Support for the Caregiver by Experienced Family Care Providers

by Barbara Mascio

Support for the Caregiver

It’s 2:00 A.M. and you’ve just been summoned to help your loved one to the bathroom … again. You can’t fall asleep and you are about to break under the pressure of responsibility. Couple that stress with sleep deprivation and financial pressure. You may find yourself at a breaking point. You are in great need of support, however at 2:00 A.M., what can you do?

Family caregivers know one thing for certain. Caring for an aging loved one is stressful and taxing on many levels. They feel abandoned, often times forced in to an unexpected isolation from the world they once knew.

Discovering that someone else has walked your path and survived it can be a great comfort. Many life lessons can be learned from the inspiration of an author willing to bare it all, so-to-speak. The next time you are staring at the ceiling, pick up a book and connect with another that has “been there, ‘done that’.”

The following authors are ‘Senior-Preneurs’ and offer real-life support

Carol Bradley Busack's book titled Minding Our Elders; Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories and Gail Goeller’s book, Coming of Age with Aging Parents, The Bungles, Battles, and Blessings may help you release pressure just knowing that you are not alone. As you read these books, you may find yourself in a good cleansing cry while at the same time laughing at your situation (and yourself) in a very loving way.

Both authors share real life stories and personal family experiences with uncensored truth. Reading these books will confirm that you are ‘normal’ and yes … you can do this. Both women openly share their experiences caring for loved ones in varying levels of need, including that of dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Rosie John Doesn’t Live Here Any More… One Family’s Journey In Eldercare by Tom Begert-Clark exposes the fact that caregiving, though often filled with sadness, can be a wonderful, heartwarming and often humorous adventure. This book, written by the adult son of aging parents, brings a different perspective to caregiving from the male’s point of view.

The following support resources are Certified Senior Approved … See Certified Approved Services

Need sound advice on how to negotiate through the process of role-reversal? As the child of an older adult, you may be experiencing great difficulty on how to suddenly become the authoritative figure in this scenario. Mother is mother after all. And now you, the adult child, must be the responsible party. How do you handle the inevitable conflicts and remain happy and healthy? Patti Bertschler will walk you through this process with simple and expert how to’s in, Truce! Using Elder Mediation to Resolve Conflict among Families, Seniors, and Organizations.

Every family caregiver is faced with the challenge of organizing his or her parents’ paperwork, health directives, wills and so on. Once you’ve done all this work, how do you keep it straight so you don’t have to do it again?

Jean Wales self-help book, ‘Do it Now’ and John Webb’s Caregiver’s Resource Kit are both great resources to support you with the paperwork nightmare - definitely a need-to-do task.

Need quick information in the wee hours of the morning? Call the Caregiver’s Resource 24-hour helpline at 888-791-7301

If you want to chat with other family caregivers, visit the Caring for Elderly Family Caregiver’s Online Support Group

For additional resources to help you – the family caregiver – please visit the Senior Approved Free Web Community We’re here for you, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Did You Know?

Thirty nine percent of care providers are men, the adult son. This number has risen from nineteen percent some ten years ago.

Checklists to help you organize can also be found at Caring for Aging Parents. Of course another great resource that will help you to organize essential paperwork and keep it organized and safe is Life Ledger

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