How Does WeCare+ Help?

Mr. Bob is an 85-year-old male who is the primary caregiver for his spouse Mrs. Bob. She was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. However, the disease began much earlier and progressed very quickly. Within three years he was spending his entire day caring for her. Mr. Bob does this with little or no help, as their children are all out of state and can only offer assistance during the holidays. Also, as with many Alzheimer’s and Dementia patients, most of their friends stopped coming around.

Fortunately, Mr. Bob’s financial advisor was knowledgeable about elder care issues, and he recommended WeCare+. That is where Long Term Solutions stepped in. After an initial in home assessment, Long Term Solutions clinician Sue called Mr. Bob. First, they addressed the activities of daily living. Could she dress herself? Was she able to use the toilet independently? What about independent activities – could she use the phone? These are the types of question Bobby Sue and Mr. Bob worked through. Next, they determined what adaptive equipment would help Mr. Bob properly care for Mrs. Bob. Finally, they discussed safety issues, such as wandering. Mrs. Bob had just started wandering, and recently had been turning on the stove. Sue had many suggestions, from a new lock on the door, GPS transmitting sneakers, to removing the knobs on the stove. They developed a plan to ensure the safety of Mrs. Bob, and then Sue focused on the well fare of Mr. Bob.

With the duties of primary caregiver entirely on the spouse, there is always concern for caregiver burden. Caregiver stress is a multi-dimensional issue, with physical, emotional and intellectual components. Frequently, caregivers don’t realize that caregiver burden and stress is even an issue. Mr. Bob admitted he was having a tough time dealing with the guilt about some of the feelings of anger and frustration he was experiencing while caring for Mrs. Bob.

There is a lot of fear and confusion involved, as there is so little known about the disease. There’s also a lot of confusion. Mr. Bob and his wife were always focused on nutrition, health, and exercise, so why did this disease had affect them? There’s a lot of anger. Mr. Bob sees studies about Alzheimer’s Disease, possible causes, possible treatments, but he knows none of them will help his wife. There’s also resentment. What happened to his freedom? They used to be so involved in their community, but now they spend their days together alone in the house.

Sue suggested that with this level of dementia Mr. Bob should consider 24 hour care. He was hesitant, so she suggested he would benefit from having a home health for aide at least 4-5 hours, 7 days a week. That way, the aide can foster a relationship and develop trust with Mrs. Bob, and Mr. Bob can decide whether or not he is comfortable with it. Either way, it would free up some time for him during the day.

Sue let Mr. Bob know that he was welcome to call her anytime with any new concerns, and she provided him with community resources for caregivers, like himself.

Helping Your Elderly Neighbors After a Storm

This past weekend, the Northeast was hit with a huge blizzard. Some towns received over 40 inches of snow, and the majority of towns received at least 12 inches. With the clean-up just beginning, and many without power, it’s easy to forget about your neighbors. However, the elderly are at high risk during these storms. Many times, they are physically unable to prepare their homes for storms, and it is too taxing to clean up following a storm.

Here are some ways you can help out your elderly neighbors after a big storm.

• Offer to help clean up any debris on their property.

• Help them with shoveling and clearing off their walk ways to prevent any falls.

• Throw salt and sand over their walk ways to prevent slipping.

 • If you have any extra food, bring it over to them during the storm.

• Bring them over extra supplies, such as batteries, water, blankets and canned food. • Call them after the storm to see if they need any supplies.

• Provide them with your phone number to call in case of emergencies. This way, if anything comes up, they will have someone to reach.

• Make sure that they have refills of all of their prescriptions. If they are stuck in the house, they may run out and not have enough left in their prescription.

 • Offer to run errands for them. Sometimes the elderly are hesitant about running errands because of poor weather. This will allow them to stay off the roads if they don’t feel comfortable

• Call them regularly to check on them.

• Call your local senior center and see if there is anything that they need.

 Leave more suggestions in the comments section below!

The Full Emotional, Mental, and Physical Impact of Caregiving

When discussing caregiving, it’s easy to separate the different ways caregiving impacts caregivers. The reality is that it impacts all aspects of one’s life. Whether it’s a sudden leap or a gradual transition into caregiving, at some point, any caregiver will tell you that their caregiving duties have affected their life on every level. We’ve written separately about the different impacts of caregiving, so we thought it would be a good idea to combine all of these into one post because that is how a caregiver experiences it. Their caregiving duties don’t first affect their physical health, then their mental. It’s all at once and it’s all happening simultaneously. Here are some of the basic ways that caregiving impacts people.

How does caregiving affect individuals physically?

Caregivers are impacted on a physical level for a couple of reasons. First, they are responsible for providing care to their ailing or aging loved one. This can be physically taxing and exhausting. Whether they’re caring for someone who needs help with all activities of daily living or a few, there’s no discounting the amount of exhaustion that comes along with this continuous work. It takes physical strength to help dress someone or to help transport them from a bed to a wheelchair. This round the clock care is simply exhausting.

 Aside from physical exhaustion, caregiving can impact the physical health of the caregiver. According to the Family Caregiver Alliance, caregivers have higher incidences of several physical illnesses. They have a higher incidence of heart disease, various physical illnesses such as aches and pain, and they have a higher rate of mortality. Furthermore, many caregivers will put their loved one’s care before their own. This can leave many illnesses untreated and also render a lot of preventative care useless.

How does caregiving affect individuals mentally?

Caregiving is mentally draining. It’s difficult to manage somebody else’s care. Caregivers are constantly managing the schedule of their ailing or aging loved ones, and they have to be cognizant of an incredible amount of information at once. They need to remember physician appointments, medication interactions, individual diagnoses, prescription refills, budgets, dietary restrictions and more.

Additionally, they also experience a higher rate of mental illness. According to the Family Caregiver Alliance, caregivers are more likely to exhibit depressive symptoms, suffer from anxiety, and experience other mental illnesses. Furthermore, because the caregivers are so focused on their ailing or aging loved one, many of these symptoms remain untreated. This isn’t limited to the period that they provide care, and it can last after the caregiver has relinquished their caregiver duties.

What are the emotional impacts of caregiving?

Caregivers experience a wide range of emotions. Caregivers do the most amazing work and provide incredible unparalleled care for their ailing or aging loved ones, but it is incredibly difficult to watch the health of an ailing or aging loved one gradually fail. This can cause incredible amounts of sadness in individuals, as well as some feelings of helplessness, frustration and anger. The other major emotion involved in caregiving is guilt. Caregivers will blame themselves for wanting time off, and will beat themselves up for leaving the side of their ailing or aging loved one.

Caregivers need more support – from society and from their employers. It’s an incredibly difficult task to undertake, and these brave individuals are impacted in every possible way. If you know any caregivers, offer them a helping hand or a friend to talk to.