Cedar Rapids

Carebuzz is happy to announce our April winner of the Caregiver contest! We invite our readers to celebrate our very first caregiver of the month by reading Ava’s story!

Her name is Ava, a single mother of a teen daughter, and the primary caregiver for her grandmother. Ava has been caring for her grandmother for the majority of the past 8 years.

At the beginning, Ava lived almost 2 hours away (via subway) until 4 years ago when her grandmother started developing signs of dementia. At the time, her grandmother had mobility issues, heart disease, and was blind in one eye.

At first Ava was just there to help her go shopping, clean her apartment, prepare her medications with increasing responsibilities. She would travel there every day, often times bringing her young teen age daughter with her. City services could only send an aide 3 hours a day, 3 days a week, and they would not touch grandmother’s medication (3 pills and some vitamins).

Ava had researched other options, and started to organize her grandmother’s apartment of 58 years for a move. One evening it was apparent to Ava that her grandmother could not be left alone any longer. Ava had to take her grandmother home that evening carrying nothing but a few suitcases and a walker. Ava’s daughter and friends stayed with grandmother while Ava took the train back to pack the 2 bedroom apartment herself, and drag things home in a cart. She had a friend provide one ride, and had to hire a moving van to move some of her furniture that was important to grandmother. It took months without any other help.

Ava’s grandmother is living with her now and things are much more difficult for Ava now that her daughter has left for college. Her grandmother’s dementia is less severe most of the time, but her short term memory can be very repetitive. They’ve been to the hospital a few times, her grandmother has fallen twice, changed her pacemaker, and 3 bouts with colitis. This has gravely affected her grandmother’s mobility and incontinence. These elderly events has brought Ava’s caregiving role to a higher level.  Ava cannot leave her grandmother alone at all due to her short term memory, risk of falling, and the risk of eating whatever she sees in the kitchen, has made being alone impossible.

In the past, Ava home schooled her daughter until she was in 7th grade and work part time in the home. When her daughter went to school, Ava continued to work at home and still tries to work as a internet consultant despite her 24/7 caregiving. You can often find her online late at night, in between her grandmothers bathroom visits every 2 hours.

Ava is the Founder of a County wide Recycling group, and a local community group in New York. Her Grandmother was a inspiration to her, as she was also very active in her community.  And today, Ava doesn’t get much sleep!

If you can do anything to help Ava, please contact her on our facebook fan page http://www.facebook.com/carebuzz or via her website for busy moms http://www.busy-mom.com or email her at avaontheweb@gmail.com.

Thank you, Ava, for being the caregiver you are today. Carebuzz hopes your story finds people in your community who can help, even if it is for a respite break.

Caregivers can apply the principals found in Steven Covey’s book, “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, to caring for aging relatives and empower your role of a family caregiver. Utilize these seven habits as a compass for caregiving stress.

1.    Take a Proactive Approach.  Caring for an elderly parent can be stressful if you fail to plan. By planning ahead and taking initiative, you can avoid the stress that comes with work/life responsibilities. Begin early with conversations with your mom and dad about how they want to live out their lives; home care or community care?

2.    Begin with the End in Mind. Evaluate what’s important to your life, and if family is most important then devote the resources of time, energy and talent to that end. Help your aging parent plan for their future. Many seniors and elders alike, assume they will be able to care for themselves in the future even when they become frail.

3.    Put First Things First. Work with your family on a daily and weekly basis in planning goals, appointments, and obligations. Organize all information as a means to focus and plan the goals. It would be great to have a planning session like this with mom and dad before they become elderly. This will help them ease their fear of being forced out of their home in their later years.

4.    Think Win/Win.  Instead of looking to caring for your kids and elderly parents as a source of stress, approach it with a positive mindset. Your positive attitude will rub off on family members, and in turn, they will feel loved and important. Establish everyone’s roles from the outset so as to make everyone feel a part of the caregiving situation.

5.    Seek First to Understand and then be understood.  Covey teaches the idea of mutual understanding between people, and this can certainly apply with Grandma and children. Be empathetic when they express their differences and concerns. If your child or parent is being ornery towards you, listen to what they are saying, and try and get to the root of the problem.

6.    Synergize.  Come up with creative ways to get all family members involved. Perhaps your teenager can play a board game with Grandma while Mom can make dinner. Or Grandpa can teach a youngster a history lesson that applies towards homework. Make use of everyone’s differences to benefit the family as a whole.

7.    Sharpen the Saw. There’s much to be said for balance, and thus a family caregiver must take strides to take care of his or herself. Be sure to renew yourself in all facets of your life, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, and keep on giving.

When applying Covey’s teachings, the family caregiver will find the experience rewarding, creating a feedback loop that makes all family members feel good. Aging parents will feel appreciated and valued when they see that they too, are a part of the care-giving experience.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST IN THE CAREGIVER OF THE MONTH CONTEST!

NOMINATE CAREGIVER HERE!

THE CAREGIVER CONTEST DRAWING IS TOMORROW, MARCH 31st!!!

You may have already entered the contest– in which case, please rest assured that once you have entered the contest, your name will be “in the hat” indefinitely: you are eligible to win the award each month, and you are automatically entered to win the Kindle. If you’d like to enter a new caregiver to be considered for the contest, please do so by following the instructions below!

Carebuzz knows that being a family caregiver is a thankless role! That’s why we’re celebrating caregivers on our site and providing you the opportunity to nominate someone in your community, family or yourself who exemplifies the definition of a ‘family caregiver’ and to win the honored Caregiver of the Month Award! Each month, we will select a caregiver to be featured on the Carebuzz site, and the winner will receive a special gift to honor the work they do. Each quarter, all names submitted will have a chance to win a free Kindle! That’s right, a Kindle! As we have learned from an AARP report on caregiving, there are over 65 million potential nominations out there in the United States. So, who do you think deserves to be honored?

How it works:

1. Submit a Nominee for the Family Caregiver of the Month Award by sending an email to carol @ carebuzz.com
2. In your email, use the subject line “Caregiver Contest Entry”
3. In 25 words or less tell us why this family caregiver deserves recognition and be sure to include the nominee’s name and email address
4. We will draw a name out of the “hat” to select the featured caregiver on the 1st of each month
5. Enter one time and we will keep your name in the “hat” for each monthly drawing, as well as the quarterly Kindle drawing!

NOMINATE CAREGIVER HERE!

Winner Notification:

We will contact each month’s winner by email to ask for a photo and mailing address so that we can send you your special gift!

When I was a kid, my dad used to stretch out on the sofa after supper. For his job he often drove all over the state, sometimes working long days.  Irregular hours were a part of his life. When he was home he’d often fall asleep during the news, waking when it ended or shortly thereafter.  It became so frequent we lovingly called it his “Nightly News Nap.” He’d catch up on the sleep he might have missed the day before, and awaken refreshed.  Ready to tackle the evening’s activities.

And you know what?

Dad was right.

Research shows that drivers who get less than 6 hours of sleep are 3 times more likely to have a car accident.

One of the recommendations to prevent this is a power nap.

What’s a power nap?

It’s a nap lasting about 20 minutes, usually in the afternoon.

How can power naps reduce caregiver stress?

Research shows power naps . . .

* Increase alertness . . .
* Reduce stress and . . .
* Improve your brain functioning.

Power naps increase your alertness so you can stay on top of everything.

When you’re a caregiver you often have your caregiver responsibilities on top of your regular responsibilities.

And in caregiving it’s important to be alert for subtle changes.

Your loved one may forget to tell you something important.  Or maybe she can no longer tell you she doesn’t feel well, she just loses her appetite or gets more irritable.

Whether you’re keeping track of multiple medications . . .multiple appointments . . .eating habits . . .or all three plus more — you need to be alert.

Power naps also reduce your stress.

Caregiver stress is a major risk of caregiving.

And one cause of increased caregiver stress may be fatigue from being up at night.  Maybe you’re caring for someone who doesn’t sleep well . . .or maybe just wakeful because you’re on alert listening for them.

Studies show that by mid-afternoon it’s normal to need a brief nap.  And if the person you’re caring for is napping or has another person caring for them, it may be the perfect time for you to grab a quick nap.

When you’re tired it’s easier to lose your patience.  And if you’re losing your patience for your family or the one you’re caring for, you may also have guilt for losing your patience.

Which creates a vicious cycle of exhaustion . . .anger . . .and guilt. All of which added together increase your caregiver stress.

And power naps can decrease stress helping you break that cycle.

Power naps can improve your brain functioning.

When you’re thinking clearly you can make better decisions . . .including knowing when to seek help.

Plus it’s easier to keep on top of your responsibilities . . .finances . . .and everything you need to do.

When you’re feeling stressed and tired from lack of sleep at night, maybe a power nap is your solution.

Are you feeling stressed and overwhelmed?

Click on this link to see how to easily and quickly Overcome the 3 Deadly Mistakes That Cause Stress, Overwhelm and Burnout.

Source: CaregivingwithPurpose.com

Keep knitting to your heart’s delight — or someone else’s,

Dr. Ina

Ina Gilmore M.D. (ret.)

“The Knitting Dr.”

Ambassador of Elder Care, HowToLiveOnPurpose.com

Founder, CaregivingWithPurpose.com and TheKnittingYarn.com

Using various applications on a Smartphone can help caretakers perform their jobs more effectively. By using some of the newest apps, caregivers will reduce levels of stress, especially when it comes to organizing information. These apps can easily be downloaded to a Smartphone and used by caregivers and seniors. Below is a list of five new apps that have become very useful tools.

1.    Tell My Geo is a personal-health-record app that will allow healthcare providers to access medical history through a Smartphone. The app also has a GPS locater. It is available from Androiod for $9.95 per month. This is a great app for seniors in the early stages of Alzheimer’s.

2.    Personal Caregiver is from iPhone at no charge. This app helps seniors and caregivers keep track of medications. Since many seniors take multiple medications at different times during the day, this app can be very helpful.

3.    Pain Care is also a free app that has won numerous awards. This app helps seniors communicate their level of pain. This is a great app for seniors who cannot speak because of a certain medical condition.

4.    iBioMed is an app that contains a treatment log book for therapies, diets, medications, test results and allergies. It is a portable medical record that has a time-stamped journal.

5.    Public Speech is a free app that can help caregivers record the reminiscences of a senior who may not be with us for much longer. This app makes for a great activity that will engage seniors and allow them to record memories and their life stories.

MarketWatch.com

When a patient or caregiver visits the doctor(s), it would be an interesting question to ask… “why do I have to fill out another patient medical form?” The answer typically given, “we need your current information and health updates and changes”. If that hasn’t changed… at all, “why do I need to come in 15 minutes earlier to fill out a form that was filled out in my last visit?” But the question falls on deaf ears. Medical teams need what they need.  But what caregivers need is more time. That 15 minutes could be used meditating or relaxing, something caregivers need to do more to relieve stress.

On Twitter today, there is an article about standardizing all medical forms, so that when you visit the doctor, just make a copy of it and hand it to the receptionist. We hear that doctors complain that the medical history forms are inadequate anyway and we, the patients, complain that we are duplicating our efforts and wasting valuable time. In addition to this, patients or caregivers may not have available, medical information handy at the time. Yet studies have shown that 80-85% of diagnoses are made based on historical information provided by the patient.

An immediate solution could be when caregivers or patients go to the medical office for the first time, they still fill out a basic medical history form by hand, containing basically the same information that could be shared with all medical offices. If we have a standard form, the patient can maintain that information themselves at home, and provide a copy when visiting a new provider. Now that’s a solution we all would buy into! One standardized form. Then our physician could provide corrections and updates to both the caregiver and the patient. The patient would have a transparent view of their health and make clearer, better informed decisions. The goal being, to have patients take responsibility for their own health data.

Read the full article on One Med Form.

Seniors and Caregivers – Long Distance Arrangements Can Work

Caring for a senior takes a lot of time and patience and these two aspects are even more important for those who are long distance caregivers. It may seem impossible to be able to care for a senior when there are many miles between you, but it is possible. Below is a list of suggestions and tips that can help long term caregivers continue to provide the care a senior loved on needs.

1.    As a long distance caregiver, you will not be able to do everything, which is why it is important for you to ask for help when you need it. Meeting the crucial needs of the senior is the first priority.

2.    It is possible to do an assessment from a distance. This will help caregivers determine if changes have to be made or if the senior would benefit from certain improvements. Pay attention during phone calls with the senior. Listen for warning signs and whether the senior refers to any changes in their situation, including physical, financial and social.

3.    Plan face-to-face meetings with the senior. While this cannot be done on a regular basis, it is important to develop some type of schedule where you can physically check on the senior. Some long distance caregivers will try to visit once a month. Take this time to assess the senior’s abilities and their living conditions.

4.    www.aarp.org offers a lot of information that can help long distance caregivers, including a list of resources available including The FamilyCaregiversOnline.com

Senior caregivers often go through the ups and downs that their senior may be going through. If you are a family member caring for your senior, you may not have the formal training of some caregivers. Dealing with the stress of being a senior caregiver can seem overwhelming in these situations. In order to deal with that stress, there are a number of things senior caregivers can do to stop the stress of caregiving. After all, an unhappy caregiver will only make for an unhappy senior citizen.

• Express Your Stress, Don’t Repress it—Many senior caregivers keep their stresses inside. Repressing stress will only make things worse. Laugh. Cry. Reach out to loved ones for support. It is important to let it all out as a senior caregiver.

• Figure Out The Origins of Your Stress—There are a number of things that will make caring for your senior stressful and emotionally trying. Financial problems or a sudden change in lifestyle due to care giving can make for a more stressful disposition. By finding these stress origins, it will be easier to deal with them.

• Make Time For Yourself—Caring for a senior can consume most of hours of the day. However, it is important to make time for yourself. Do the activities you enjoy, those that help you relax and take your mind off of things. Read a book or pop in a movie to relieve the stress of caregiving.

• Wear a Smile, Not a Frown—It can be easy for a caregiver to grow negative with time when caring for a senior. All of these stresses take their toll on one’s well-being. However, senior caregivers need to wear smiles and not frowns. Being pessimistic about life will not help you or your senior.

Stress Reduction Tips for Caregivers

Caregivers often experience high levels of stress. This is usually because they are providing care to a senior as well as tending to their own family and personal life. When stress levels reach a maximum, caregivers will place their health at risk. The following tip scan help caregivers get a handle on their stress and reduce some of the pressures associated with being a caregiver.

1. Take time for yourself. While your role is important, your own health is as well. You must take some time off and allow yourself time to relax and regroup. Ask family members or friends for help in providing care so you can take a break. If this is not an option, there are area agencies that can help with services.

2. While venting your anger and frustrations can reduce stress, make sure not to do this with the senior. It will cause strain and tension in the relationship. If venting does effectively reduce your stress, seek a counselor or a trusted friend with whom you can talk freely. If you do not have someone to vent to, try writing in a journal. This way, you can express your negative feelings without directing them at others.

3. Slow down. There will be some days that it will be impossible to tackle everything on your list. Instead of rushing and increasing your stress, prioritize your list and take care of the essentials first. If there is time in the day, work on some other things. When you have a moment, take some deep breaths. This will help slow the heart rate down and reduce current stress levels. When you are calmer, you will be more apt to tackle the impossible.

IssueswithCaregiving.com

If you are a over the age of 55 and don’t want to be scolded by your doctor each time you set foot in the clinic or office, then you need to avoid eating certain foods. It can be tough to say “no” to cookies, potato chips, red meats, french fried potatoes, ice cream, and soft drinks but if you want to avoid the rath of your doctor, then stop eating them. You can begin by adopting a healthy, nutritional meal plan that’s healthy for you. Unlike your doctor; we won’t just tell you what you need to do – here are some tips to help you follow through!

1. Limit red and processed meats – processed red meats are high in saturated fats and come with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease

2. Avoid artificially sweetened drinks – you might have already cut back on soda, but sweetened juices and other drinks can also lead to future heart problems through the development of conditions like diabetes. Even one soda per day increased the risk of developing metabolic syndrome by about 50%, a condition that includes three of the following: a large waist, elevated blood pressure, elevated fasting blood sugar, elevated fasting triglycerides, or reduced HDL or “good” cholesterol and can increase the chance of developing both heart disease and diabetes.

3. Cut out the salt and fat – the fact that you should limit these foods shouldn’t surprise you, so avoid fast food, limit salt and saturated fats (a Mediterranean diet is a great way to go!)

4. No more bad cholesterol – it’s a myth that all cholesterol should be avoided. It’s just the bad kind that comes from saturated and trans fat that should be cut out from a healthy diet. Trans fats are mostly man made and absolutely can be reduced to nearly zero. Most trans fats are formed during the partial hydrogenation of vegetable oils.

The best way to avoid aging quicker in an unhealthy way is to exercise, eat right, and avoid smoking.