ask for help. "You're here to serve, not be the main course."
Alzheimer's caregivers give so much time caring for loved ones, they have zero time for themselves. They feel guilty about wanting some. You should allow yourself three minutes to revel in the guilt. Then, do something self-productive. Caregivers also tend to think they are going through the experience alone. They're not. More than 50 million people (one out of five Americans) care for loved ones who can no longer care for themselves.
Caregivers’ health suffers
The stress of providing care for a loved one with Alzheimer's can make you sick, an Indiana University study suggests. About one in four caregivers visits an emergency room or hospital every six months, researchers note in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
02.23.10
It all started with Monday morning conversations among social worker colleagues, after a weekend of caring for family members. Sharing those frustrations, successes and advice triggered Dr. Joyce O. Beckett’s book, “Lifting Our Voices: The Journeys into Family Caregiving of Professional Social Workers” (Columbia University Press, 2008).
Unique in its exploration of the dual roles of professional social workers who are also family caregivers, the book also has been hailed as the only collection on caregiving in which the majority of contributors are African-American.
02.23.10
Social worker, teacher and author Dr. Joyce O. Beckett says it is vital for caregivers to recognize that if they are unable to provide care, their “care partners” will still be there and still be in need. Therefore, it is to everyone’s benefit that caregivers care for themselves. She offers these tips for self care:
1. Learn ways of sharing the responsibilities. If you’re the sole or primary caregiver, set a family meeting to discuss and delegate some assignments. They may not be carried out exactly as you would do them, but they will be accomplished.
2. Find a way of relaxing (Beckett practices yoga), and schedule a standing and unbreakable appointment for that relaxation.
3. Say “thank you” to yourself. A caregiver can feel isolated and unacknowledged. Go to a movie or give yourself a little treat as recognition for your work.
4. Be ready to see any humor in the situation. Beckett mentions an instance from the book in which two sisters are caring for their blind father who also has dementia and bipolar disorder. One night, they wake to find him standing at the top of the stairs and swiftly move him from harm’s way. It’s then they notice he had changed into a pair of their pajamas and burst out laughing. And we thought he couldn’t dress himself, they say.
5. Educate yourself about problems and challenges of the illness or condition of your care partner. In the previous example, the sisters begin to take turns sleeping and caring for their father. Be proactive in identifying the problems that are likely to crop up.
6. Whether from a doctor or a social service agency, insist on good service for yourself and your care partner.
7. Communicate with family members and take advantage of support groups. Letting off some steam or talking with others in the same situation can help you maintain balance and perspective.
01.26.10
Four years ago, a New York Times article about Boston’s Beacon Hill Village led a group of Philadelphia residents to research the feasibility of creating an innovative support system for senior citizens in their own community. Today, "Penn's Village" is a thriving organization, dedicated to new ways of achieving the old-fashioned ideal of "neighbors helping neighbors."
Penn’s Village is a nonprofit, community-based membership organization that provides a range of support, services and programs enabling senior citizens to stay in their own homes as they age. An executive director matches volunteers with people needing services and also screens organizations that provide paid services.
The Village grew from a meeting at the Society Hill Towers in May 2006 that drew 65 people. Over the next two years, planning sessions and group meetings were held, and visits made to Beacon Hill and a similar organization in Washington, D.C. A survey conducted in Society Hill and Queen Village with the assistance of the local civic associations showed there was strong support for the village concept.
12.22.09
Caregiving is still mostly a woman's job and many women are putting their careers and financial futures on hold as they juggle caregiving and job requirements.
This is the reality reported in the just-released study, Caregiving in the U.S.2009, which reveals that 29% of the U.S. adult population, or 65.7 million people, are caregivers, including 31% of all households. These caregivers provide an average of 20 hours of care per week for adults, the elderly and children with special needs.
"Caregivers report they need help looking after their loved ones, but they also need help managing their own stress," said Dennis White, president and CEO of MetLife Foundation, which funded the study. "Those surveyed suggested potential solutions for these challenges, including greater access to information resources, emergency response devices, transportation assistance, and respite services for caregivers."
11.10.09
Every morning, John Groce and Charles Harmon give each other a call. Friends for 60 years, they chat about the day’s news — and almost always, they share caregiving experiences. “We talk about the problems we’re having and the things we are going through and how hard it is," says Harmon, who has assumed more caregiving responsibilities since his wife’s mobility was compromised.
“I rely very heavily on him,” says Groce, who has been caring for his wife since she became disabled 10 years ago. “That kind of communication is so important.”
10.27.09
The economic downturn has greatly increased the pressures on family caregivers, who number 44 million nationwide. Job and pay losses, service cutbacks, combining households, and difficulty selling a home were among the stressors identified through a national study.
Mary Mullen, director of the Family Caregiver Support Program (FCSP) for Philadelphia Corporation for Aging, (PCA) said she is seeing the impact first-hand.
10.13.09
Stressful as it may be, caring for an older ailing family member may actually increase your lifespan.
University of Michigan researchers, reporting in Psychological Science, found that people caring for a sick spouse were almost 30 percent less likely to die during that period than those who were not.
Another study - of adult daughters caring for older parents - concluded that "the caregiving makes them feel good about themselves and closer to their parents," reports Professor Victoria Raveis of Colombia University.
09.08.09
For most of us, summer's heat seems like an uncomfortable annoyance, but for some it can be deadly. Senior citizens, young children and people with chronic health conditions are at a greater risk heat-related illness, such as heat exhaustion or heat stress, according to Sharon Congleton, Health Promotion Nurse Supervisor at Philadelphia Corporation for Aging (PCA).
“It is important for older adults to understand the dangers and potential complications that can occur from being exposed to severe heat. Older adults also need to know what they can do to prevent heat stress from occurring,” she said.