A Nurse’s Checklist for Family Caregivers During the Holidays
By Janine Kampinga Berlin
The holiday season is an important time to reflect on one thing that’s easy to take for granted when you’re caring for an elderly loved one – yourself.
An AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving study estimates that family caregivers spend nearly 25 hours per week providing care, with one in four caregivers spending at least 41 hours per week. Caregivers who live with the person they care for, the study shows, also tally more than 40 hours per week of care. For many Americans, family caregiving has become a full-time job, often on top of other employment and parenting responsibilities.
As a registered home care nurse, with the Visiting Nurse Service of New York in Westchester, I often work with frail, elderly patients who depend on family caregivers to provide at least some of their care or assistance with the activities of daily living. That means that helping family caregivers practice good self-care sometimes becomes a part of my job, too, because if a caregiver doesn’t take care of herself or himself, he or she can’t be there to care for someone else.
Here are a few guidelines to keep in mind if the description above sounds familiar to you.
- Take Care of Your Own Health
Try to get some exercise every day, even if it means just a few short walks or doing a yoga video in your living room. Keep your own doctor’s appointments. Many caregivers are so busy taking their family members to appointments that they don’t take care of their own health. Remember to get a flu shot, a cholesterol screening, blood pressure check and other annual exams.
- Seek Training and Resources
When caring for an elderly loved one with multiple chronic conditions, you may need to develop new skills such as learning how to change dressings on wounds, assisting with mobility issues or managing multiple medications. Consult your physician or a licensed home health care professional to learn how to move your family member safely and avoid injury. Grab bars, raised toilet seats and other assistive devices may be helpful and covered by insurance as well.
- Remember: You are Part of Your Family Member’s Care Team
Particularly if you have professional home care services in place, clinicians want to hear your feedback, since you are the one who knows what’s going on when they’re not there. If you have a concern, raise it. More often than not, your instincts are correct and your health care providers can help improve the situation.
- Don’t Try to Go It Alone
Daily caregiving can be demanding, overwhelming, and isolating. If someone offers to help, take it. CaringBridge and SharetheCare.org are models that help people pool efforts to ease the burden on family caregivers and help those without family nearby.
- Join a Caregiver Support Group
Connecting with others in similar situations can be one of the best ways to manage your own emotions and prevent burnout and depression. If you can’t leave your family member at home, there may be online or telephone support groups available that will provide helpful connections to other caregivers who understand what you’re going through and can share resources and insights from their own experience.
- Give Yourself a Break
This can be a hard one for many family caregivers. But most communities have resources through home health care agencies, or even churches and community groups, that can help you take short breaks for “you time.” It’s important to try to make time at least once a week to meet a friend for bowling or a movie, take an exercise class, go for a long walk or just enjoy a few minutes of quiet time. Your local agency on aging may have resources to bring in home health services, or you may be able to place your family member in an adult day care program for a few hours.
This holiday season, take a few minutes to reflect and consider whether or not you’re doing enough to tend to your own needs. For more information about the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, call 1-866-632-2557 or visit www.VNSNY.org.
Janine Kampinga Berlin is a registered nurse for the nonprofit Visiting Nurse Service of New York who cares for patients throughout Westchester.
Examiner Media – Keeping you informed with professionally-reported local news, features, and sports coverage.