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Giving Care to the Caregiver: Visiting Nurse Services in Westchester
Often, the homecare nurse will encounter that once-in-a lifetime individual who has decided to take on the huge task of being the primary caregiver for an ill family member. Their motivation may vary from person to person. It may be financial, concern for the quality of care, or just wanting to be...
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Helping Caregivers Understand the Challenges of End-of-Life Decision Making for Those with Mental Retardation
Birth is a beginning and death a destination. Those of us who are considered to have capacity to make decisions for ourselves are nevertheless often unprepared as we face the end-of-life. We live in a death denying culture, which frequently prevents many of us from considering our options when we...
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Me First? A Personal Account of Self Care
When flight attendants give their safety talk at the beginning of each flight- where everyone listens to their iPod or begins to read a magazine- they state: “If there is a loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will fall from above. If you are traveling with a child or someone who needs your...
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Caring for The Caregiver: Becoming Fearless During Illness and Loss
When illness comes, the entire family network starts hurting. Everyone in it becomes sensitized and in need of greater attention and care. Rivalries may begin to develop with family members jockeying for control. A great deal of fear and anxiety can get stirred up. Sometimes an individual becomes...
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Peer-Led Support Helps Parents and Caregivers Cope with Mental Illness
When her teenage daughter was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Deniece Chi did not know where to turn for help. A native of Belize residing in New York City, she had no experience with or understanding of mental illness. Her relatives dismissed the diagnosis and suggested that a lack of discipline...
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PTSD, Anxiety, and Disordered Attachment
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is listed in the DSM IV as an Anxiety Disorder, and rightfully so. But trauma as a source of anxiety is also a frequent component of disordered attachment, except that trauma here is from the cumulative effects of early neglect and abuse, rather than the shock of...
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Staff Wellness and Self-Care: One Agency’s Model
A rather unsettling fact about American society is that within it there exists a high rate of violence and abuse. According to Kessler et al (1995), 60.7% of men and 51.2% of women will experience at least one traumatic event in their lifetime. Given this fact, Kessler et al also state that of this...
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The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law by the first President Bush in 1990. The bill, championed by Senator Bob Dole, who himself suffers from a physical disability, was enacted with the intention of eliminating discrimination against the disabled, whether it be a physical or...
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The Care Manager as Storyteller and Coach: Giving Voice to the Caregiver’s Reality and Opening Doors
Imagine being so consumed with the work of caregiving that an eviction notice doesn’t scare you. This true story reminds us of how dangerous it is for caregivers to feel disempowered and how powerful storytelling can change the lives of caregivers in crisis. Janice was diagnosed with neck...
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The Challenge of Caregiving: A Personal Story
Parents, spouses and other caregivers of individuals with illnesses and disabilities do not have special gifts. We are very average people who tap into our superhuman strengths that everyone has, but don’t always need to draw on. Twenty-five years ago this Fall my life changed forever. My son,...
