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Caregiver Roles

© Marci Stocks

Often, caregivers are unaware that they indeed are caregivers. "Oh, I just help my mom eat." Or, "I help bathe and dress my father." While we do help those we love with activities of daily living (i.e. bathing, dressing, and feeding), it is important to be aware that we become caregivers when doing these activities on a daily basis. Once we do this, we can then work towards receiving help.

Caregivers are spouses, children, parents, workers, volunteers, grandparents, and anyone who helps another person is a caregiver. These tasks can be quite time consuming, as well as costly.

Caregiver Roles

Caregivers:
Bathe their loved ones
Wash, dry, and brush their loved one's hair
Brush teeth; clean dentrues
Shave loved ones legs, underarms, and/or face
Do laundry
Shop for groceries and then cook/prepare meals
Run errands
Drive loved ones to appointments
Administer medications; give shots
Make sure loved one is safe
Provide emotional support

If you have read the list above, can you come up with a few professions that caregivers do on a daily basis? Caregivers, in a sense, become a community support worker, a chef, a taxi driver, a house keeper, a counselor, a health care worker, etc... This sounds like a pretty stressful job. That is why I would like to share with you a few tips on how to make these tasks easier on yourself and on your loved one.

1. I strongly feel that it is important for us to empathize with our loved ones. How would you feel if you were not able to bathe yourself, cook, or drive to run errands? If we can put ourselves in our loved ones shoes, we can hopefully become more patient and understanding with the situation at hand.

2. We should make things easier on us. Let us take advantage of services in the community. If money permits, have a laundry service pick up and do clothes, have a housekeeper visit once a month to do the heavy cleaning, and order groceries and then have them delivered.

3. When handling hygiene, keep in mind that some people are self conscience. Try to make bathing easier for your loved one which, in turn, will make it easier for you. This may mean supplying proper bathing equipment, so that your loved can do most of the bathing by himself. Such equipment may be handles, bars, and bath seats. When doing hair, use sensitive shampoos that won't sting eyes. Use conditioner, so that the hair is easier to brush. This may be especially helpful if your loved one would like to brush his own hair.

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