Caregiver Collective

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nursing Duties

Image
This morning I am figuring out how to manage a new wound that has opened up on Mom's right ear.  It appears to be a pressure sore due to Mom spending so much time in bed lately, sleeping on her side. The fact that I have had no training to manage pressure sores is an indicator that there is no formal acknowledgement of the work I am doing. If Mom was in an institution, there would be a trained nurse taking care of this wound.  Why is it ok to have Mom home with me, but it is not considered necessary to train me to manage this kind of predictable condition?  Why, if she is in an institution, it is required that she be attended by trained staff who are paid for the training they have received and paid for the work they are doing? Why, because she is at home, am I left to attend to this wound management without any training?  Why am I not provided training as a matter of routine, knowing that I am taking care of an elder with a high risk for developing pressure injuries...
Read more

Public Policy Solutions

CCCE - Giving Care - An approach to a better caregiving landscape in Canada (2022) "To properly support caregivers and care providers, public policy needs to consider caregivers and care providers as relevant partners in health and social services. This will require more than just a shift in perspective; it will require bold public policy solutions to address the problems facing caregivers and care providers." If we are going to propose bold public policy solutions to address the problems facing caregivers and care providers, we really need to understand and quantify the work that is being done. At present there is no quantified data representing the work and cost provided by family caregivers when they take responsibility for providing a bed and care infrastructure to a loved one. There is no comparative data to look at the quality of care in-home compared to the quality of care in an institution. There is no longitudinal study looking at the life expectancy of loved ones ca...
Read more

Ideas to help Family Caregivers

Image
Mom is reading and writing in her journal this morning. She enjoys reading her own writing. The first step is encouraging her to write out the date on the next empty page. Ideas to help Family Caregivers: 1. A system for automatic membership of Family Caregivers (ie. unfunded, not professional relationship) serving to support a loved one (aka. Care Recipient) so that membership benefits (necessary supports: financial, mental/emotional, physical, educational) flow to the Family Caregiver, they don't have to spend precious time looking for the support they need to do the work; 2. A national online portal for Family Caregivers (think "One Front Door") where they can log in and connect with community, practical supports, mentoring, and socially active educational opportunities; 3. Educational offerings the bring Family Caregivers together into active learning groups, so they can build relationships and build skills, knowledge and experience as a working group; 4. A national e...
Read more