What Is a Family Caregiver?
Do you spend time each week doing tasks for your aging relative? Maybe you drop in once in a while to do a few loads of laundry or take them grocery shopping. Or, perhaps you drive them to doctor appointments and organize their medications. You might even live far away but handle their financial affairs and organize care. If any of those scenarios sound familiar to you, congratulations! You are a family caregiver. Sometimes when people first become caregivers they don’t easily identify themselves in the role. Learning more about who caregivers are and what they do can help you to embrace the important service you provide to your loved one.
What Kind of People Are Caregivers?
A caregiver can be anyone. You might be a spouse caring for an ill partner or an adult child helping an elderly parent. Or, you could be taking care of an aunt, uncle, or other relative. But, a caregiver doesn’t have to be related to the person they take care of at all. Sometimes caregivers are friends or neighbors.
Caregivers are sometimes people who do not work, but often they are also employed full or part time. They may also be parents raising children of their own. That means that caregivers often find themselves spread thin and frustrated by having to take on still more responsibilities.
Caregivers are sometimes part of a team of people providing care. There might be other family members or friends involved. Or, there might be a medical team involved in the older adult’s care. But, often caregivers feel alone in their duties, overwhelmed by their duties.
No matter your other responsibilities in life or how you feel about being a caregiver, you can be certain you are not alone. There are about 44 million people in the United States who are caregivers.
What Do Caregivers Do?
Still not sure if the term “caregiver” fits you? Take a look at the list of things that caregivers typically do below and see if some of the ways you help your aging relative are on it.
Buy groceries.
Do laundry.
Cook.
Clean the house.
Drive the senior places.
Help with dressing, showering, or grooming.
Organize medications.
Schedule medical appointments.
Organize a care schedule.
Communicate with doctors, nurses, or other medical personnel about what needs to be done to care for the older adult.
Pay bills and handle other financial accounts.
Accepting that you are a caregiver is important to providing the best possible care to your aging relative. Applying the term “caregiver” to yourself helps you to seek out sources of assistance when needed, such as a support group, respite care, or home care.
If you or an aging loved-one are considering caregiver services in Middleburgh Heights, OH, please talk to the caring staff at Avalon Home Health Care today.
Call us at (440) 863 -3609.
Sources
https://www.caregiver.org/caregiving
https://www.cancer.org/treatment/caregivers/what-a-caregiver-does/who-and-what-are-caregivers.html