Caregiver Training Blog

We all knew the day was coming – it was just a matter of time and that time came when mom no longer felt safe in the home she and dad had shared for over 40 years.  Dad had died very suddenly two weeks after celebrating his 70^th birthday, making mom a widow at the age of 65. Even with the support of her neighbors and having me and my siblings close at hand, it became very difficult for mom to live alone. The depression and anxiety that plagued her for the next few years was difficult for us to understand and cope with. A family meeting was called and decisions were made that would mean the beginning of a new life for mom and certainly for me too.

We all do it! New Year’s resolutions are always made with great intentions!  We’re going to eat better, lose weight, sleep more, watch less television, smell the roses, and complain less!   These resolutions stack up pretty closely to most Americans since according to the University of Scranton, the top 10 New Year's resolutions are:

And I thought my life was complicated while raising four kids, working, and going to school!  Caring for an aging parent offers a totally different kind of reality especially if the one you are caring for is not accustomed to having someone else do the caring!

You see it everywhere “Keep Calm and Carry On” and like most modern day phenomenon, this simple statement  has found its’ way to becoming world famous, having been mentioned in news articles, television as well as trivialized on t-shirts and coffee mugs among numerous other items.

Every year during the month of November we commemorate a variety of very solemn and sometimes even bizarre days; everything from Veteran’s Day to Book Lovers and Sandwich Day and of course all the way to Thanksgiving Day.   Each of these days took some effort to be added to the list and means something special to a particular group of people.  One exceptional group that sometimes gets lost in the shuffle is the caregiver – especially caregivers of older adults.  Beginning in 1994, family caregivers were first recognized during National Family Caregivers Week, but it was President Clinton who was the first to honor caregivers as a month-long celebration, signing the first proclamation declaring November National Family Caregivers Month.  Every year since, the American President in office has declared November a month to recognize the challenges, struggles, and tremendous sacrifice millions of family caregivers provide every day.