The provision of full time care for a loved one can be a daunting task that can sometimes overwhelm the provider. It impacts your daily life, your finances and has the potential of negatively effecting your health. My purpose in writing this article is to provide encouragement, a platform in which you may respond, and to share my personal and professional experience.
I was the lone caregiver for my mother, who suffered from Alzheimer’s. Thankfully, my son and cousin joined me during the last years of a sixteen-year journey.
The time I spent as a custodian of my mother and my years as a medical social worker has given me a heart for Caregiver’s. I know the joy, the frustrations and the stress of working with a loved one who has been stricken with this dreaded disease.
My mission is not to encourage any of you to neglect or abandon your relative but to also consider your own needs. It’s not selfish to engage in self-care; it fact it’s imperative. You can’t pour from an empty vessel.
During my career I worked as a master’s prepared Social Worker in many fields including Geriatrics.
While working in a Senior Health Care Center I developed and facilitated, along with a Registered nurse, an Alzheimer’s Caregivers support group. During the nurse’s career, she too had provided…
