Videos Offer Tips to Successfully Transition to Home from Hospital

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Ask Medicare initiative has developed two new videos to help you successfully manage your caree’s transition from the hospital to home setting. The videos present practical and easy-to-follow tips. The first video, Tips for Making a Hospital to Home Transition, provides insights and expert guidance on important issues caregivers need to plan for, and...

Simplify: Use “No” as an Agent to Prioritize and to Reassess

Sue is the consummate caregiver: She cares for her three school-aged children, her parents and her in-laws, all who live nearby. Since her youngest started kindergarten, she has been interested in starting a part-time, home-based business. She wants to be available for her children and her parents, but she also would like to have some extra money—and an interest outside her...

When You Want to Walk, How to Stay

This week, we took a closer look at a situation that’s common but sometimes not shared. We asked: When do you wish for the pink slip from caregiving? Today, on Table Talk, we tackled some of the top reasons you may feel like walking and then offered some suggestions we hope makes it easier to stay. (You can listen to our show via the player at the bottom of the post.) Reason to walk: I’m tired and...

In or Out? on the Bad Days of Caregiving

Image by Industry Is Virtue via Flickr Liz has a debate going on in her head and a torment going on in her heart. It’s been a bad day. And, not for any particular reason that Liz can pinpoint. It could be that her youngest will turn 10 soon. Or that next week her mom will be living with them for three years. Or that her husband will leave for another week-long business trip in a few days. Or it could...

When Starting Over Seems Like a Daily Duty, 10 Steps to a New Beginning

When you hit the pillow at 10 p.m. last night, you thought: I hope tomorrow will be better. But, tonight, at 12:30 a.m., you think: This starting over every day is just killing me. We often talk about the constant of caregiving—change. With change, comes its sister: Starting Over. Every day, you may feel like you’re starting over. You start over with different services as your care recipient’s...

Let It Snow…

Image by Oregon State University Archives via Flickr I think we’re in for it this weekend. When you’re not out shoveling, you find yourself inside staring at your four walls and your care recipient. Or, you may be staring at your phone, hoping your care recipient will be okay. We’ve got some articles to help you weather the storm: Getting Help to Your Care Recipient When Bad Weather Gets...

Finding, Then Keeping, the Happiness

I often wonder: Am I my own worst enemy? You may ask yourself that same question after losing patience with your care recipient, or letting a family member get your goat, or when you regain the weight you worked so hard to lose. These situations can make you very, very unhappy. Seemingly, happiness is reserved for actors in a sitcom television show. It just doesn’t seem to show up in our living rooms. We can...

Learning to Accept Help

A healthy life is a life of balance; including the ability to give and receive. When I first started my caregiving journey, one of the hardest things to accept was HELP. So many people in our lives wanted to help. I definitely needed the help. But, like so many people, I didn’t know how to ask. And I didn’t know how to accept help when it was given; I felt guilty. And I didn’t even know what I...

What If… Decisions Near Life’s End

(Editor’s Note: Over the past few days, we’ve been sharing articles to help you with difficult decisions. The Hospice Institute of the Florida Suncoast shared the following article, courtesy of Caregiving at Life’s End: The National Train the Trainer Program, to help you make end-of-life decisions.) Throughout the experience of caregiving you may be faced with making decisions with and for your care...

A Physician’s Perspective: The Feeding Tube Decision

It’s the question you may dread the most: The doctor has indicated that your care recipient will continue to lose weight and suggests a feeding tube. Should you say “yes”? We asked Dr. Terrie Ginsberg who specializes in Geriatrics at the University of Medicine and Dentistry, New Jersey School of Osteopathic Medicine, Center for Aging, Stratford, N.J., for her ...

The Ethics of Caregiving: Navigating The Shades Of Grey

Ethics: A set of principles of right conduct. A theory or a system of moral values: “An ethic of service is at war with a craving for gain” (Gregg Easterbrook). The study of the general nature of morals and of the specific moral choices to be made by a person; moral philosophy. The rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession. Your spouse has advanced Alzheimer’s...

A Dementia Patient Hospitalized: What to Expect

By Paula Farris (Editor’s Note: On a regular basis, we invite health care professionals and family caregivers to write a guest blog. Today’s guest post is written by Paula Farris, a family caregiver, who offers tips on managing  your care recipient’s hospitalization.) For a person with dementia symptoms being hospitalized is challenging. In addition to the condition that caused the...

We’re Reluctant, But They’re Willing

Baby Boomers have a difficult time speaking to their parents about when to limit or stop driving, yet most seniors are open to talking about the increased safety risks they face on the road as they age, according to a national survey by Liberty Mutual Insurance. A number of recent news stories about serious car accidents involving senior drivers have brought prominence to this issue. These incidents underscore...

Take Care

You probably hear those words so often that you may feel numb to their meaning. Take care? How in the world do you take care when it comes to yourself? A few thoughts: Take care of yourself in your relationships, choosing to spend your time and energy on those relationships that rejuvenate, support, and when needed, reinvent you. Take care of yourself during your day, choosing the foods that energize you and an...

Building Your Boundaries

(On July 10, Anna Stookey joined us on Your Caregiving Journey to discuss how we can break bad habits with our care recipient. Our conversation led us to talk about boundaries, which led to this blog post. You can listen to the show through the player at the bottom of this post. If you have your speakers on, the show will begin to play automatically.) Life is really what happens between our ears. Our thoughts can...

Finding the Right Words to Ask for the Help You Need

You want help. You’ve been waiting for your siblings, your kids, your in-laws, your friends, anyone! to offer their help. Unfortunately, you’ll wait forever if you’re waiting for others to offer help. So, how do you ask? Tell family and friends specifically how they can help. Often, other family members want to help, but just don’t understand how. Some ideas: –Ask your brother to...

Managing Family Disputes During a Decision

Janet and Sue are sisters, but certainly not friends. They went their separate ways as young adults, exchanging the courtesy holiday and birthday cards over the years. Now, thirty years later, they spend hour after hour with each other as their mother recovers in the hospital from a stroke. Some moments are good—they laugh at how overbearing their parents were during their teen-aged years—but some are really...

Resources to Ensure Good Nursing Home Care

Worried about a family member in a nursing home? Or, just worried that a nursing home is in the future for a family member and you’d like to take precautions to find the best one now? Our communities offer assistance for nursing home residents and families concerned about quality care. If you have a concern, you can contact: –A long-term care ombudsman. Each state has a long-term care ombudsman, an...

POA and a Good Attorney: A Family Caregiver’s Best Friends

It didn’t take long to complete, although it may have taken awhile to convince your care recipient of its necessity. But, today, that simple piece of paper is worth a million bucks (or close to it). Robert Freedman can’t emphasize enough the importance of a durable power of attorney for finances and for health care. “It’s not expensive to get,” he says, “and it’s the first...

Hitting the Highway: Traveling with Your Care Recipient

Image via Wikipedia Planning for the unexpected I always remember great advice I once heard for family caregivers: Use respite services regularly, even when you don’t need them, so when you do need them, you are comfortable and confident in the staff and service provider. Meaning, test out the services that you will use when you need them before you need them. Iron out the glitches (and there will be...

The Road Less Travelled: The Inpatient Geriatric-Psychiatric Option

By Jason Young, MS (Editor’s Note: On a regular basis we invite family caregivers and health care professionals to pen a guest blog. Today, Jason Young, one of our product reviewers, shares his insights to help take away the stigma of using a geriatric psychiatric unit to help your care recipient.) Making the decision to admit a care recipient to a geriatric psychiatric unit can be extremely difficult and...

The Pressure-Cooker of Holidays: The Pressure to Make It Perfect

Image via Wikipedia You want it to be nice, unforgettable, special, as close to perfect as possible. Surely, there can’t be that many more left for both of you to enjoy. But, the pressure to make it perfect can ruin any well-intentioned holiday, be it Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or Christmas. And, the pressure intensifies because of those thoughts in the back of your head: How many more Father’s...