Stop for a moment to close your eyes and visualize yourself like this: You’ve spent most of your life providing care for and helping others – as a mother or father, in your occupation, through volunteering in your community, and as a grandparent. After a lifetime of living independently and being in control of all of your decisions, you have now aged to the point that you actually are the…
Care providers devote so much of themselves to those they care for – both physically and emotionally. It’s common to become worn down and to start to experience feelings such as apathy, weariness, and a detachment from the person in your care. Referred to as compassion fatigue or secondary traumatic stress, it can be harmful to your own health and wellbeing but may also impact your ability to be as…
Family caregiver stress is unavoidable, and in reality, not always a bad thing. Basically, as they say, “A diamond is just a piece of charcoal that handled stress exceptionally well.” But particularly for family caregivers, the level of stress can quickly intensify and become overwhelming, and if not handled properly, bring on serious health concerns.
Family caregivers give a tremendous amount of themselves to meet the needs of their loved ones, frequently giving up their own desires and needs along the way. It might seem normal, then, to assume that caregivers would feel very good about themselves, with high self-worth and a sense of purpose.
So many people are attempting to juggle multiple obligations, and for family caregivers, it can feel like juggling flaming swords and knives. It’s natural for family members to become overloaded and to experience feelings of caregiver guilt when wanting to provide the best care for a loved one.
Alzheimer’s disease is a complicated condition that often brings with it overwhelming issues for family caregivers. As the disease continues into later stages, those with Alzheimer’s increasingly communicate through actions as opposed to speech, and quite often these types of behaviors can be inappropriate. For example, a senior with more advanced Alzheimer’s disease might exhibit the following:
Envision how it would feel to awaken in an unfamiliar place, not being able to remember how you arrived there or even what your name is. Utter disorientation quickly turns into anger and fear, and you might now discover yourself yelling at the stranger positioned by your bed, talking to you in a quiet voice.
Providing home care services for a senior loved one with Alzheimer’s disease can be complicated under the best of conditions; add in a global pandemic, one that calls for social distancing, personal protective equipment (PPE), and intensive sanitation of both ourselves and our home environment, and the challenge might seem insurmountable. Advanced Home Health Care’s dementia care team provides the following tips for Alzheimer’s caregivers to help keep both seniors and…
Enduring and going through recovery following a stroke is an emotionally and physically challenging undertaking, and the main thing you long for is to return to your everyday life. However, because more than 2/3 of survivors typically have some means of disability, as reported by the National Stroke Association, in-home safety adjustments may be needed to make post-stroke life easier and safer.
A number of older adults who have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease receive the largest part of their care at home from loved ones, particularly during the initial phases of the disease. As a top-rated provider of in-home care in Burlington and the surrounding areas, we at Advanced Home Health Care understand the unique concerns experienced by family members who provide care for a senior with Parkinson’s, and want you…