This guide will help you to better understand your loved one’s need for care and how you can effectively provide it, while still maintaining your own good health. There are three important rules for good family care: 1. Love is never enough. You can love someone utterly and completely, but without the right tools and education, you can fail as a caregiver. 2. You have to take care of yourself in order to be able to take care of your loved one. If you fail, there will be two people who need a caregiver -- you and your loved one. 3. What you don't know or understand can hurt you and your loved one -- when you learn about what ails your loved one, you can also learn about what will make care better.
What do rock stars and seriously ill people have in common? They need good managers to help them cope with the challenges of their often chaotic and stressful lives. How do you become a rock star caregiver? You provide comfort, compassion, and companionship to someone whose life is fraught with overwhelming physical obstacles and challenges. As more and more patients live with illnesses that were once considered terminal and seek to find the “new normal”, it’s important to understand the impact of being seriously ill on the psyche. This short guide by the author of “The Practical Caregiver’s Essential Guide” and “The Practical Caregiver’s Guide to Home Hospice Care” can help you insure quality of life in practical ways.
Looking after someone ill, elderly or disabled can be physically and emotionally challenging, especially if you are new to caring. However, you are not alone. Offering practical advice and drawing on the latest research in the field of caring, this book helps you begin your journey as a carer. Simply written, without unnecessary jargon, this supportive guide will show you how to help the person in your care, in a manner that fosters their independence, dignity and self respect. Caring strategies are included for the physically disabled, people with sensory impairments, dementia patients and the mentally ill, as well as the elderly. You will also discover where to find financial help, how to take good care of yourself, and whom to turn to if you are a young carer. This book gives you the knowledge you need to turn caring into a satisfying and rewarding experience, enabling you to make a real difference to the life of the person in your care.
Few books have been written specifically for those dedicated men and women who labor as caregivers in our healthcare system. This is unusual when one considers that the services provided those needing medical care is largely their responsibility. This book is an educational resource which addresses the multi-faceted and often complex physical, psychological, social and spiritual issues which challenge the caregivers. The information contained in this text will be especially beneficial to these caregivers who provide direct, hands-on care to the elderly residing in special and long-term care facilities as well as home care. It will assist this specific group of caregiver with little or no formal training in the health care profession to participate more realistically in goal setting strategies, increase self-confidence, and improve their decision making skills. It will give them a greater sense of purpose and an improved sense of security in performing their caregiving responsibilities. It will also be helpful to the caregiver in his or her accumulating knowledge about the elderly resident. For example, he or she will become familiar with family structure, stressors which exist, coping skills, social support structures, physical, psychological, psychosocial and spiritual symptomatology as well as ethnic and cultural issues. The author is of the opinion that the information contained in this book will, in addition, increase the caregiver's knowledge base. For example, it will include effective ways of communicating with the elderly for whom they are caring including the use of behavioral management improving the caregiver's skill base making their jobs easier, and more productive. Such knowledge will improve their quality of life as well as the individual resident for whom they are responsible.
Few books have been written specifically for those dedicated men and women who labor as caregivers in our healthcare system. This is unusual when one considers that the services provided those needing medical care is largely their responsibility. This book is an educational resource which addresses the multi-faceted and often complex physical, psychological, social and spiritual issues which challenge the caregivers. The information contained in this text will be especially beneficial to these caregivers who provide direct, hands-on care to the elderly residing in special and long-term care facilities as well as home care. It will assist this specific group of caregiver with little or no formal training in the health care profession to participate more realistically in goal setting strategies, increase self-confidence, and improve their decision making skills. It will give them a greater sense of purpose and an improved sense of security in performing their caregiving responsibilities. It will also be helpful to the caregiver in his or her accumulating knowledge about the elderly resident. For example, he or she will become familiar with family structure, stressors which exist, coping skills, social support structures, physical, psychological, psychosocial and spiritual symptomatology as well as ethnic and cultural issues. The author is of the opinion that the information contained in this book will, in addition, increase the caregivers knowledge base. For example, it will include effective ways of communicating with the elderly for whom they are caring including the use of behavioral management improving the caregivers skill base making their jobs easier, and more productive. Such knowledge will improve their quality of life as well as the individual resident for whom they are responsible.
For the 54 million Americans who currently care for aging parents and loved ones, this important resource provides essential information for solving day-to-day problems in the real world. The Caregiver's Essential Handbook includes valuable insights and commonsense tips from those who have walked in their shoes: nursing professionals, physical therapists, social workers, and loving family members whose creativity and resurcefulness offer immediate help to those in need. Here are practical solutions for saving money on medication; getting doctors to really listen; making life easier for people who are visually, hearing, or mentally impaired; and most important, taking care of oneself.
This personal yet clinically relevant guide stands out as a must read for anyone faced with caregiving. These pages, penned from the heart and soul of a physical therapist turned caregiver, offers simple yet well thought through and medically accurate essays, external links, even video, to help you with most everything you will face on your journey. The links are written out so you may find them from the paper version with a smart reader text to digital app, or by simply doing a search. A website and Youtube channel accompany this work. This book was written by experts, but with the personal touch of people who have walked this journey themselves. It is longer and more complete than most, but designed so the caregiver can quickly access what they need when they need it. This book will help you stay healthy and happy, build a caregiving team, and perform high quality home caregiving. It can help you manage the medical system, including insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, home professional caregivers and long term care if needed. It was written to help you and your loved one find the gifts in this profound and intimate time.
A complete, step-by-step guide offering problem-solving and coping skills applicable to every caregiver’s unique circumstances. Drawing from over twenty-five years of experience, Levy provides caregivers with a model for effective planning and problem-solving, focusing on the nonclinical aspects of caregiving, which are often neglected by medical professionals: Caring for young and old victims of disability, illness, and chronic disorders Finding ways to make our healthcare system work Assembling core information about a loved one's life Developing a realistic view of how much care a loved one needs today and may need tomorrow, and understanding that continuum of care Locating resources that can make a difference in making sure a loved one's care-needs are met Finding a good family caregiver support group Overcoming the roadblocks the caregiver's feelings of distress and failure can create Taking a practical approach to that overused phrase "Take care of yourself." David Levy, JD is a gerontologist and a recognized family caregiver expert. Levy holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence and is a Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Mediator in family caregiving and a certified Family Conflict Dynamics Profiler. He facilitates weekly family caregiver support groups and counsels family caregivers, both pro bono and privately.
Eldercare is the book written for those who care for their elderly loved ones while trying to care for themselves, their households, their jobs, their children and their social obligations. The book tackles every aspect of caregiving for the elderly, including such topics as talking to the care recipient, developing a game plan, handling stress and depression, dealing with siblings, preparing the necessary documents, handling the transition and stretching your money. Eldercare also provides a special section on home healthcare.Eldercare answers all the tough questions that you do not know to ask. Written by the owner/managing director of an eldercare agency and former industry client, he understands the incredible demands that caring for an elderly loved one places on you, your family, your relationships (personal and professional) and your bank account. Eldercare, The Essential Guide to Caring for Your Loved One and Yourself, will help you manage all these competing obligations. It's the information caregivers want and need to know, written from the perspective of an industry expert."Topics Covered: - What to expect as you try to care for your loved one- Practical advice for those times when you want to give up- Real world advice for dealing with family members- Insights into some of the bureaucratic challenges of caring for the elderly- Tips on ways to stretch your caregiving dollars- A SPECIAL SECTION ON HOME HEALTH CARE
For the 54 million Americans who currently care for aging parents and loved ones, this important resource provides essential information for solving day-to-day problems in the real world. The Caregiver's Essential Handbook includes valuable insights and commonsense tips from those who have walked in their shoes: nursing professionals, physical therapists, social workers, and loving family members whose creativity and resurcefulness offer immediate help to those in need. Here are practical solutions for saving money on medication; getting doctors to really listen; making life easier for peo.
