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Helping
You Balance Work and Family
Volume:
10 Issue: 4
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Caregiver
interventions: It’s OK to ask for help
By Christine Price, Aging
Specialist for Ohio State University Extension More than 12
million Americans spend all or part of their days caring for an aging parent or
older relative. The majority of caregivers (about 80 percent) are women and they
range in age from young adulthood to being elderly themselves. In addition to
working at their caregiving job, 50 percent of caregivers also work outside of
the home. Caregiving is a
full-time job that requires physical endurance, patience, compassion and humor;
it is not surprising that many caregivers are in need of some support. That
support can come in many forms: • Respite
Care. Temporary in-home care is provided to an ill or frail older person so
the family caregiver can run errands or take some personal time. •
Adult Day Care. Individuals with moderate physical
or mental disabilities, who live alone or with families, can attend an adult
program during the day to enable a caregiver to go to work or have an afternoon
to themselves. A safe, supervised environment with stimulating activities and
social interaction is provided. •
Homemaker Services. Cleaning, shopping, laundry, home
maintenance and food preparation are provided to help semi-independent older
adults living in their own homes. •
Personal Care. A medical aide assists older persons
with bathing, medication, dressing, personal appearance, feeding and toileting. •
Telephone Reassurance. Daily telephone calls are made to
older persons to see how they are doing. If there is no answer, someone goes to
the home to find out why. This service is especially valuable to caregivers who
are not able to check in with an aging parent every day. •
Transportation. Transportation services are
available to assist older adults who are unable to drive. Destinations are
limited to medical, dental and legal appointments, social service agencies that
administer public benefit programs, and adult day care programs. Ohioans can
contact their local Area Agency on Aging to find out what services are available
in their communities. Most of these services are available at no cost or a small
fee. To locate your local Area Agency visit the Ohio Department of Aging
website, http://www.state.oh.us/age/index.htm, or call (614) 466-5500. For additional
information about caregiving, visit the following websites: •
Caregiving.com. This is comprehensive resource for
all types of caregivers: http://www.caregiving.com/index.html • ThirdAge.com.
Resources, books, and fact sheets available at this site designed specifically
for “baby boomers.” One of many topics addressed is caregiving at the
“Caregiving Center” at http://www.thirdage.com/family/caregiving/.
An older person
caring for a spouse or another elderly person may be at risk for illness.
Research conducted at Ohio State University shows that the chronic stress of
caring for an ill person may impair the caregiver’s immune system. This
research is important for elderly caregivers, since the elderly already
experience a decline in their immune system response due to normal aging.
Caregiving further compounds their risk of serious illness. Source: Ronald Glaser, Ohio State
University Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics,
November/December 2000 issue of Psychosomatic Medicine
Use
these keys to open doors of successful aging
• By Christine Price, Aging Specialist for Ohio State
University Extension How do we age successfully? You can begin by including the
following suggestions into your daily routine! • Life-long Learning.
Centenarians, people who live over the age of 100, continuously display curious,
active and interested minds. “If you don’t use it, you lose it!” is a
great way to remind us to always be using our minds to learn new things. • Humor.
Research has shown that humor can be physically and emotionally beneficial.
Every day enjoy a good laugh. • Gratitude.
Rather than focusing on what is lost, take time every day to identify something
for which you are grateful. • Social Interaction.
Try to surround yourself with people you enjoy and who enjoy you. Interacting
with others keeps us alert and involved and gives us someone to laugh and learn
with. • Make Healthy Life
Style Choices. Eat healthy foods, exercise regularly, and don’t smoke! If
you are going to live a long life, don’t you want it to be a healthy one?
That’s Life: Don’t hesitate to turn to network of family, friends • By Ruth Ann Foote, Family and Consumer Sciences agent for Ohio State University Extension, Mercer County I was so tired late that afternoon driving home from work. But I had promised Mom I would wash and set her hair and I knew she was looking forward to the special attention she would receive as well as the time we would spend together. Then I thought, maybe my friend, Jean, would give me a hand. She’s always full of enthusiasm, enjoys “doing” hair, and both Mom and Jean like to visit. Then I could sit and watch while Jean did the work, (maybe even throw a load a laundry into the machine), Mom would be happy, and afterwards, we could enjoy a relaxing cup of tea together. The rewards of care-giving are many, but the exhaustion sometimes weighs heavy. Too often we think we can “do it all” and forget we have friends, relatives, and neighbors who are not only willing to give us a helping hand but are waiting for us to ask. One of the most important pieces of advice from experts is to let others help, but many of us don’t want to admit that we not only could use some assistance, but actually need it. The rose of martyrdom lures us into trying to be everything to everyone. I’ve been there and done that. Believe me, letting others into your life and let them help you is not taking advantage of friendship. Your time will come when you can return the favors and the friendship…and you’ll love it.
Good
parenting requires making sure you take care of yourself
• By Cynthia Burggraf
Torppa, Family and Consumer Sciences Agent in Morrow County for Ohio State
University Extension Today, it is common for
families to be separated by many miles and for neighbors to be strangers to one
another. This leaves many parents feeling isolated, overworked, and sometimes
fearfully inadequate about their parenting. Parenting skills classes
can be an important help and comfort to parents. Such classes may save parents
the time and heartache that is sometimes involved in learning how to parent by
trial and error. But there are so many skills and so little time! Where to
start? A good place to begin is to
encourage parents to take good care of themselves. There are many reasons for
making self-care the starting point of good parenting. Perhaps the most
important is that a healthy, happy, contented parent has much more time, energy,
patience and understanding to give to a child than a depleted, exhausted,
depressed parent. In addition, children learn from their parents how to live, so
as adults our children will repeat the pattern of self-care or self-neglect they
witness. Self-care does not mean
neglecting your children’s well-being while you enjoy frivolous pleasures. It
means insuring that you are able to care for your children. According to the
National Extension Parent Education Model, self-care means knowing and
understanding oneself, being able to manage life’s demands, and establishing
clear direction in one’s own life. Parents who practice self-care create a
sense of security, predictability and purpose that supports their children as
they mature into healthy, contributing adults. How can parents begin to
practice self-care? Several critical self-care practices include: • Learning to manage
personal stress. • Learning to manage
family resources (including time, money, and other resources). • Asking for and
accepting support from others when needed. • Recognizing one’s own
personal and parenting strengths. • Having a sense of
purpose in child rearing goals. • Cooperating with
one’s child-rearing partners. Look over this list and
think about the areas in which you are not taking good care of yourself. What
can you do to change that? Take the time right now to make a plan. And remember,
by practicing better self-care, you are taking better care of your children. |
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All educational programs conducted by Ohio State University Extension are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, gender, age, disability or Vietnam-era veteran status.June 2001Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President
Agriculture Administration and Director, OSU Extension
TDD No. 800-589-8292 (Ohio only) or 614-292-1868