Dehydration a concern for both caregiver and aging and ill patients

Dehydration manifests itself similar to many diseases. As people age, they are more prone to becoming dehydrated. Similarly, those who are ill must strive to stay hydrated to maintain quality of life. Many times it is up to the caregiver to determine the hydration level of the care receiver. In order for the caregiver to be able to monitor the patient, the caregiver must also be hydrated. I know when I was my aunt’s caregiver my attention was always directed at her health, not mine. I carefully monitored her liquid intake without ever thinking about mine. Looking back, I know that some of my fatigue, headaches, and lack of focus were because I was not staying hydrated myself. The aging parents and elder care site provides a very good discussion of the signs and symptoms of dehydration and a list of the water content in foods that you can offer your patient and munch on yourself.

EEOC Issues Employer Best Practices to Minimize Discrimination against Caregivers

According to the Kansas City info Zine, the document provides recommendations for employer policies in an attempt to remove barriers to equal employment opportunity for workers with caregiving responsibilities. Some of the key situations covered in the Best Practices Document include personal or sick leave policies that allow employees to use leave to care for ill family members and equal-opportunity policies that address unlawful discrimination against caregivers. The entire document can be found on the EEOC website. This is a small step in starting to get administrators within the government to realize the enormity of the contributions to society and sacrifices that family caregivers make in our country, as well as, most countries in the world.

Value of having caregivers

I have spent my life always being the one to step in and be the caregiver when one was needed. For the last 6 weeks, I had to be the cared for. I need help because I had rotator cuff surgery and was unable to care for myself and my 4 dogs. First, my elderly parents came to help. They took me to the hospital for my outpatient surgery and then forgot me for 2 hours. They misunderstood the nurse’s call that I was ready. Worrying that they may have gotten into an accident made the pain medications and surgery fuzziness go away. My parents were kind, caring, and really helped as much as they could. But, I never slept during the day even the first few days after the surgery because I had to worry that the dogs did not trip them, that they could walk far enough and get into their motorhome. They stayed a week and I appreciated that they cared enough to help and I felt like it made them feel better in that we do not always get along. Then my son flew in. He had just recovered from a collapsed lung. He does not cook or do yard work. I have almost .23 of an acre. So I would sneak out and clean the dog poop one armed. He was great about making sure I did my exercises and kept the ice on. He took great care of the dogs and I loved talking politics with him. He stayed 3 weeks. Then, one of my former students came and stayed for 5 days until the doctor said I could start PT and get out of the sling. I had people around for 5 days. I felt helpless but lucky to have people I could trust and cared. I still can’t do much for myself but I am thankful that I had people to care for me so that the chances of my arm recuperating completely are great. What bothers me is that many people don’t have people to rely on for 5 weeks, even 1 week. My thoughts go to not people like me who just had a surgery and did not have a chronic or life threatening condition, but to all of those people who don’t have good assistance in their time of need. It makes me think that with all of the baby boomers aging that insurance companies should setup policies or cover more caregiving options. If I had not had help, it would be almost a given that I would retear and need surgery again and my insurance probably would not cover it. What are your ideas for getting assistance through insurance for caregivers?

Long Term Health Care

This is a portion of a good article on long term health care (LTHC) on Forbes.com (May 22,2008) under investments.

Long-term-care insurance may not be right for every situation. It may not be the answer for people who can rely on family members to provide care for them at home, says Michael Haubrich, a fee-only certified financial planner in Racine, Wis.

“Most of my clients have family members who are willing and able to assist in keeping them out of institutional care,” Haubrich explains. “In those cases, the most valuable asset is cash, not insurance. Having that cash will allow the family to be unconstrained by policy limitations that exclude payments to family members and unlicensed service providers.”

The flipside of this argument is that having long-term-care insurance alleviates the pressure on a spouse or family member to be the primary caregiver, says Don R. Campfield, the national sales director of Guardian’s long-term-care division. “This shifts the emotional burden,” he adds.

This is an interesting argument. My parents bought long term health care (LTHC) years ago because they did not want to be a burden. However, when they bought it people were not living as long. I have continually asked them to review the policy but they are convinced that it will meet their needs. Any of you who have looked into such policies know that they are expensive and they do not cover the length of time that many people spend with different illnesses and conditions. In an article in February, Forbes.com discussed some of the options for LTHC. I would love to hear your perspective on what policies and companies seemed best for your purposes.

Think of yourself as a “caregiver”

One year ago when I arrived at my aunt’s house to care for her, I thought of myself as her niece and friend. I was there to help my aunt as she battled breast cancer. Around the house, she had some books entitled something like, “Rights of caregivers.” She had picked them up during her vigilant, 7 week, attempt at helping the hospital professionals work with her husband after heart surgery. In her words, ” he was not helping the professionals, nor was he helping himself recover.” He died just a few weeks before my aunt found out that her breast cancer had returned. During that time, she got 10 of those books for herself and her children and step children. In reality, she had been her husband’s caregiver for years and years. In all those years, she never verbalized her role as “caregiver.” From my discussions with people caring for family members or friends, most consider themselves someone helping the one they love in a time of need.

To those of us helping our loved one through difficult times, a caregiver is someone you hire to help if don’t have the time or skills to care for your loved one. I remember early on my aunt said, “have you seen or read the caregiver book I got during Bill’s illness?” Why would I need to read such a book, I was her niece helping her because I had the time and I loved her. I was not her caregiver. It really did not hit me until about 6 months in that I realized, but never verbalized, that I was her primary caregiver. I was there 24 hours a day. I slept with a baby monitor so I could her if she got up in the night and needed help. I had to make sure she ate and drank correctly. My cousins became her caregivers, more than her daughters. Not by choice, but by circumstance. It was not until my aunt died that I realized what a toll those 8 months had on me mentally and physically. Maybe if I had read the book on the Caregiver Rights and then looked up information about “caregiving” in general, and more specifically the role and demands placed on a “caregiver,” I may have taken better care of myself.

I believe that until those of us that take care of those we love begin to verbalize our role as “caregiver,” not niece, husband, etc., we will not receive the recognition as a powerful enough group to force legislators, policy makers, and insurance companies to address issues directly related to our needs and the needs of those we care for. More importantly, I have found there is not a group labeled “caregivers.” Instead there are autism caregivers, alzheimers caregivers, aging parents caregivers, spinal chord injury caregivers, and on and on. It is true that each of those categories of caregivers may have different challenges and rewards related to the difficulties that their loved ones face. However, I would guess that there are more similarities in how the specific tasks associated with the caregiving duties impact the mental, physical, and emotional well being of the one caring for their loved one; “the caregiver.” If we split up into factions of caregivers, no one will get enough resources to make a major difference. How many of you have had a difficult time using the term caregiver instead of husband, wife, daughter, friend, niece, etc. Yet, if we could bring ourselves to view ourselves as “caregiver,” we probably would take advantage of the services offered for caregivers and be able to identify and lobby for other services that we need to better care ourselves and our loved ones. What are your views on this topic?

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