Care-giving

Are you a care-giver for a family member? 

Statistically,

1.) More than 65 million people, or 29% of the U.S. population, provide care for a chronically ill, disabled or aged family member or friend during any given year and spend an average of 20 hours per week providing care for their loved one. 

2.) The typical family caregiver is a 49-year-old woman caring for her widowed 69-year-old mother who does not live with her. She is married and employed. Approximately 66% of family caregivers are women. More than 37% have children or grandchildren under 18 years old living with them.

(Per the National Alliance for Care-giving in collaboration with AARP)

If you are in this role, do you feel handicapped when you need to provide care and keep in touch with this family member who may summon you for help - and you cannot communicate with him / her?

Can you be responsive when you are  needed? Do you feel uneasy when you are away from the person needing help while you run errands? What about when either you or he / she is out of range of a yell or a personal pager for help?

One, or both of you, can have a cell phone, but we know how expensive that is.  Also, through the years, we have sold hundreds of an inexpensive personal pager, but its range is limited - even in some modestly sized homes. And you cannot communicate verbally via it with each other.  

We have found a solution for these problems.  The Motorola Talkabout® 2-Way Personal Response Radios are cost effective, simple, compact and easy-to-use to communicate when help is needed.  They have a range of up to 16 miles for indoor and outdoor communication, and they operate on 3 AAA batteries.

To learn more, go to the Motorola TalkaboutĀ® 2-Way Personal Response Devices 

A common concern in society - both here in the US and in other countries, as well - is the care of the older generation as they age. This often occurs with an aging spouse or other family member as an aging adult is thrust into the role of taking care of the physical needs of another elderly or infirmed person.

Also, there is the so called sandwich generation that has received much public discussion as middle-aged families are caught in the middle of taking care of their own children while trying to take care of their aging parents.  Out of our love and concern for the aging adults they are assuming more of an active role in their care. Yet, many are ill-equipped to take on these responsibilities. Taking on new challenges tends to both tax financial resources, wits, nerves and it causes burnout.

For these reasons, we will provide some helpful resources for you in future newsletters.

Thought for the day:

"No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care."

A Bit of Senior Humor:

This piece was sent to us by a customer several years ago.  We loved it and thought you might agree:

Gonna Be a Bear

In this life, I'm a woman.  In my next life I'd like to come back as a bear.

When you're a bear, you get to hibernate during the cold winter months.  You do nothing but sleep for months......I could live with that.

Before you hibernate, you're supposed to eat yourself silly - - eat all you want......I could live with that, too.

When you're a female bear, you give birth to your children (who are the size of walnuts!) while you're sleeping and wake to partially grown, cute, cuddly cubs.......I could definitely live with that!

If you're a mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyone who bothers your cubs.  If your cubs get out of line, you swat them, too, and no one says anything bad about you....... I could live with that.

If you're a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling.  He EXPECTS you will have hairy legs and excess body fat.

Yup, I'm gonna be a bear.....!!

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