Connect
Caregiver Wellness Lifeline
  • Home
    • About
  • Wellness Blog
  • Research & Resources
    • Aromatherapy
    • Books & Music
    • Gratitude & Journaling
    • Links to Online Resources
    • Meditate & Relax
    • Yoga & Tai Chi
  • Caregiver Support
    • Alzheimer's Caregivers
    • Caring for a Veteran
    • Serenity Prayer for Caregivers
  • Sanity Savers
    • Excerpts from Sanity Savers
  • Self Care Ideas

Today is World Alzheimer's Day: Every Day Someone Gets the Disease Every 4 Seconds!

9/21/2013

 
"There are four kinds of people in this world: those who have been caregivers, those who currently are caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers."
                                                                                                                ~former First Lady Rosalynn Carter
Picture
No matter which of the above four categories outlined by former First Lady Rosalynn Carter you may fall into, there is little doubt that your life has been affected by Alzheimer's -- either through a family member, friend or spouse. I won't bombard you with statistics, since they are all over the media airwaves, thankfully so! But I want to point out the there are over 65 million family caregivers in the US alone, mostly women, struggling along as the unsung heroes or sheroes, as the case may be, who deal with this disease or others, daily.

I want to let you know that they need your help. Yes, I'm talking to YOU! This is not a disease which will allow cheering from the sidelines. You're going to have to get down and dirty, and maybe take a few hard knocks for the team and almost definitely get out of your comfort zone. If you know anyone who is dealing with Alzheimer's, for heaven's sake, help them out!


Here are some things you can do:

1. Give them a huge hug and a warm, sincere "thank you" for their love and care. Let them know you acknowledge how tough it can be. It will make both of you feel better.
   
2. Offer practical help: a couple hours of respite care so they can go to a movie or shopping or take a nap. Do their laundry at your house and deliver it clean and folded. Take their children out for an afternoon of fun at the park or zoo to give those "sandwiched" between elder care and child care a break on one end of the caregiving spectrum. Find information about resources available in your local area for support, respite, help and give them to the caregiver with encouragement to help them follow through.
  
3. Take a walk to end Alzheimer's on Saturday, October 19, when the Alzheimer's Association is sponsoring a national fund-raising event. Click on the Alzheimer's Association link above to sign up. Get your company involved in matching donations raised (if you work for a company so inclined).
   
4. Help start a Memory Cafe in your community. Here's a "Toolkit" guide for this very worthwhile project and more information about how successful they are and how easy it is to bring better quality of life to those with dementia. There are currently about 80 Memory Cafes around the US, mostly grassroots local efforts, and so very helpful to caregivers and those with dementia. The concept is really taking off in the UK, with excellent support from the government. Here, unfortunately, we have to do it ourselves.
   
5. Be an advocate for creating dementia-friendly communities, so that caregivers can take their loved ones out to a restaurant, shop, church, or other public event without feeling the terrible stigma that tends to pervade uninformed environments. It isn't that people aren't willing to be dementia-friendly. They simply don't know how. Educate yourself, then educate others. See the excellent resource "Aging, Dementia, and the Faith Community: Continuing the Journey of Friendship" by John T. McFadden, M.Div., Chaplain at Appleton Health Care Center in Appleton, WI)

6. Practice the Mosquito Principle: "If you think you're too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito." So, go ahead and be annoying to the decision-makers who can help to fund the end of Alzheimer's. Bother everyone you can think of and be very persistent in your efforts to help caregivers at the end of their rope, dealing with Alzheimer's. You CAN make a difference. Practice being mosquito-like. It can actually be fun, once you get the buzz, er, whine of it!

7. Introduce folks to this website which has a depth of resources, links, tips, advice and sanity-saving humor to help caregivers maintain their own well-being. There are helpful ideas about using music, meditation, aromatherapy, self-care, inspiring books, personalized playlists on iPods with www.musicandmemory.org, and so much more at www.caregiverwellness.biz.

8. Lastly, practice outrageous acts of kindness and caring for the people you love, and maybe for strangers, too. Use the Pay it Forward concept. Reach out and offer your support in big and small ways. Be vocal, be an activist, be a pain in the patooti, but be involved. If we are not, who will be?



Comments are closed.
    Online Resources
    Picture

    About Karen

    Karen is a compassionate, enthusiastic student of life, who cared for her mother for 17 years. She brings her insights, compassion, experience and desire to share knowledge and healing to this ongoing conversation with others on the caregiving path. If you are caring for a parent, spouse, friend or other loved one this site offers sanity-saving tips, open-hearted self-care ideas, and an open forum for discussion, connection and sharing resources for the journey.

    Caregiver's Serenity Prayer

    Archives

    February 2018
    August 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    September 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012

    Categories

    All
    Acceptance
    Aging Together
    Alan Cohen
    Alive Inside Movie
    Alzheimer's
    Alzheimer's Prevention
    A Mind Of Your Own
    Anxiety
    Aromatherapy
    Audio Therapy For PTSD
    Austin Air Hepa Filter
    Autism
    Back Care Video
    Beginner's Mind
    Being Present
    Books
    Brain Insulin
    Butterfly Story
    Calm
    Calm.com App
    Care For Veterans
    Caregiver Advocate
    Caregiver Coalition
    Caregiver Comfort Kit
    Caregiver Guilt
    Caregiver Retreat
    Caregiver's Serenity Prayer
    Caregiver Stress
    Caregiver Support
    Care Giving
    Caregiving Vulnerability
    Care In Hospital
    Caterpillar Into Butterflies
    Chamomile Tea
    Cindy Laverty
    Comedian
    Computers & Exercise
    Crisis
    Dan Cohen
    Deepak Chopra
    Delirium
    Depression
    Diabetes
    Disaster Preparedness
    Distractions
    Dr. Dharma Singh Khalsa
    Dr. Oliver Sacks
    Eden Alternative
    Eldershire
    Elizabeth Dole Foundation
    Emergency Planning
    Emergency Preparation
    Emerson
    End Of Caregiving
    Enough Already
    Escapism
    Essential Oils
    Food Safety
    Forgiveness
    Funny Stories
    Gaiam.com
    Gail Sheehy
    Gift Of Alzheimer
    Gift Of Healing Presence
    GMO Food
    Green House Project
    Gregory Fricchione Md
    Grief
    Guilt
    Happy Light
    Healing
    Holding Hands
    Home As Sanctuary
    Hope
    Hospital Caregiving
    Hospital Stay
    Humor
    Inspirational Reading
    Ipods For Nursing Homes
    Isolation
    Jacksonville
    James E. Miller
    John Denver
    Johns Hopkins Study
    John T. McFadden
    Jon Kabat-Zinn
    Kelly Brogan
    Kirtan Kriya Meditation
    Lao Tzu
    Laugh
    Laughter
    Lavender
    Loneliness
    Loss Of Purpose
    Love
    Love In The Nursing Home
    Maya Angelou
    Mayo Clinic
    Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Blog
    MD
    Meditation
    Meditation Garden
    Melatonin
    Memory
    Memory Cafe
    Military Caregiver
    Mindfulness Meditation
    Mr. Bean
    Music
    Music & Alzheimer
    Music And Memory
    Neurological Research
    Noise Pollution
    Operation Family Caregiver
    Opportunity
    Overnight Respite Care
    Passages In Caregiving
    Patience
    Paul Coelho
    Peace
    Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
    Power Of Love
    Prayer
    PTSD
    Quality Of Sleep
    Radical Contentment
    Relaxation
    Releasing Problems
    Renewal
    Research
    Respite
    Rewind
    Rodney Yee
    Rosalynn Carter
    Rosalynn Carter Institute For Caregiving
    Rowan Atkinson
    Sanctuary
    Sanity
    Self Care
    Serenity
    Silence
    Sleep
    Slowing Time
    Solutions
    Soothing Music
    Stress
    Stress Relief
    Sun
    Sunshine
    Support For Caregivers
    Tai Chi
    Thanksgiving
    The Care Company
    The Kiss
    Time
    Traumatic Brain Injury
    Travel With Alzheimer's Person
    Treat
    VA Caregivers
    Valentine's Day
    Verilux
    Veteran Farms
    Veterans
    Veteran Suicide
    Vitamin D
    Wayne W. Dyer
    Wellness
    Wendell Berry
    White Noise
    William H. Thomas
    Worry
    Yoga
    Yoga Video

Caregiver Wellness

Popular pages on this site:
Self-Care
Wellness Blog
serenity prayer

Self-Care Practices

Explore what  works for you:
Aromatherapy
Books & music
meditation & imagery
yoga & tai chi

Contact Us

Using social media buttons:
Picture
Original content © Copyright 2012-2017 Karen Bonnell all rights reserved
Photos used under Creative Commons from Beverly & Pack, ☺ Lee J Haywood, kev-shine, B4bees, MPD01605, limaoscarjuliet, Thirteen Of Clubs, Darren Shilson, erix!