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Introduction to Caregiving
Who is a caregiver?
Just about everyone in the U. S. and Canada is likely to have the experience of caregiving at some point in their lives. For you, that moment is now or coming in the near future, and that’s why you’re exploring this website. You want—and need—information about this new phase of your life.
It may help you to realize that you are not alone in doing this vital and compassionate work. According to the National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA, www.nfcacares.org.), there are approximately 54 million people in the U. S. right now who are making time in their everyday schedules to provide some consistent level of care and support for a loved one who is ill or injured. In Canada, the estimate is around 9 million unpaid caregivers. Those people are pretty evenly divided across gender and ethnic lines. Caregivers can be found in every adult age range, although the largest group is in the 45 to 55-year-old range. Further, it is expected that the number of caregivers will continue to rise as the Baby Boomer generation ages.
Caregivers are family members, friends, neighbors, members of the faith community or colleagues of the ill or injured person, ordinary people with no medical training who are willing to offer their time and effort without pay to help out someone they love.
What do care givers do?
Some caregivers take on the huge task of providing all the care necessary to keep their loved one at home, being there for their patients 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week. Others are part of a team of people who spend a portion of each day or each week in caring for the person who is ill or injured. You don’t have to do it on a full-time basis for the support you provide to be considered caregiving. Holding someone’s hand can be just as important to them as the full-time care they receive. Caregiving happens whenever a person regularly takes time to help or support an ill or injured loved one.
Caregivers bring in meals; provide relief for a primary, full-time caregiver; transport the patient to medical appointments and treatment; provide childcare, house cleaning, and garden maintenance, and a host of other necessary services for the ill or injured person. Sometimes, a caregiver’s assignment is to simply drop in for regular visits, to just be with the patient.
Where do caregivers do their caregiving?
While the point of being a caregiver is to allow the patient to stay at home, caregiving is not limited to what you do for your patient there. You may find yourself providing care to your patient in settings outside the home, such a day care centers, treatment facilities, rehabilitation centers, or even in acute care hospitals. These more institutional settings focus on providing treatment more than care. With that in mind, caregivers may find that their support is still needed by the patients when they are in these places outside of the home.
Caregivers are the patient’s team while the patient is interacting with, and being treated by, the medical team. The medical world can be overwhelming, confusing and frightening, and patients particularly need a caregiver “on their side” while in that world. An important rule of thumb is to make sure that a caregiver goes to every medical appointment with the patient. And remember, even when in a “care” facility, patients still need visits and small tokens of affection such as special food, flowers, warm blankets, a glass of ice water, or a hand to hold.
Being a caregiver is a challenging, complex and potentially dangerous assignment. The stress that comes along with this voluntary job can build to such a high level that it becomes life-threatening to the caregiver.
If you are a caregiver, or if you think you are going to become one, please remember two important rules of caregiving:
1. You can’t—and shouldn’t—go it alone. It is not necessary that you and the patient make this medical journey without help from others. Ask for help, regularly and clearly.
2. Be as compassionate to yourself as you are to your patient. Yes, your patient is the one who needs the help and attention, but so do you if you are to remain strong to care for your loved one. Treat yourself gently and get the support you need. Ask for help, regularly and clearly.
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For helpful and practical information about reducing your caregiver stress and providing care with ease and confidence, check out Search for Light: Ten Crucial Lessons for Caregivers, its supplement, the Blueprint for Caregiving series, and the two companion workbooks, The Medical Journal and The Tool Box: Life Documents File. The book will provide you with information about the emotional stages you’ll work through as a caregiver and advice on how to deal with your patient’s medical team and treatment facilities, how-- and why-- to build your own support system, and, most importantly how to care for yourself while you give the highest level care possible to your loved one.
The material in the Blueprint for Caregiving series augments the advice that’s in the book. Included is information on nutrition, falls prevention, easing surgery recovery, and stress and stress reduction. There are different version of Blueprint for Caregiving that are specific to your patient’s condition: Blueprint for Cancer Caregiving, Blueprint for Elder Caregiving and Blueprint for Dementia Caregiving. The more generalized Blueprint for Caregiving is for caregivers whose patients are being treated for other conditions. Please see the Blueprint for Caregiving tab for information on ordering the version that’s right for you. |
The workbooks, The Medical Journal and The Tool Box: Life Documents File, are designed to reduce caregiver stress by enabling you to keep all of your patient’s important information in one, easy-to-use notebook. The Medical Journal enables you and your patient to keep track of all the medical information you need to have in hand-- from pending appointments, to health history, to diagnoses and treatment plans—as you go through the process from diagnosis through treatment and beyond. The Tool Box is the place where you can keep track of all those life documents that often are scattered in a variety of locations from the kitchen desk, to the office to the bank. There is room for everything including birth and marriage certificates to Social Security Cards to insurance policies and military service records. Using these workbooks, you will never have to engage in a desperate scramble to find some missing document or health record. It will all be in one place and easy to find.
Being a caregiver offers opportunities for both the caregiver and patient to find the presence of the divine in the ordinary, and to see each other, and their relationship, in new and profound ways. In this process, you can, if you wish, discover the well of love and compassion with which we were each created, in the image of our Creator. These kinds of discoveries in caregiving shine the light of blessings on all involved-- blessings from God, as well as from one human being to another. Now is the time to know that everything you do is sacred.
