Caregiver Support

Overview

Caregiver daughter with elderly mother

Caregiving can be a tough, lonely job. To be effective, you must take care of your aging parent, as well as yourself. Find information and motivation, including long-distance caregiving, work and family, getting organized, respite, stress relief and end of life care.

Featured Articles

Cost of Caring for Aging Parents Could be Next Financial Crisis
AgingCare survey finds that 63% of caregivers don’t have a plan to pay for their aging parent’s care.

Disaster Preparedness: Make Sure You & Your Aging Parents Are Ready
Whether you live in an area where the prevalent natural disasters are earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires or tornadoes, there are some things you can do to prepare yourself and your elderly parents for “the big one.”

Finding Care at the End of Life
At the end of life, each story is different. Death comes suddenly, or a person lingers, gradually failing.

Celebrities are Caregivers, Too
Television personality Leeza Gibbons shares her family’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Is It Right to Convince Mom and Dad to Move Close to the Kids?
What happens when Mom and Dad live far away from their children, and then one of the elders gets ill or one dies and the other is left alone? Should they move closer to family? The decision is never easy.

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Recent Discussion Activity

Stressed to the limit.
Needing to vent
FAMILIES CAN STRESS YOU TOO.
The Importance of Counseling for Caregivers
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Expert Answers

I am caring for my 81-year-old mother who lives with me. She is very controlling, wants to rule my life, and treats me like I’m still a teenager. Pointing this out to her doesn’t seem to do any good. What can I do?
You need the "Jacqueline Marcell emotional shield." Put it on every day, and then don't let anything she says bother you; all negativity has to bounce right off.

I live 3,000 miles away from my father and he needs live-in help, but I’m worried about elder abuse since I can’t be there to monitor the caregivers. What can I do to protect my father and feel more comfortable with hiring caregivers?
I would hire a geriatric care manager who lives very close to your father, and can be your onging eyes and ears in your absence.

Is there an ideal time off (respite) for caregivers that I can show my sisters to help my case for getting time off?
I have never seen an official “Required Respite Time” statistic because of course there are so many factors and it’s very individual, but I would boil the need for respite down to this: As often as needed!

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Products

Medical Information Organizer

HandiRecords is a checkbook-sized medical information organizer that fits easily in purse or pocket.

Online Caregiver Support System

This Internet-based support system enables you to care from afar.

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Books

by Jill R.E. Yesko and Ruth E. Thaler-Carter

Like the title says, this book covers every aspect of caring for your aging parents. And it is completely free, from Lifebrige Health.

by Nell Casey

Casey, a mental health journalist and editor (Unholy Ghost: Writers on Depression) has collected a remarkable array of mostly original essays by talented writers on being cared for themselves and caring for parents, children and spouses with illnesses as varied as depression and brain injuries. The writers have faced age-old dilemmas: for instance, novelist Julia Glass grapples with her own mortality and tries to raise two young children while undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer.

by D.G. Fulford and Phyllis Greene

Designated Daughter: The Bonus Years with Mom is D .G. Fulford's uplifting story of how, after her father's death, she returned home to become her mother's closest companion. Sharing her experience of the lessons, expectations, and surprises involved with caregiving, D.G. also reveals the wonderful ways to honor four generations of family. D.G.'s 88-year-old mother, Phyllis Greene, adds her own remarkable voice, contributing her point of view at the end of each chapter.

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