Why Family May Not Help With Caregiving
Many caregivers find themselves isolated on an island of responsibility. Some find that they are given the job with little or no support from other siblings or other family members who are in a position to help. This article on dailycaring.com will help those with a few tips on what we can do to try and get others to jump in and help.
Some things to take away from this are to remember that these conversations and topics can be VERY uncomfortable, but to do your best to have these conversations in a respectful and tolerant manner. If you can remember that you are trying to get someone to change a behavior, you won’t want to do so by confronting them in a way that could raise defensive walls which will need to be brought down before they will start to do the work to help you out.
The other big take away is document and get organized. If you approach caregiving as a managerial task, think about how “you” would like to receive direction. Some people want autonomy, but others want to have a task dedicated to them. Remember that even though you may share blood and common experiences, you and your other care partners are still wired differently and may need things communicated differently.
Exciting News in Alzheimer’s Treatment
RoseAnne Homola shared this recent BBC article with me that talks through some great possibilities within the Alzheimer’s space. There is a drug Aducanumab, that had trials discontinued in March of this year. It helps with the plaques in the brains associated with Alzheimers. However, upon further analysis of the greater datasets from all studies they saw that the drug was able to help slow the progress of the disease in patients who were treated with the drug.
I checked in with Dr. Peter McAllister of NEICR (New England Institute for Clinical Research) who spoke at our Caregiving and Aging Conference about the announcement and he was actually an investigator for the drug in its earlier trials. It was comforting to know that not only was this something being reported in the media, but also that it was comforting that a respected expert that we know personally at Generation Bridge was part of the trials in this drug.
Here’s hoping that this may be one of the first big steps in the right direction to help slow Alzheimer’s down and/or start us down the path to curing the debilitating disease.
It’s Halloween Time Again, Here are Some Tips for Parents This Year :)
Some good tips here from safety to health and wellness. I certainly found some new things to consider after running through the lists provided in this article. A couple that I will be paying attention to with two young ones of my own - But there are good tips for your teens and partiers too:
Always test makeup in a small area first. Remove it before bedtime to prevent possible skin and eye irritation.
For adults in today’s always on social media environment: For the safety of yourself and others, don’t wear a costume that includes anything that could be confused with a real weapon. Don’t wear anything that could be taken as impersonating a police officer, and don’t wear anything too risqué. Remember, the goal of your costume isn’t to make it scary-short or scary-revealing … just scary.
There are more tips that are really good for people of all ages. The world appears safe, but is not always safe. Stay in control, and be safe.
Ran across this article that angered me. Rampant abuse of Guardianship legalities in Las Vegas. I ready with disbelief about how several smart people figured out loop-holes and blatantly worked the system and took advantage of vulnerable elders. This even happened when those elders had living children who cared and were involved. Despite reporting to various legal entities and police, it was difficult to unravel this situation. I'm happy to report that it was stopped, after several years of investigation, and the perpetrators have been jailed ! It is important to know your rights, have the documentation in place, file it with trusted lawyers and make sure you have loved ones who know your situation. Article explaini…