A Caregiver S Guide

"A guide for carers caring for a person who has a life limiting illness at home"--Provided by publisher.

Received a 2012 Caregiver Friendly Award from Today's Caregiver Magazine Although Lewy Body Dementia is the second leading cause of degenerative dementia in the elderly, it is not well known or understood and is often confused with Alzheimer' Disease or Parkinson's. The Caregiver's Guide to Lewy Body Dementia is the first book ot present a thorough picture of what Lewy Body Dementia really is. A Caregiver's Guide to Lewy Body Dementia is written in everyday language and filled with personal examples that connect to the readers' own experiences. It includes quick fact and caregiving tips for easy reference, a comprehensive resource guide, and a glossary of terms and acronyms. This is the ideal resource for caregivers, family members, and friends of individuals seeking to understand Lewy Body Dementia.

One in five Canadians are now providing eldercare to a parent in need, and as baby-boomers age, this number is likely to grow. What do you do when your mother or father grows old? It’s the natural course of life, but so many children of aging parents are unprepared. When a parent’s health begins to fail, an adult child is left scrambling to find help, to balance their time, and to cope. The Caregiver’s Guide will provide readers with valuable tips and advice to help them to provide the best eldercare possible while balancing the demands on their time. This is not a mental “self-help” book. While it does provide encouragement and support for caregivers, it also provides practical advice on how to care for elders in need. This comprehensive guide answers all a caregiver’s common questions, such as: • Should my parent stay at home or move to assisted living? • How do I balance caregiving responsibilities with my personal life? • When to apply for guardianship and/or trusteeship • How to hire a professional caregiver should the need arise

You may be among the tens of millions of Americans who provide care for your parent — or you may be among the ten of millions who will. So many children are caught unprepared when physical and mental health declines in aging parents. Life cannot readily prepare you to furnish excellent eldercare while balancing the demands on your time. This book provides practical tips, realistic guidance, encouragement and insight into the time ahead. Among other things, it answers: • How do you decide when your parent stays at home or moves to assisted living? • What should you expect when caring for your elderly parents? • Who should you ask for help? • How do you balance caregiving responsibilities with your personal life? The Successful Caregiver’s Guide includes extensive explanations of your options and checklists for differing types of eldercare to help you choose the best care possible for your loved one.

This simple, easy to read, 100 page guidebook helps family members, friends, and caregivers to better understand the changes that come with advancing dementia or other impairments in thinking, reasoning or processing information. It also reinforces the impact of Teepa Snow's guidance and person-centered care interventions including the GEMS and Positive Approach to Care techniques. The goal is to provide better support and care practices when someone is living with an ever-changing condition. By appreciating what has changed but leveraging what is still possible, care partners can choose interactions that are more positive, communication that is more productive, and care that is more effective and less challenging for all involved.

An all-in-one guide for helping caregivers of individuals with brain injury or degenerative disease to address speech, language, voice, memory, and swallowing impairment and to distinguish these problem areas from healthy aging. Advances in science mean that people are more likely to survive a stroke or live for many years after being diagnosed with a degenerative disease such as Parkinson's. But the communication deficits that often accompany a brain injury or chronic neurologic condition—including problems with speech, language, voice, memory, and/or swallowing—can severely impact quality of life. If you are a caregiver coping with these challenges, this all-in-one book can help you and your loved one. Written by a team of experts in speech-language pathology, each chapter focuses on a different aspect of caregiving and features relatable patient examples. Providing answers to common questions, definitions of complex medical terms, and lists of helpful resources, this book also: • touches on expected, age-related changes in communication, memory, swallowing, and hearing abilities, to name a few • offers practical strategies for caregivers to cope with speech, language, and voice problems and to maximize their loved one's ability to communicate • reveals how caregivers can assist their loved ones with swallowing challenges to maintain good nutrition and hydration • provides crucial information on how caregivers can handle grief and take care of themselves during the caregiving process • explains how to incorporate the arts, as well as a loved one's hobbies and interests, into their communication or memory recovery This comprehensive book will allow readers to take a more informed and active role in their loved one's care. Contributors: Marissa Barrera, Frederick DiCarlo, Lea Kaploun, Elizabeth Roberts, Teresa Signorelli Pisano

Caring for a loved one at home. What’s really involved? And what does it mean for your family and future? Tens of millions of Americans have had these questions and more as they prepare for this unsettling yet necessary task. The Family Caregiver’s Guide fills in the gaps, connecting the dots between research and real life. Drawing on the author’s extensive caregiving experience, this book provides strategies to care for your loved one, inside and out, as well as for yourself—including how to use your natural skills in your new role, and which skills you may need to add. You’ll discover how to set up your home for caregiving, including a safety checklist, equipment suggestions, and words you should know. And for those days that are more than a handful, you’ll find positive affirmations, a section on facing and accepting illness, and smart steps at the end of each chapter, in case you need guidance in a hurry. Caregiving has both rewards and challenges. But through it all, you’ll discover what’s most important—that caregiving is love in action.

Care for yourself, while caring for a loved one with dementia When caring for someone with dementia, your own mental stability can be the single most critical factor in your loved one's quality of life. The Caregiver's Guide to Dementia brings practical and comprehensive guidance to understanding the illness, caring for someone, and caring for yourself. From understanding common behavioral and mood changes to making financial decisions, this book contains bulleted lists of actions you can take to improve your health and your caregiving. Inspirational and compassionate, it focuses on the caregiver's underlying love and humanity that cannot be taken away by any disease. In The Caregiver's Guide to Dementia you'll find: Dementia defined--Understand dementia and its many forms, with an explanation of the illness and its variations. Caregiver wellness--At the end of each chapter, a small section provides relaxation and mindfulness exercises and reflection for dementia caregivers. Practical approach--The back of the book is filled with resources, from financial planning to tips on safety, along with questions for health care professionals, lawyers, accountants, therapists, and friends.