Why Caregivers Die Young
If you're a caregiver, you're in danger of physical and mental burnout. Here are four tips to help you avoid a premature death.
(PRWEB) April 8, 2004 -- A few blocks away from my home shines a small store
that regularly seeks to flatten my bank account. There I find the latest bulbs,
flowers, and all manner of gardening gear. This time of year, their bulbs
brighten my life.
Photos of bulbs gloriously blooming in rock-filled
containers always draw me right in. So, for the past few years, I've forced
several bulbs in just that way. Wrong, wrong, wrong! I've been killing these
beauties regularly because I didn't know how to force blooms without draining
the bulbs.
Until now.
Last week, the kind owner of the store
enlightened me. The correct way to force bulbs is to plant them. Dirt (not
rocks), food (not just water), sunshine -- all the care you provide for other
plants, you must provide for bulbs if you want them to live to see another year.
It struck me that often we treat caregiving in the same fashion I've
forced bulbs. Ignoring the fundamentals of care for the caregiver, we push,
forcing ourselves to perform without attending to basic needs until we have
exhausted all our energy with nothing left to carry us over to the next year.
If you're a primary caregiver, you're in danger of both physical and
mental burnout. Ask for help! While you may be waiting for friends and family to
volunteer, they may be waiting for you to ask. Here are a few places to begin:
1. Hold a family meeting to discover what other family members can do to
help you. Most will be happy to help in one way or another. But they have to
understand you would welcome their assistance! You would, wouldn't you?
2. Ask your friends for help. Could they trade out care responsibilities
for a few hours a week? Share cooking duties? Come by to visit more often?
Again, they can't know what you need unless you tell them.
3. See what
help you can find from the Visiting Nurse Association. Check the web and check
your local phone book. Branches exist in almost every community.
4. Check
out Senior Corps. Older volunteers will come to your home to be a companion for
10 or 20 hours each week. Your devotion to your aging relative is great, but to
stay the course you must stay well. Your most important responsibility as a
caregiver is caring for yourself.
*******************************************
Read much more about
“Caregivers Who Thrive.” This report is included at no cost in our special bonus
package, given to buyers of How to Find Great Senior Housing (2nd edition).
Learn more at our website: http://www.thebestisyet.net
# # #
Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/4/prweb117197.htm