Inside Aging Parent Care

The Alchemy of Caregiving: Embrace the Caregiver Role

By Carol March 29th, 2011

The Reconciliation of the Masculine and the Feminine

Years ago when I was a young wife I learned to my surprise that the public library was more than just a place for readers of fiction or researchers into academic subjects. I found books there that could help me with the practical problems of an everyday life for which I was totally unprepared. This epiphany led me to realize that I can always look to the library for ideas, information or help whenever I come upon something unfamiliar. No surprise that I have spent many of my precious spare moments recently elbow deep in books, articles, and web postings about caregiving

Something I learned from my reading is that many family caregivers of aging parents– especially the women–do not think of themselves as …

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It Takes a Village–The Geriatric Care Manager

By Carol February 6th, 2011

The Family Caregiver’s Best Friend

I learned about geriatric care managers back in 1999 when my stepmother, Elizabeth, was very ill. I no longer remember exactly how I first connected with our friend, Elinor Gorgas of Central Florida Medical-Legal Consultants, but we were truly blessed to find her. Sadly, she could not help my dad then with Elizabeth’s post hospital care as we originally thought she would. Our much loved Elizabeth never returned home from that last hospital stay.

For the first few years after Elizabeth’s death, Dad was still vigorous and active, spending time with friends and continuing with his library volunteer work and caring for his roses. Then something changed, and Dad started looking a bit more frail and sounding a little forgetful. It was at this point that we contacted Elinor …

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What to Give a Caregiver for Christmas

By Carol December 14th, 2010

The Daughter Trap by Laurel Kennedy

The Daughter Trap is a comprehensive look at issues of importance to every caregiver, covering subjects ranging from caregiver statistics to the psychological and emotional issues caregivers face and to up-to-date reviews of electronic devices to help elders age in place. While The Daughter Trap focuses on the reality that two thirds of family caregivers are women, with an even larger percentage of that number providing for the most laborious hands-on care, author Laurel Kennedy also devotes a full chapter to the experience of male caregivers.

One of the unique aspects of this fact laden work is that it is also generously larded with the individual reports of over 200 caregivers, presented in their own words. Quotes taken from personal interviews and internet chat rooms provide deep insight …

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Aging in Place…It Takes a Village

By Carol November 4th, 2010

It has been several months since I first learned that there is a retirement “village” in Denver inspired by the Beacon Hill Village model–a community organization dedicated to assisting elders to expand support systems in order to be able to live at home throughout their lives. Since Bill and I are two of the 90% of people over 65 who plan to age in place in our home, we have been looking forward to having the opportunity to find out more about Washington Park Cares.

A few days ago we were fortunate enough to be able to spend a couple of hours with Pera Beth and Bill Eichelberger, co-founders of the two year old Washington Park Cares. We learned that Wash Park Cares is one of the first 13 villages to be established after …

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Caregiver Guilt

By Bill October 12th, 2010

The software we use to bring this site to you counts how many times a search is made using the same keywords. One of the most common searches is caregiver guilt. Caring for elderly parents is stressful, exhausting, time-consuming, often frustrating, frightening, and often thankless. So, we need guilt?

Well, it seems that guilt is part of elder caregiving. After all, the aging parent is old, sick, weak, and dying. We are from a culture that solves problems, fixes things. Our loved ones most often can’t be fixed, and then they die. So, guilt.

We were long-distance caregivers for Frank when he lived in Florida. We had a geriatric case manager who did a fine job, and we visited as often as we could and stayed in touch. One thing we all missed …

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