Golden Days is an entertaining and insightful weekly miscellany aimed at senior citizens.
There are helpful tips - from advice on volunteering or financial tips in retirement to stess advice for caregivers. Each edition includes a mailbox where readers' questions are answered while, on a lighter note, there's an entertaining series of classic quotes about aging.
Sample Golden Days column
TAKE FIVE
This week: five handy products to make your life easier.
1. Handle Key Turner
Key Turners have a large curved handle that fit into your hand for a fuller grip that makes it easy to open that door. They also provide extra leverage when turning a key.
2. Mobilia Photography Kit
Don’t give up your photography habit just because you’re confined to a wheelchair. This nifty mounting kit fits most standard cameras and allows the camera to be used at a range of angles.
3. Culinare® Large Digit Timer
Hard of hearing or vision? Don’t let your baking suffer. This battery-operated kitchen timer displays extra-large digits and has an extra-loud signal. Comes with a magnet mount and stand.
4. Tek Large Button Universal Remote
An easy-to-grasp T shape universal remote with lighted keypad and large buttons.
5. Perma Ty Elastic Shoelaces
Perfect for anyone with reduced finger mobility. Look just like regular laces but stretch easily to allow you slip out of your shoes without untying.
For details on sourcing these and similar products, check out assistireland.ie.
MAILBOX
Coping with caregiver stress
Q. My daughter, who has a full-time job and a young family, is also caring for her elderly father-in-law. She is run ragged and is exhausted because she is taking his care entirely on her own shoulders, but she can't see the damage it is doing to her and her family. How can I help?
A. You are right to be concerned. It sounds like your daughter is suffering from caregiver stress and she needs to take some positive action to avoid becoming burnt out all together.
Caregiver stress is a recognised condition and is particularly prevalent in carers who have their own families and jobs to deal with. These carers are spreading themselves too thin in terms of trying to do everything themselves and this can have a detrimental effect on their marriages, jobs and personal lives.
In the worst-case scenario, your daughter could damage her relationship with her husband and children, lose her job or her health. Depression is a common symptom of caregiver stress, reported by over 20% of family carers. She needs to take positive action now to make sure she starts taking care of herself so that she is able to continue caring properly for others.
Home Instead knows all about caregiver stress and is continuously looking at methods we can teach our professional carers to learn to deal with it. We recently compiled all that knowledge into a useful information booklet called "Running On Empty - Who Cares for the Carers?" for use by family caregivers. Your first step to helping your daughter could be to pick up a free copy available from our office.
The guide outlines the symptoms to look out for to recognise caregiver stress. Letting your daughter see in print some of the experiences she is going through may help her to realise that she shouldn't continue trying to do everything herself.
It also offers some simple hints and tips on how family caregivers can alleviate their stress. This means taking regular time out for themselves. The carer can find themselves believing they are the only person able to offer the correct level of care, but in fact it may benefit the elderly person to have more than one source of care.
If you are in a position to do so, offer to help. Even small things like doing the shopping, sitting with her father-in-law while your daughter goes to the hair dresser, or picking her children up from school, will relieve some of the pressure. Talk to her husband and other family members to see if they can assist in the little things too. Gradually allow your daughter to realise that she is not alone, help is out there.
Why not suggest enlisting the help of a professional caregiver for a few hours a day while your daughter is at work? She won't have the worry of her father-in-law being alone and some of the regular chores such as bathing, laundry, attending appointments and meal preparation will be taken care of. Your daughter can relax knowing her father-in-law is in safe hands.
SENIOR MOMENT
“Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are.”
Muhammad Ali
“Youth is a disease from which we all recover.”
Dorothy Fulheim
“Old age isn't so bad when you consider the alternative. “
Maurice Chevalier
“The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.“
Jean Paul
TIP OF THE WEEK - TRAVEL SAFE
When travelling abroad, inform your doctor of your plans and find out what to do if you have a medical problem. Carry a list of any health conditions and medication in your wallet. Clearly print your name, doctor’s name and telephone number on the list along with an emergency contact.