Maximizing quality of life as an in-home caregiver has been my passion the past 20 years. It is my hope that through these blog posts I can bring joy and peace into your life and the patient or patients you care for most.
Activities of daily living…. what does that mean? Often the in-home, family caregiver wakes up one day as a caregiver; no warning, no training, maybe
Special patient diet types can be overwhelming for an overloaded caregiver. Here are some great ways to simplify the most common patient diet types and incorporate them into your family’s meal plan.
That moment of connection, a sparkle in a patient’s eye. it is autonomy, dignity, self-worth, the feeling of being valuable. My favorite moments in health care are when that light shines through my patients. As caregivers it is all too easy to get caught up in the overwhelming load of providing the best possible care, keeping house, feeding the family, balancing work and all life’s other challenges. It can often be easier and faster for the caregiver if we just do it ourselves, forgetting that it’s the small things in life that often add up to a quality life. Breathe, we’ll take this one step at a time.
By now you know I have a heart for the in-home patient, but there are times that keeping a patient at home is just simply not the best choice. Tragedy doesn’t check in with us to make sure we have our ducks in a row, our finances in order, our kids off to college, our career able to go on hold and all the other challenges of life at bay before it strikes. Many times, we find ourselves in a sandwich of hard times, between a rock and a hard place, so to speak, when tragedy hits. Sometimes a long-term care facility is the best option, or the only option for us. We may not be available to provide full time care for our loved one and may not have the financial means to hire someone else to do it
A poem depicting the unique perspective of a dementia or Alzheimer’s patient.
I have been blessed this week to look into the eyes of the tired, the frustrated, the feeling defeated but never giving up, the overwhelmed, the determined, the fearless caregivers. They don’t know how they do what they do. They just keep putting one foot in front of the other, taking it one day at a time. Some of these exceptional human beings are motivated by an intense love for the person for whom they are caring. It may be their wife, their mother, their father, their husband, their child, or a dear sweet friend with whom they have been through the good, bad and ugly that life has thrown their way. Others are driven by compassion for a total stranger.