$8,728 a year. No vacations. No retirement savings. 23 hours a week and up.This is the not-so-secret code of the long-distance caregiver.
4 Tips for Successful Medication Management as a Family Caregiver
A few years ago, my father-in-law experienced a major medical crisis and as a result he was hospitalized. He was in intensive care for a time but eventually gained enough strength so that he was able to return home.
I remember being called over to his home after he was discharged from the hospital so that I could help him settle in and organize his medications for his full-time caregiver.
You still need to visit those who no longer recognize you
Dear Carol: My dad has late stage Alzheimer's and is in a nursing home in our community where he seems to be receiving good care. Mom is with him every day. He no longer recognizes either of us, but Mom says that he is her husband and she will be there with him. I respect and understand that.
I'm married and have a full-time job and three children who are in many activities so it's not easy for me to take the time to visit my dad. He doesn't recognize me so I don't know how important my visits are anyway, but Mom thinks that it matters to Dad. I do want to see him, even though it's painful, so I feel guilty if I don't go at least once a week, but I balance the normal chaos of working and raising children along with making it a point to see Dad. Should I still visit even though he won't remember? — GT
6 Things to Say to Someone With Alzheimer’s (And 3 Things to Never Say)
Seeing someone you care about experience Alzheimer’s or another type of dementia is painstakingly difficult. Knowing what to say to someone who’s lost his or her memory can also be hard. However, how you approach conversations can have a significant impact on your loved one.
Caring for the caregiver in the emergency department
Mrs. G has been in the emergency department for hours. An exhaustive workup didn’t find any serious cause for her weakness, the reason her daughter Rosa (not her real name) brought her in. I tell them that Mrs. G seems to be a bit dehydrated and, after we give her some intravenous fluids, she can go home. Mrs. G’s eyes light up. Her daughter’s go blank. Rosa dabs at a tear rolling down her cheek. I sense that she expected, maybe even hoped, that her mother would need to stay in the hospital, even just for the night.
Preparing America for an Alzheimer’s breakthrough
Sooner or later, science will deliver medicines to prevent, slow or cure Alzheimer’s disease, but America’s health care infrastructure is woefully unprepared to deliver such innovative treatments to the millions of people who would need access. Unless the health care system accelerates its readiness for a breakthrough treatment, patients could find it difficult or impossible to get access to life-changing, perhaps life-saving, medical advancements when they are ready.
The First Step Toward a Personal Memory Maker?
Decent memory is a matter of livelihood, of independence, most of all of identity.
Human memory is the ghost in the neural machine, a widely distributed, continually changing, multidimensional conversation among cells that can reproduce both the capital of Kentucky and the emotional catacombs of that first romance.
The news last week that scientists had developed a brain implant that boosts memory — an implantable “cognitive prosthetic,” in the jargon — should be astounding even to the cynical.
In Nursing Homes, Socialization Key for Those with Dementia
Social-based care in nursing homes greatly improved the quality of life of those with dementia, researchers reported.
Compared with having usual care, those receiving WHELD (well-being and health for people with dementia) care showed a significant improvement in quality-of-life scores (mean difference 2.54, 95% CI 0.81-4.28, Cohen's D effect size 0.24), found Clive Ballard, MD, of Exeter University in the U.K., and colleagues.
Adoptable puppies help local seniors living with dementia and Alzheimer's
Julia Knight had her dog Lucky, George Lee his cocker spaniel Rusty, and Eileen Jackman raised collies growing up.
Fond memories of their former furry friends replaced whatever hardship these Harbor House residents were dealing with when two 12-week-old puppies visited the facility earlier this year, triggering the recollections.
Caregiving — With Your Mom’s New Husband
It wasn’t that 51-year-old Alice, a former client, disliked her stepfather, Kurt. They just never got to know one another well because her 75-year-old divorced mother, Suzanne, had met him at a yoga class and married him a year later. Kurt was full of jokes and made her mother happy, but because Suzanne recently had been diagnosed with early stages of Parkinson’s disease, Alice wasn’t sure he would remain devoted as the illness progressed. I should be the one responsible for taking care of her, Alice thought.
A 14-Year-Old Made An App To Help Alzheimer’s Patients Recognize Their Loved Ones
When Emma Yang was 7 or 8 years old, her grandmother became increasingly forgetful. Over the next few years, those memory problems, caused by early Alzheimer’s disease, worsened. Yang, who learned to code at an early age, decided to create an app to help.
“I have personal experience with how the disease can affect not only the patient, but also family and friends. When I was about 11 or 12, I got really interested in using technology for social good to help other people around the world,” says Yang, who is now 14.
4 Tips on How to Discuss Quality of Life With the Older Adults in Your Life
Living a long, happy and healthy life is something we desire, not only for ourselves but for our loved ones, as well. Indeed, as we grow older, quality of life issues become even more important. As executive director for a Boston-area senior living community, I’ve seen firsthand the importance of creating an environment for seniors where they can thrive as part of a community of neighbors, with the support they need.