I cared for multiple elders, juggling their needs along with those of young children of my own. Those were some pretty crazy times. I felt driven to give each person the best care humanly possible. To do so meant that many of my elders lived their last months or years in a nursing home. Read more →

... Still, this is an important question to ask. Even the best employees who dearly love their residents can only do so much. If they are run ragged trying to answer call lights, they are likely hard pressed to provide excellent care overall. Read more →

“Care partnerships with loved ones living with dementia are challenging at any stage,” says Daniel C. Potts, M.D., fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. “But the early stage can be particularly difficult because patients may not recognize their deficits nor the fact that they may need help with their daily activities." Read more →

Dear Erased: I’m deeply sorry! Having your parent forget your name is said by many caregivers to be one of the most painful parts of being a care partner to their parent who is living with dementia. Yet, it’s one of the cruel, nearly predictable realities of some types of dementia, particularly Alzheimer’s. Read more →

Insisting you are right because, well, you know better. You don’t have dementia. People living with dementia (PLWD) have an increasingly limited ability to understand the world as we see it. Therefore, we need to learn to see the world from their view. When we do this, Read more →

Where do we start in our search for options? If we were proactive, we’ve already discussed the choices for living arrangements our loved ones would have made for themselves under differing circumstances, however many people haven’t done this. Either way, we move forward. We need... Read more →

“What it means to me for Matt to have Alzheimer's and need my care is, it is the most heartbreaking journey to watch your spouse deteriorate and I'm helpless to stop it! I had a parent with Alzheimer's. Caring for a spouse is much different. No retirement years for Matt and me!” Read more →

Burnout is a pervasive problem for family caregivers, especially those who have no time to get away from the ongoing emotional and physical demands of caring for an ailing family member. Your situation is a classic example: One adult child who is still living in the parents’ community... Read more →

Dear Mom’s Keeper: You sound like a caring daughter with understandable concerns. If it’s any comfort, parents resisting help is a common problem faced by adult children. For some, the concern is about cognitive problems, which thankfully isn’t an issue here, but each requires a somewhat different approach. Read more →

Know when you can fix it and when to seek help: ER doctors know just enough to keep us out of trouble and how to delegate the tasks that stress us out. We’re not the masters of making everything better. We function as part of a team and not in isolation. So, caregivers, don’t expect to know everything, but know when to call for help and where to go for resources. Read more →