The caregiver and the pandemic

We couldn’t have made up what is going on in the world right now – even in our best movies.

And we know you are feeling the pinch as a caregiver.

Perhaps, the COVID-19 pandemic has meant you have to cut your hours at work.

Maybe, the people who were helping you taking care of your loved one are now having to keep their distance.

And it certainly doesn’t help that the number of COVID-19 cases around the world keeps going up.

So how do you take care of yourself as a caregiver during this time?

In today’s post, I will offer some suggestions on what you can do to cope with the current crisis.

The caregiver and the pandemic – Taking care of yourself during this time

Dealing with unemployment

If the current crisis has led to losing your job, here are a few paths you can take.

1. File for unemployment quickly in case your period of unemployment extends beyond what you expect.
2. Even though there have been mass lay-offs in certain industries like travel and tourism, some industries are looking to bring on thousands of workers during this season. Grocery outlets, pharmacy chains and hospitals are hiring staff to keep up with the current demand on these sectors. Start applying now.
3. Talk to your utility companies and credit card companies. Several companies are now issuing leniency clauses that state that you will not be penalized for late payments or nonpayment for your utilities or credit cards. I imagine calling these companies right now will be a long phone wait. So, if you have access to the internet, I recommend you try to get in touch with the company that way to discuss your situation. There is also now relief for you if you’re paying off student loans. Call your student loan servicers and talk to them.
4. To protect older adults, Medicare recently approved telehealth benefits for older adults. This way, older adults can get the care they need from home. If you care for an older adult, call your loved one’s doctor to make sure they offer it and then take full advantage.
5. Don’t give up.

Handling the emotions that come with uncertain times

These are unprecedented times.

It is alright to voice your feelings or even to cry. Care-giving is hard. Having to do it in the current environment is even harder.

Because of physical distancing, mental health professionals have had to move their services online.

This is a great opportunity to chat with one so they help you discover coping tools you can use.

These guidelines by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is helpful for finding the right mental health professional.

If you do indeed have one or two people helping with your loved one, make sure they are observing increased hygiene practices.

Any caregivers who come from an agency, need to be washing their hand before and after they touch your loved one.

If they are sick, they should be staying at home and a replacement should be provided.

If someone gets sick

If someone in your household gets sick during this time, call the hospital first.

There are triage nurses who will speak with you to determine if you (or your loved one) should come in to the hospital.

Let’s continue to stay safe.

Telehealth benefits for the elderly under Medicare – here’s what you should know as a caregiver.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has now claimed the lives of over 100 people in the US.

Most people suffer mild symptoms when they contract COVID-19. People over 65 and those who have underlying health issues are the largest population of those dying from the disease.

For elders who may need to get to a hospital to see their doctor, this can pose a serious health threat.

And so, on Tuesday, Medicare said it would expand coverage for telemedicine services to help seniors with health problems to stay home during the pandemic.

What does this mean?

We’ll go over that in this post.

What is telemedicine or telehealth?

Telehealth is healthcare provided over a phone or teleconference device like Skype or Zoom.

You don’t need to see the doctor physically for a consult.

You can talk to them over the phone or via video conference.

Because of the current pandemic, some seniors might have to cancel their physical doctor’s appointment to adhere to local mandates.

With Medicare expanding coverage for telehealth services, this means seniors can receive their medical care remotely.

How can you help as a caregiver?

If your that may not know how to navigate technology, a caregiver can help them set up the call.

If you’re a caregiver who cannot do this, enlist the help of friends, relatives or neighbors who are willing to help.

In order for these telehealth calls to go smoothly, you will need either a smartphone with wifi/data connection or a computer with a webcam and an internet connection.

Once you have these, I strongly advise that you reach out to your doctor and talk to them about your loved one’s telehealth options. Telehealth benefits for the elderly under Medicare might be all your loved one needs for now.

If this works well, there is a chance that Medicare recipients could enjoy telehealth services as a permanent benefit.

As of this writing, the COVID-19 (popularly known as coronavirus) pandemic is in full force.

Italy has shut down the whole country.

Parts of the US have restricted public meetings and are encouraging workers to do their work remotely.

Companies like Amazon have asked their employees to work from home at least until the end of March, 2020.

Reports show that most of the people who have died as a result of the coronavirus are older adults or those who have chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes and lung disease.

Even the stock market has been affected by this situation.

It’s alarming and rightly so.

What can you do to support your elderly loved one during this worldwide epidemic?

In today’s post, we’ll talk about the steps you can take to care for your loved one during this season.

PLEASE NOTE: A lot of these steps are useful for a general audience but will pertain mostly to people living in the Greater San Diego and Orange County regions where Green Tree Home Care has offices.

Coronavirus in San Diego – what you should know as a caregiver

The risk in the region is low

As of this writing, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has stated that the coronavirus risk for the Greater San Diego and Orange County areas remains very low.

However, it is still important to take steps to prevent getting infected by the virus.

Those steps include the following.

Stock up on medical supplies and medication

For an elderly loved one who has a chronic condition, the better the chronic condition is managed, the higher the chance that they will not be severely affected by the virus.

Proper chronic disease management may mean:

• Ask your doctor if you can stock up on medication.
• Be sure to have over-the-counter medications that your loved one could take should they exhibit any symptoms.
• Getting disinfecting agents like hand sanitizer, bleach or disinfecting alcohol to wipe surfaces in the home.
• If there are other medical supplies that your loved one needs in order to perform daily activities, make sure you’re stocking up on those as well.

Have extra food on hand just in case

People who are coughing, sneezing or who are otherwise sick, have been advised to stay at home.

These people may have to stay at home for a week or longer.

If this happens to your loved one, you want to make they have enough food and water to last that period where they’re indoors.

Avoid public gatherings if you’re sick

Even though the risk in our region is low, it’s important to reiterate that if you’re sick, it is in your best interest (and in the interest of others) to stay at home.

This will reduce the risk that you spread what you have to others.

And it will ensure you or your loved one is not exposed to another troublesome infection – including coronavirus.

And even if they’re not sick, avoiding public gatherings is still helpful for your loved one.

Wash your hands

Hand-washing is a simple yet effective way to prevent the spread of viral and bacterial infections.

The CDC recommends that you wash your hands with soap and water while scrubbing for at least 20 seconds.

For perspective, 20 seconds would be about how long it takes you to sing the “Happy Birthday to you” song one time through.

Wash your hands:

• When you use public bathrooms
• And when come from outside and into your home
• If you shake a lot of hands during the day
• Or if the job you do exposes you to sick people on any given day (e.g if you’re a nurse)

Report immediately to a doctor should you experience any symptoms

The symptoms of a coronavirus infection include fever, cough and shortness of breath.

Call the doctor immediately if you observe your loved one showing these symptoms.

Again, while the risk of coronavirus in San Diego remains low, taking the right precautions will limit your or your elderly loved one’s risk for the infection.

No matter a person’s age, there are always emotional needs that have to be met.

For most older adults, while they may have been through some rough times in life and have therefore become more emotionally stable, they still need emotional support.

Entering old age comes with its’ own set of difficulties that older people have to deal with.

Scenarios that may cause a sense of frustration in the elderly include:

• The loss of friends and loved ones who are older as well
• Losing control over certain bodily functions
• An increased risk for certain health conditions
• A sense that they longer have anything to contribute to society/that people have forgotten their contributions

All of the above and more can cause your elderly loved one to become frustrated.

So, how do you support them in this?

In this post, we’ll talk about meeting the emotional needs of your elderly loved one.

Meeting the emotional needs of your elderly loved one

• Acknowledge their feelings – The truth is, nobody wants to feel berated for feeling the way they do about a particular situation. In this case, your elderly loved one doesn’t want to be told to “man up” or to “just get over it”. Losing friends you’ve known for a long time and losing your sense of purpose in this world are situations that cause real grief. The stages of grief were first described by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross in 1969. For your elderly loved one, it is likely they are experiencing one sort of grief after the other. Acknowledge that this is a difficult time for your loved one.

• Look for symptoms of mental illness – Depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts are common among the elderly. These may be tied to the scenarios I described above. Don’t dismiss any symptoms you see. In fact, you should encourage them to see and talk to a mental health professional. This can be difficult for generations who were taught to be stoic through difficult times, but it’s important that you do your best as a caregiver to encourage them to seek help.

• Know their personality – When you know the personality of your loved one, it is easy to spot any changes. Knowledge of your loved one’s personality will also allow you to design activities that will get them excited and involved.

• Encourage them to engage in activities that give them a sense of purpose – For a professional who once contributed a lot to society, no longer doing that can cause a sense of frustration. Providing your elderly loved one with an opportunity to volunteer, take active part in family activities and community activities could help them regain that sense of purpose.

• Encourage a social life – With many of their longtime acquaintances and friends dying, Mom or Dad may be feeling lonely. An adult day care community for instance, could give them the opportunity to meet new friends they can socialize with.

Emotional health is part of the total health of a person.

Taking care of and meeting those needs are important to helping your loved one enjoy a fulfilling life.

And so, these tips will help you on that quest.

What should a caregiver know about glaucoma in the elderly?

How does the life of your loved one change as a result of it?

What can you do to help them?

In this post, we’ll discuss glaucoma in the elderly and everything you need to know as a caregiver.

Glaucoma in the elderly – Here’s what you should know

What is glaucoma?

Glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness in adults 60 years and over.

The optic nerve, which is extremely essential for eyesight, is damaged in glaucoma.

This is usually caused by unusually high pressure in a person’s eye.

There are no clear warning signs that a person is developing glaucoma.

It develops gradually until it is at an advanced stage.

Vision loss due to glaucoma is typically permanent.

Thus taking good care of your eyes to prevent it from developing, is the best way to stay clear of its’ effects.

Types of Glaucoma

There are different types of glaucoma which all come with different symptoms.

Open angle glaucoma comes with patchy blind spots in your peripheral or central vision, frequently in both eyes and tunnel vision once the disease advances.

The symptoms of acute-angle glaucoma include severe headache, blurred vision, eye pain, nausea, vomiting, eye redness and the person may report seeing halos around lights.

As a caregiver, if you ignore these symptoms, your loved one could become completely blind. Early treatment is the best way to deal with glaucoma.

Risk factors

• High pressure in the eyes. For some reason that doctors and scientists cannot fully explain, certain people develop high pressure in their eyes. This happens when the fluid in your eye (also called aqueous humor) doesn’t drain from your eye the way it should normally. Once this happens, there is too much fluid in the eye and this causes pressure on the optic nerve. Eventually, this pressures causes damage to the optic nerve which then leads to glaucoma.
• People who are black, Asian or Hispanic, are more likely to develop glaucoma.
• You’re at a high risk of the disease if you have someone in your family with it.
• Diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure can increase the risk for glaucoma.
• Eye injuries.
• Having certain types of eye surgeries can increase your risk as well.
• Using corticosteroid medications for a long time – certain eye drops contain this – can also increase eye pressure and cause glaucoma later on in life.
• Being age 60 and over is also another huge risk factor for glaucoma.

What can you do as a caregiver?

This is where it’s important to know your family health history as a caregiver.

If you don’t know, have that conversation with your elderly loved one.

If your elderly loved one has any of the risk factors listed, glaucoma testing with an eye doctor should be on your calendar. Early intervention is the best way to prevent blindness.

Encourage your loved one to wear eye protection when they are in the sun.

Getting regular dilated eye exams can also detect the disease early so it can be treated. The American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends that people get comprehensive eye exams – which include a dilated eye exam – every 1-2 years if a person is older than 65 years.

Preventing glaucoma starts with early action.

Knowing the symptoms and the risk factors will help your elderly loved one enjoy good eyesight for years to come.

Is it possible to find joy in the midst of care-giving?

If you’re reading this and you’re a caregiver, I just want to remind you of this fact: you’re a hero!

What you have to do every day to care for your loved ones is not an easy feat.

Yet, you wake up each day and do it like a champ.

We’ve talked on this blog a lot about the importance of taking care of yourself as a caregiver.

In fact, the evidence is clear that when you take better care of yourself as a caregiver, you’re more likely to provide better care.

But how exactly do you find joy in the midst of caring for your loved one? Especially when they have a difficult diagnosis?

Perhaps you’re dealing with a dementia or Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

Perhaps it’s some other disease that has been classified as terminal.

How in the world do you find joy in that?

In today’s post, we look at some ways you could find joy in the midst of caring for your loved one with a difficult diagnosis.

Finding joy in the midst of care-giving

You cannot find the good if you just ignore the bad

When a loved one is given a difficult diagnosis, it is part of the grieving process to deny that you’re sad; especially in the beginning.

During this time, you might dedicate all your energy to making plans to take care of your loved one.

It might also be a season where you are learning a lot about the new diagnosis and how you can support your loved one.

In fact, you may be so engrossed in trying to be the best care-giver, that you forget that your emotions are taking a severe hit.

Don’t ignore how you feel.

Allow yourself to grieve.

Giving yourself space to recognize your feelings, document them and process them is the first step finding joy in the midst of caring for your loved one.

This may also mean admitting to yourself that you need to speak to a mental health professional.

Find a support community

There are hundreds and in many cases, thousands of people who are dealing with the same scenario you’re dealing with.

Usually, a health case worker for your loved one or your doctor may have some information on local support groups that you can be a part of.

You will learn a lot of caring techniques others have been successful with.

A support community will also help you navigate the emotions you’re feeling more effectively.

And you won’t feel so alone on your journey when you know that there are others walking the same path as you.

Take time to do things you enjoy

You probably laughed at that headline because you’re thinking, “what time, Gertrude?”

I get it.

If you’re a full-time worker and a full-time care-giver, it can be hard to find any time for yourself.

This is where we can get creative.

Here’s a tip – make it a part of your care-giving routine.

For instance, if you love to read but haven’t had the time for it because you’re care-giving, you could make reading a book to your loved one a part of your routine.

Your loved one will enjoy your company and the chance to participate in an activity.

And you will get to enjoy your reading – even if it’s just for a few minutes.

Care-giving is hard. Finding joy in the midst of it is hard.

But the 3 things we discussed above will go a long way to helping you find joy in the midst of care-giving.