|
Inside
Caregiving.com:
The
Caregiving Years
Speak out!
Support Center
Nominate a Caregiver of the Year
Join a
Support Group
Kudos
Get a Coach
What's New
Join our Book Club
Weekly Comforts
Products for Your Heart and Your Spirit:
Shop Our Store!
 |
|
Your
Caregiving Mission Statement
Your Caregiving Mission Statement
Shaping your Caregiving Experience
By Denise M. Brown
Fate may have brought you to this place, this
caregiving role. Fate through a car accident, a sudden stroke or just your
care recipient’s age-related frailties.
Fate may have waved her hand and tapped you to be the family caregiver.
But, you can add some controls to your caregiving destiny—-with your own
caregiving mission statement.
Your mission statement reflects your caregiving goals and your caregiving
personality. Your mission statement will serve as a reminder of what you
can and cannot do as a family caregiver, as well as what’s most important
to you and to your care recipient.
In your mission statement, consider including the following:
--Your respite schedule.
For instance, your respite schedule may include breaks on Wednesday
evenings, Sunday afternoons, one weekend every three months, two weeks
annually. You’ll know best: What breaks do you need to stay on purpose
with a healthy perspective?
--Your respite service plan.
In order to take regular breaks, you’ll use myriad help in various
combinations, from family and friends, to community programs (volunteer
respite programs, adult day centers) to various service providers (home
health agencies, assisted living facilities, nursing homes).
--Your ongoing care goals.
Your mission statement also reflects your comfort level in continuing to
provide care as your care recipient’s care needs increase.
--Your hopes as a family caregiver.
Consider: What are your barometers for success as a family caregiver? (We
like to regularly remind you of your caregiving successes:
http://www.caregiving.com/yourcare/html/weeklytip133.htm.)
--Your wishes for your care recipient.
You’ll want to include your thoughts about quality medical care and
dignified interactions with health care professionals.
--Your care recipient’s wishes.
A helpful mission statement also includes your care recipient’s wishes
about who he or she wants to receive care from (which family members,
which friends), where care can be provided (in his or her home, your home,
the nursing home) and how he or she would like to spend his or her last
years, months and days. If your care recipient is unable to communicate
these wishes to you, your knowledge of his or her past lifestyle and
relationships will help you determine these issues.
Your mission statement is a work in progress. As you change, as your care
recipient changes, as community services change, as your own immediate
family changes, so shall your mission statement. Keep each version of your
mission statement in your caregiving journal; you’ll enjoy reviewing and
revisiting each one.
For more help in creating your mission statement, read The 3 Be’s
of Caregiving.
|
