Caregiving during a pandemic?
Important information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for COVID 19 protection while caregiving
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The Digital Divide
When thinking of technology, individuals and even companies often segregate their platform for different generations. They consider the younger more ‘techie’ generation, and an older, often less technology driven generation and create products that don’t work for both. Where does that divide happen? When does it happen? Let’s delve a bit further and first see how.
Talking with relatives about long-term care
I got an email from the National Institute on Aging with this heading that sends you to NIA’s web page with information on planning for long-term care. It highlights the importance of planning ahead. It notes that we all prefer to stay in our homes; however, “The fact is that for some illnesses and for some people, professional health care in a long-term care facility is the only reasonable choice.”
Asking For Help Shouldn’t Be So Hard!
I was talking with a friend whose husband has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. She is the friend and neighbor who helps everyone else in more ways than most of us can imagine. Her husband is starting to lose his independence, including driving and she mentioned she was embarrassed to ask for help. I of course jumped in with every rationale I could think of for why she should feel comfortable, but the challenge of asking for help as a caregiver and as a mature adult just kept nagging at me. Why is it so hard?
Alzheimer’s Reality Check: Debunking Myths and Conspiracy Theories
I am frequently disappointed at the lack of knowledge about Alzheimer’s disease (and other forms of dementia) that seems to be pervasive in the US. Thirty years ago, this was understandable – but not in 2019, when it’s an epidemic. It is still the taboo subject that nobody wants to talk about. Get over it.
The Senior Influencer
If you glance at your feed multiple times a day, or think in hashtags, you might just be addicted to Instagram. It’s the Facebook side hustle that has become the new preferred social media, boosting nothing but pictures and small videos. It’s become the easier and hipper way to snap a picture and share a bit of your life with the rest of the world. Given its rise in popularity, its also gotten easier to use Instagram as a marketing, reviewing and shopping tool.
Technology is Uncomfortable with Older People
We’ve all heard it before; older people don’t use or aren’t comfortable with technology. The fact of the matter is just the opposite, technology isn’t designed for or comfortable with older people. Let’s dispense with a few things first.
Caregiver Health: A Hidden Health Crisis
The inescapable conclusion is that caregiving is creating a whole new health care crisis that looms in the shadows and is not getting the attention it deserves. Caregivers are becoming the patients. We must find ways to minimize and prevent caregiver health risks. We must make this hidden health crisis a national priority. Over 43.5 million family caregivers are counting on it.
Let’s Retire what we think of Retirement
Is retirement outdated or perhaps not our parent’s retirement…I have always had misgivings about retirement having watched my father get pushed into early retirement, get depressed and lose a sense of his identity. I often say “retirement is not for the faint of heart” particularly if we enjoyed work and it is part of what gives us our sense of self-worth.
Eat Dessert First… and Other Lessons I Learned from Caregiving
I have been reflecting on my caregiving experience and the wisdom that came out of caring for multiple parents with dementia and other chronic health conditions. So much of what I learned was the result of constant crisis management and the desperation that comes with it. But I have taken a somewhat humorous approach to articulating some important lessons I learned along the way.