When we remember, we keep our loved ones alive. They will live as long as we reflect upon our memories of them. If we have pleasant memories, we’ll hold them in our hearts. If not, we try to forget. It’s been 31 years since my mother died on April Fools’ Day [Try to Remember—Living On in One’s Heart and Memory] and 23 years since my father died after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. When I look carefully for the silver lining among the clouds of loss, I feel fortunate my father died earlier in 2001, before the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. My father would have been traumatize ..read more

This issue includes six caregiver article excerpts. These include: the importance of knowing about the risks of falling; Genworth’s cost of care; pros and cons of different methods of covering care costs; a 100-year-old TB vaccine and its role in Alzheimer’s; how the words we use affect how dementia is perceived; and social connections and the big difference they make in caregivers’ lives and in the lives of people with dementia. Is the 100-year-old TB vaccine a new weapon against Alzheimer’s? The Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine for tuberculosis may offer protection against Alzheimer’s disease ..read more

Caregiver, 2024 marks the 25th anniversary of “Where’s my shoes?” My Father’s Walk through Alzheimer’s. My father would ask repeatedly, “Where’s my shoes?” (Yes, it’s grammatically incorrect.) Having lived in the U.S. for nearly 90% of his life, he’d wear shoes inside his home. Whereas, since the 1980s and a handful of years after I moved out of my parent’s home, I adopted the Asian and Middle East tradition of leaving shoes at the door. (You’d be surprised how clean your carpets, rugs, and tile floors remain.) However, my father who was initially diagnosed with dementia, forgot about “no-shoe ..read more

Elder Care Guide for Families New to Caregiving Frank Myers from the Home Instead office the UK sends us Elderly care: A guide for families new to caring. This guide overviews what’s available in elderly care while also addressing more practical issues including: care options (e.g., in-home care, care homes, and assisted living); paying for care (including options for readers in the UK); and additional considerations, including: legal, home modifications, and assistive technologies. Read this wherever you are based, because what you learn may spark a useful idea for your own situation. “Around ..read more

Give yourself the gift of self-love and your loved one a change-of-pace with in-home care. Guest article by Anna Dykshteyn When people face a health crisis, the focus is often on their well-being and recovery. However, it is crucial to look at the well-being of the caregivers who play a vital role in providing this support and care to others. This article emphasizes the importance of self-care for caregivers, with a focus on home health aides and related in-home care professionals in the home healthcare industry. This ensures their physical, mental, and emotional well-being, which usually tran ..read more

Attention to cleanliness in healthcare settings and in your own home and telling the truth about your symptoms could save your and your loved one’s life! Today, more than ever, we need to attend to the details of cleanliness. Yes, there are those who believe we need to build up resistance to microbes. And there are those who sneeze and cough without fully covering their mouths. There are those who seldom wash their hands, even before handling food. While some of my friends have gotten all their COVID and flu-prevention shots, they have all had symptoms and later tested positive for COVID. Some ..read more

In Part II of this two-part article on testing your own emergency response system, you’ll read about the diagnosis, insurance coverage, what I learned, and testing your own emergency response system. If you have not already, first read: Have You Tested Your Own Emergency Response System? Part I of II: Caregiver self-care is critical. Last month, I had a potential vision-related emergency. I panicked. Then I began to act. What happened? Phone calls. Time to get my mind off me. Vitreous Detachment I called the ophthalmologist’s office soon after they opened on Monday. I said, “I’m a patient of y ..read more

Caregiver, self-care is critical. If you don’t take care of yourself, who will? Last month, I had what I thought was a vision-related medical emergency. I panicked. Then I began to act. This is Part I of II. What happened to my eye? Panic. For two days, I brushed away fruit flies. Except, there were no flies. Then I awoke to a spongy feeling with impaired vision in my left eye. The third night, while driving, I saw flashes of light in my left peripheral vision. I saw these when I woke up in the middle of the night. What is going on? Am I losing my vision? After four days, I called my ophthalmo ..read more

Prediabetes may be risk factor for dementia. Cumulative exposure to impaired fasting glucose may be a risk factor for dementia, according to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports. Even mild hyperglycemia should be addressed to decrease dementia risk. “Careful management of dysglycemia [abnormal variance in blood sugar] is expected to contribute to dementia prevention,” the researchers said. What is ‘pre-death grief’ and how can you support people going through it? Pre-death grief, or anticipatory grief, affects people as they start to grieve for a loved one with dementia or other ..read more

While the U.S. recognizes National Family Caregivers Month and millions of family caregivers in the U.S. serve lovingly and with great sacrifice, I extend our recognition a quarter way around the Earth to welcome family caregiver, Mauretta Bernardini in Italy! I met Mauretta Bernardini last month while in Florence. She and her husband retired six years ago. Like the rest of us, they had plans to enjoy their retirement after working decades and raising a son. But as former Beatles, John Lennon wrote, “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans,” Mauretta’s beloved Welsh hubby, G ..read more