The Eldercare Consultant: Your Guide to Making the Best Choices Possible
256
The Eldercare Consultant: Your Guide to Making the Best Choices Possible
256Paperback
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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780814436318 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AMACOM |
| Publication date: | 07/08/2015 |
| Pages: | 256 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d) |
| Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Why This Book?
If you've bought The Eldercare Consultant, you're not reading it for entertainment. Something has happened or will soon be happening in your life, and you need help. I'm going to give you that help.
This book provides you with a clear, concise outline of the considerations you need to make and the steps you need to take in your new role as a caregiver. It offers practical advice; indispensable knowledge; and invaluable strategies, tools, and resources essential in guiding you through the various stages of caregiving. It aids you in making informed decisions regarding your loved one's needs and in understanding when you should seek assistance. And finally, it delivers a strong message of hope and inspiration by helping you to recognize that you are not alone in your struggles.
Caregivers such as yourself won't be the only ones who will want to have this book on hand, though. Those who come into contact with caregivers daily—be they physicians, nurses, case managers, social workers, religious or spiritual leaders, pharmacists, financial planners, or eldercare attorneys—will find it of value to their clients.
Finally, this book is not only a valuable asset to you, but it just might teach your own children how to manage your care once you require assistance!
What Information Will You Find?
In order to successfully care for your loved one, you need to address a multitude of issues that you may have not previously considered. These are the concerns that catch you off guard and throw your world into chaos. By thinking ahead, considering how you would handle each situation, and preparing for those events as much as possible, you can develop a sense of control over things you can't prevent. This book delivers clear and concise information on topics critical to understanding the full range of eldercare. The following chapter summaries provide a brief explanation of what you will find.
Chapter 1: Providing Eldercare for a Loved One
Eldercare isn't only about delivering quality care to a loved one, it's also about managing your other important relationships, such as your spouse, children, and siblings. This chapter helps you to understand how caregiving can affect these interactions and what steps you can take to nurture them. It also identifies and offers compassionate advice for the major concerns you will have in managing your loved one's care, including safety issues, functional decline, and medication management, along with how to help your senior handle major life transitions. Finally, it helps you understand your role as caregiver and that you have choices in managing your loved one's care.
Chapter 2: The Caregiver's Challenges
As a caregiver, you may find yourself overwhelmed with the many responsibilities you've taken on. Not only will you encounter changing family roles and dynamics, but you will be required to become an expert on the legalities of caregiving, management of your loved one's medical needs, handling their finances and the costs of care, identifying future needs, determining living arrangements, and helping your loved one cope with loss and death. This chapter addresses these issues and offers advice on how you can juggle your needs with caregiving, as well as how to recognize and prevent caregiver burnout.
Chapter 3: Easing Caregiver Concerns with Proactive Behavior
The key to successful caregiving is to anticipate needs and know how you will handle them rather than waiting for the crisis to happen. This chapter shows you how to identify the early warning signs, assess your loved one's requirements, and know when it's time to ask for help. It also tackles some of the more complicated issues for caregivers such as long distance caregiving, being caught between multiple generations who demand your attention, and keeping your retirement funds protected.
Chapter 4: Nurturing Your Loved One's Mind, Body, and Spirit
Care should be all encompassing. In order to safeguard your loved one's overall health, you will want to provide for his or her mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. This chapter helps you to recognize those needs and identify the steps you can take to ensure a well-balanced program of care.
Chapter 5: Considering Options for Care Needs
You don't have to go it alone. There are plenty of resources that can help. Many caregivers don't fully understand the options available to assist in providing care for their loved one. This chapter explains these possibilities, their pros and cons, and how to put that care in place, whether your desire is to provide assistance at home, hire outside help, or move a loved one to a care community.
Chapter 6: Paying for Your Loved One's Care
The biggest obstacle for many in making eldercare decisions is the cost of care. There is a risk that you may make unnecessary or poor decisions simply because you didn't understand the financial facts. This chapter helps you understand the costs and how to budget and pay for care. You may be surprised at the different methods and resources available.
Chapter 7: Having the Difficult Discussions
You've finally decided that something needs to happen, but how do you manage the emotional, and sometimes difficult, discussions with family or your loved one? This chapter offers strategies for approaching and handling conversations in order to arrive at decisions that benefit your loved one and the family as a whole.
Chapter 8: Making the Right Decision
Change is never easy, but knowing that you've educated yourself on options, talked with everyone involved in your loved one's care, and have what you need to make the best decisions possible will make it less stressful. This chapter offers advice on approaching your decision, knowing when you should compromise, and deciding who makes the final decision.
Chapter 9: Special Considerations for Care
While most people associate caregiving with the elderly and picture the normal decline that happens with aging, there are circumstances where it involves unique and often very high levels of specialized care. This chapter helps you identify if your loved one falls in a category that will require greater demands from a caregiver and whether or not you are the most capable of providing that care.
Chapter 10: Final Words of Advice After Any Change
After all is said and done and you've put your choices into motion, there will be a period of time afterward that may make you question all your decisions. This is absolutely a normal part of the process. This chapter explains this transition period, what you should expect, and how to cope until you, your loved one, and anyone else involved in his or her care has accepted and adapted to the changes.
Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
What Special Features Are Included in This Book 7
1 Providing Eldercare for a Loved One 9
It's Not Just About You 10
Your Biggest Concerns Regarding Eldercare 17
Managing Life Transitions 28
Recognizing Your Role as a Family Caregiver 33
Caregiver Survival Tip 36
2 The Caregiver's Challenges 39
Changing Family Dynamics 40
Understanding the Legalities of Caregiving 44
Managing Your Loved One's Needs 46
Juggling Your Own Needs with Caregiving 56
Understanding Caregiver Burnout 58
Caregiver Survival Tip 59
3 Easing Caregiver Concerns with Proactive Behavior 61
Recognizing the Early Warning Signs 62
Identifying Stages of Dementia 66
Seeing Your Loved One in Today's Reality 69
Twelve Signs It's Time for Assistance 71
Consulting with Health Care Professionals 74
Complicated Issues for Family Caregivers 77
Caregiver Survival Tip 83
4 Nurturing Your Loved One's Mind, Body, and Spirit 85
The Mind: Understanding Changes in Your Loved One's Brain 86
The Body: Understanding What's Happening Physically to Your Loved One 92
The Spirit: Keeping Your Loved One's Inner Light Shining 100
Caregiver Survival Tip 103
5 Considering Options for Care Needs 107
The First Option: Family Caregivers 108
The Role of a Health Care Advocate 110
Choosing Between Professional Home Health Care Agencies and Private Caregivers 112
Palliative Care Services 120
Hospice Services 121
Care Communities 124
Caregiver Survival Tip 145
6 Paying for Your Loved One's Care 147
Understanding Average Costs of Care 148
Determining Needs and Budgeting for Costs of Care 150
Identifying Ways to Pay for Care 152
Caregiver Survival Tip 165
7 Having the Difficult Discussions 167
Bringing the Family Together 168
Developing a Strategy for Your Discussion 170
Doing Your Homework First 177
Having the Discussion 182
Caregiver Survival Tip 188
8 Making the Right Decision 191
Approaching Your Decision 192
Knowing When to Compromise 194
Deciding Who Makes the Final Decision 199
Caregiver Survival Tip 200
9 Special Considerations for Care 203
The Special Care Needs of a Younger Person 204
Traumatic Brain Injury 206
Alzheimer's Disease and Other Related Dementias 210
Parkinson's Disease and Similar Conditions 211
Feeding Tubes, Tracheotomy Tubes, and Other Medical Devices 213
Dialysis 215
Bed-Bound Patients 217
Behavioral Issues 218
Caregiver Survival Tip 220
10 Final Words of Advice After Any Change 223
The Transition Period 224
Common Mistakes Made During the Transition 225
Suggestions for a Successful Transition 229
No Guilt: You Did the Best You Could 230
Caregiver Survival Tip 232
Resources 235
Index 237