EspañolFor those of you experiencing both the joys and challenges of caring for elderly loved ones, this shout-out is for you. I honor you and encourage you in your compassionate mission. I also want to nudge you to make sure to take time to care for yourself. I’ve included some thoughts and resources below meant especially for you.
In collaboration with SCAN Health Plan, one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit Medicare Advantage plans, serving more than 200,000 members in California. #GatherAndShareWithSCAN
An Aging Reality
I don’t have to tell you we’re all aging. It’s a natural part of life, a human experience we all have in common. And, our population is also aging. That’s why caregivers are playing an even larger role in the lives of our communities.
Many caregivers won’t appear on employment reports, and because of that they often go unnoticed. But we notice don’t we, dear readers? Because many of us count ourselves and our friends among them.
In many cases, we’re both doing our best to both raise our kids and care for aging parents, abuelos and abuelas, tíos and tías. And if we’re not yet, we likely will be soon.
But if there were any doubt about the huge number of caregivers out there, consider that in 2015, according to the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, about 34.2 million Americans provided unpaid care to an adult age 50 or older in the 12 months prior. That’s a whole lot of caregiving.
In addition to all of that, consider, too, that often the caregiver and the person they care for are seniors, so both may be experiencing the many physical challenges associated with aging.
Awareness is the First Step to Understanding
I recently had an eye-opening experience. A sneak peek into an interactive senior sensitivity workshop called Trading Ages Virtual Reality that uses virtual reality technology to provide participants with a first-hand experience of the challenges associated with aging, including hearing loss, vision changes and loss of dexterity. I wrote about it here.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then how many more for a virtual reality experience? I’ll answer that myself: Infinite. I won’t repeat everything from that earlier post, except to say the experience’s benefits went far beyond the advantages of seeing life from another’s shoes. If ever so briefly, it gave me a chance to feel some of the emotions, not only from an older person’s perspective, but from a caregiver’s perspective, too.
Another benefit of the Trading Ages workshop, one I hadn’t considered beforehand, was the chance to get a leg up on my own personal journey with aging. Seeing the world from the shoes of another gave me insight into my own future. It gave me a chance to know, a chance to prepare.
With that, here are three simple tips for caregivers to remember.
Three Simple Tips for Caregivers
1. Small Adjustments, Big Differences
Small adjustments both around the house and when out and about can make a big difference for those in your care. Each person’s needs are different, but here are some ideas to get your own creative ideas flowing:
- Moving a throw rug out of a main pathway to avoid fall risks
- Changing a lamp to a brighter bulb
- Printing labels for drawers
- Using larger font sizes on labels
- Carrying a magnifying glass and a flashlight
- Speaking in a slightly lower pitch
- Providing an extra-long shoe horn
- Sitting at a restaurant table where background noise is minimized
- Keeping extra straws handy
- Carrying facial tissues
- Providing cordless headphones
- Keeping up on new adaptive living products
2. Compassionate Communication
In Thoreau’s immortal words from Walden, “To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating.” Sometimes even the most affable person can get grumpy, including caregivers and those in their care.
We’re all human. As a caregiver, sometimes we must consciously reframe our responses to statements that originally sound like criticism.
For example, let’s say the person you are caring for says, “Why don’t you ever bring home my favorite bread from the corner bakery?” I might want to say, “I’ve told you a hundred times that bakery closed five years ago!” Instead, I might reframe the apparent criticism as an expression of loss and say something like this, “Oh, I know, I miss that bread, too. It is so delicious. I wish that bakery was still open.”
3. Self-Care
We have to take care of ourselves if we are going to take care of others. However, it’s easy to let this priority slip to the bottom of the to-do list. From my experience, I know how important it is for caregivers to be compassionate with ourselves. We need to treat self-care just as important as any other top priority.
Ask friends and family to commit to help out with certain household responsibilities or to step in for a few hours per week. With the support of the community, you might make time for some respite, keep engaged in social activities and enjoy nutritious meals with loved ones. Finally, be sure to get your sleep. And, breathe.
For more tips on self-care, check out more ideas here.
Thank you for all you do.
About Trading Ages®
SCAN developed Trading Ages® for its own employees, but quickly saw how other organizations—and the seniors they serve—could benefit. Trading Ages® encourages participants to develop insight and empathy through active encounters with the physical, social and emotional aspects of aging.
Trading Ages® is only available in Southern California. To request a Trading Ages® workshop for your organization, contact TradingAges@SCANHealthPlan.com.
Thanks to the great folks at SCAN Health Plan for making this post possible. Since its founding in 1977, SCAN has been a mission-driven organization dedicated to keeping seniors healthy and independent. That’s a great thing.
Don’t forget to join the conversation at #SCANstages, #SCAN100over100 and #GatherAndShareWithSCAN hashtags on social media.
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