At Home Care
2-1-1 provides callers in need with information about and referrals to human services
in 22 states and Toronto, Canada.
Adult Day Service Directory - This directory will help you in your search for quality, community Adult Day Services.
Use it in conjunction with the checklist provided in the NADSA Guide to Selecting an Adult Day Center to find a center that
suits your family's needs.
Activities of daily living (ADLs) - Why Do You Want To Complete Them? Significance of ADLs-Caregiver
Tips Examples of services that measure ADLs as a part or all of their eligiblitycriteria include: Adult Day Services, Assisted
Living, Home Health Services,The Virginia Caregiver Grant Program Nursing Homes, Hospice and more
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A locator to take you directly to your state's Family Services website. |
Fix It Tips! - Gads, most of us probably don't WANT to know how
to fix most of the things that WILL break around the house. Unfortunately
out of necessity or lack or finances, caregivers are stuck with this task!! Hopefully these links will provide you with step-by-step instructions on how things work and how
to fix then yourself.
Getting the help you need-Handbook For
Mortals - Coping with a serious illness, our own or a loved one's,
causes a lot of anxiety and confusion. This can be made worse by our health care system - which is really not a system, but
a mix of disconnected, and sometimes dysfunctional, groups, plans, services, and professionals. If what you need is a little
help for a short amount of time, you might find that no program orservice is available.
Helping Family&Loved Ones-Handbook For Mortals - During your illness, family and loved ones will have
to make decisions and support one another. And they will have to make practical arrangements to help you. It would help if
everyone recognized that families and close friends are really "going through it" with a seriously ill or dying loved one.
Here you will find some stories and advice about family togetherness and caregiving.
Unfortunately, though, long-term home care is not always a practical solution. Home care may
be sufficient and affordable if one needs help with some physical movements around the home -- bathing and getting meals,
for example -- or with exercise or physical therapy or monitoring a chronic health condition. But if one needs extensive medical
treatment, or close monitoring for many hours each day, the difficulty of arranging different types of care may make home
care impractical -- and the cost may become prohibitive. In most cases, long-term home care also requires family members who
can fill in gaps that the outside care services do not cover. For many people without such family assistance, long-term home
care is simply not an option...
Hospice article on what to do when hiring outside help, interviews, references, putting
in writing what you expect from them, etc.
Hospice article: Exploring Home-Care Options; Writing A Job Description; Looking For
Help At Home; Interviewing The Applicant; Investigating Legal Issues; Making Your Home Care Situation Work
Guide to getting assistance in your area. Type in your zip code and this link will provide you with information
on the United Way in your area.
- Abuse/Domestic Violence
- Counseling/Mental Health
- Disability Services
- Emergency Shelter/Food/Financial
- Assistance
- Home Health Care
- Legal Assistance and more
by Dr. M. Ross Seligson Being able to cope with the strains and stresses of being a Caregiver is part of
the art of caregiving. In order to remain healthy so that we can continue to be Caregivers, we must be able to see our own
limitations and learn to care for ourselves as well as others.
I remember the day I heard the news: terminally ill. Since that time, my emotions have been on a roller
coaster. Shock first, then disbelief, I just knew a mistake had been made. When it was inevitable that one hadnt been made,
the anger began to surface. First, at what I perceived as inadequacy of the physicians, then at God.
just a few from thousands available!
Article to help resolve conflicts in a marriage when one person is caregiver
to the other
A very sensitive article dealing with the ongoing loss and grieving involed in being a
caregiver.
One of THE best articles on caregiving in a long time. One to be shared with family, co workers and friends.
The Comfort of Home-Caregivers Guide -A guide that promises to take the fear out of home care and brings confidence and peace of mind to caregivers.
Money saving ideas; caregiving from A to Z.
When You're a Caregiver - There are times when the hours you work are too long,
or when the demands you face are too many, or when the rewards you receive seem too few. And still, you are a caregiver, and
you know that someone is counting on you and you do what you've learned to do and what you believe is right to do. There are
days when the person in your care is not easy to care forperhaps they're angry and they take it out on you, or perhaps they're
depressed and they refuse to respond to your efforts. There are days when you've gone .....
When You're the Caregiver of One Who's
Ill - You may have become a caregiver only recently, or you
may have begun a long time ago. You may have taken on this role temporarily, or you may expect to have it as long as both
you and the one for whom you are caring are alive. The two of you may live under the same roof, or you may not. You may be
close, or you may be at a distance. This experience may be a labor of love, or a labor of loss, or a labor of obligation,
or hardly a labor at all. Whatever your situation, you know that being a caregiver can be a demanding task.
When people are very ill, the smell of food cooking and the size of portions often turns off the delicate
digestive system and makes the patient nauseous. I realized food had to be prepared from the most nutritious and fresh ingredients
-- in under 10 minutes. That way the the patient could receive all of the life-giving nutrients long before nausea set in.
I also wanted this cooking to be the freshest possible -- with no imitations, additives or preservatives, and nothing out
of a can...
Helping
Your Loved
One
Journaling-Making
a Journal for your loved one - Hospice article: Journaling provides you with a way to
reflect on what is happening to you. Unlike keeping a diary, journaling does not ask you to focus simply on what happened
during the day. Through journaling, you are invited to look inward at how you are affected by these struggles. Your journal
will give you a place to express your pain, frustration, fear, loneliness... It will soon become your friend in the middle
of the night as you keep watch.
What You Can Do To Be a Supportive Caregiver - Hospice article: Create
a climate that encourages and supports sharing feelings. Understand that men and women often communicate in different ways,
and make allowances for those differences. Be realistic and flexible about what you hope to agree on or communicate. Help
the patient to deal with anxiety and depression. When you and the patient disagree on important issues. Explain your needs
openly. Choose your battles carefully. Let the patient make as many of his or her decisions as possible. Support the patients
spiritual concerns. Help to resolve the patients unfinished business. Working with Health Professionals. Anger, Fear,
Loss and Sorrow, Guilt, Obstacles, etc.
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Assisted Living and Supportive Housing Fact Sheet - Between Home and Nursing Home-Assisted living and other forms of supportive housing
are specifically designed for those who need extra help in their day-to-day lives but who do not require the 24-hour skilled
nursing care found in traditional nursing homes.
Caregiving: Longterm care & self-care. - It is a delicate balance: organizing a life in such a
way as to sleep enough, work enough, connect with others enough, and still enjoy time alone for the things we love or need
to do.
Caregivers
Ideas for a Time When Someone You Love
Is Dying -James Miller - Dr. Miller wrote this to assist you in finding the answers
you seek making a few assumptions along the way; assumed you're close to the one who's dying--they're your spouse or lover,
your parent or sibling or child, your close friend or trusted colleague. If your relationship is more distant, some of the
specific ideas presented here may not ring true for you.
Pallative Care-Five Principals(PDF format) - Describes what care can and should be like for everyone facing
the end of life. Some of theses ideas may seem simple or just common sense. But all together, they give
a new and more complete way to look at end-of-life care.
Long but excellent article covering a mirade of situations: Hospitals: attitudes; doctor's
withdrawing from the dying; nurses too busy. Dying at home-the legal situation. Making decisions etc.
This is what happens when a member of the family or a friend is experiencing the dying
process; those close to that person must adjust their life styles to fit the needs of the dying one. This adjustment comes
in many forms.
Hospice article: Finances, Settling up emotional, Role of advocate, Drawing an Ethical
Will, funeral, one-stop--shop A safe place to talk, A need to know, Guides and other special people
Children
Hospice article: Children Are Aware, Communication Barriers, Not Having All the Answers, Overcoming
Taboos, Developmental Stages, Challenges of Talking To Your child, Religion and Death, Unemotional Opportunity,
Some Children's Reactions, Should A Child Visit the Dying? Attend funerals? Sending children away from home. Children's
mourning.
Guilt
From Caregiver.com By Kate Murphy, RN
Goodness, isn't that a familiar word? You would think that mature
rational adults like us would be above feeling "guilt" about the emotions our care giving can evoke.
National Respite Locator - Helps parents, caregivers, and professionals find respite services in their state and local
area. The National Respite Locator database is not a complete list of all the respite programs that exist.
Respite Care-Caregiving For A Spouse; A Parent - When a family member enters the role of caregiver, their whole life changes. This can be especially
stressful if the caregiver has additional health problems of their own. The goal of of hospice is to maintain quality
of life for the terminally ill and their family. Because of this, respite care is one of the services available from
many hospices. Several resources for caregivers have been set up on the internet.
Respite Care Spells Relief for Stressed Out Caregivers - Caregivers who take care of someone in their home must deal with the needs of their loved one 24 hours a day.
The only way to keep this stress from debilitating you, the caregiver, is for you to catch a break. Respite care might just
be the relief you need.
A short article written by Jean Miller listing 9 things which might help your loved one (and you)
adjust to your first respite break.
Self Help
Caregivers Journal - Some tips for setting up a notebook to keep track of your
caregiving situation.
Information and tools that can make caregiving easier. Enter this site by entering the ZIP code of the area
that most interests you and clicking GO. This will localize resource listings to that community.
Sixteen suggestions for keeping a journal. They have come from my own experiences and from what others have
shared with me. These ideas are only a starttheres ever so much more you can do as you expand upon this practice. In
the meantime, use these suggestions for whatever theyre worth to you. If a particular idea doesnt feel right, dont do it.
The key is simply to keep obstacles to a minimum so your writing will flow out of you as naturally as possible.
Sleep
Insomnia: The Caregivers Role
Not Another Sleepless Night - Some caregivers exert enough energy during the day to power a small nuclear submarine, but sleep deprivation is a
common problem among a large percentage of caregivers. If common sleep inducing measures don't work for you, its time to try
some unconventional methods. Remember, as with all new ideas, keep an open mind. After
all, the name of the game is falling asleep. Just give at least one of these non-traditional ideas a try. The worst thing that could happen is that you might actually get more than three hours of sleep tonight.
You are a caregiver and the last thing you need is to fight with your pillow another night.
Tools For Caregiving
Ask The Experts - The decisions you make on behalf of your care recipient
can make you feel like screaming. Pulling your hair out. Running away. We've got a better idea. Ask one of our experts (Site
lists 9 experts with email addresses you can send a question for support to.)
Caregiving decisions can be hard to make. They are often complicated, involving many
different, sometimes conflicting, factors. Consequences can affect other peoples lives and health....usually people who are
very important to you. They often involve unfamiliar, unexpected circumstances. And they almost always come with time pressures,
emotional pressures, and stress.
Caregivers Document OrganizerA form that will help you identify, locate, and organize the important documents your
will need as a primary caregiver.
Whatever the specifics of your situation, there are some important basic guidelines
to remember when you provide care for a loved one. Describes: Preserve dignity; Involve your loved one; Promote independence;
Ask for help; Be an advocate and Take care of yourself
Caregivers LogUse copies of this form to monitor daily changes and help with communication among care providers
working in shifts.
How does it work?Answer a few simple questions to create and maintain an Action Plan that
will help you provide better care for a loved one. What does it do? The CarePlanner generates specific information based on
your situation so you dont have to waste time sifting through irrelevent content. Point your mouse on the buttons to the right
to find out more about the CarePlanners features.
A scale to evaluate your level of caregiving. It is an excellent effort to provide some guidelines
for caregivers and to evaluate your level of care and value which you give your carereceiver and yourself. The scale is a
1-10 continuum which describes the various styles of caring. Circle the number or numbers which best describe your level of
care
Those who provide care for ill family members or friends are vital members of the health care
team. Most of them have no formal training and rely to a great degree on what they learn from the attending physician and
other healthcare professionals. Since so much care is provided in the home and few physicians make home visits, the following
principles should serve as a guide to some of the things caregivers need from doctors.
Ways to Care
Working Caregivers
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