Those of us here at Senior Spectrum had some questions that we would like to pose to the community at large.  We know what a challenge it can be to become a family caregiver, we were hoping that those of you out there who are family caregivers could give us more of an insight as to what is going on.  As well as insight for those who could become family caregivers.

1.   What is it like when you have to take care of a family member, friend or neighbor? 

2.   What advice would you give a new family caregiver? 

Scroll down to read comments or to post a reply.  We are eager to hear from you.

Comments

[Jane]

LS-We do provide training for our new employee's to become PSS certified. Upon hire we have six months to get our employee certified. You would have to take a 50 hour on-line course which is done at your own pace. Once you complete this course you would then be PSS certified this certification has no expiration date with it. This class you would have to pay for which is a pay roll deduction out of your pay. We have one fee for this class if you are an employee and then a non employee fee. If you are interested please give me a call at 1-800-282-0764 ext. 107.
We also do provide Personal Services in the home. What we would do is give you a call to see how many hours you would like, what days you would like the hours and then we would see if we had any staff for your area. If we have the staff available for your needs at that time a Personal Service Supervisor would come to your home and do all of the paper work necessary to get your case up and staffed. All of our employees have a Driving Record and Criminal Back Ground check done upon hire and then yearly after that. If you would like any more information or our prices please feel free to call me at 1-800-282-0764 ext. 107 if I can help you any further.

Thank you

I understand that Senior Spectrum provides PSS (personal support specialist) services via a program called Bridges?

What are the requirements and process to request PSS service please?

Also, does Senior Spectrum provide training to become a PSS?

thanks in advance for information,
LS

[Patrick]

Thank you, we always welcome feedback about our site and our blog. Senior Spectrum features a different question every month for people to post comments on in addition to our other postings.

This months feature is about people and how their pets enrich their lives.

You can find it @ http://www.seniorspectrum.com , we keep a link right on the front page.

Discovering this site today - by accident, searching for more online information about "personal support speciialists", following links, and wound up here and very impressed that Senior Spectrum has initiated this conversation area online - well done Senior Spectrum (whoever the mysterious and anonymous moderator is :-).

[Leslie Bray]

Dear Winnie,
The situation you mention is one heard daily by the Family Caregiver Program. It is the norm for one person to be the primary caregiver and that occurs for many reasons, depending on the location and structure of the family members.
Communication is the key. The whole family needs to sit together and identify their strengths and limitations. The primary caregiver also has to learn to ask for help. Often an uninvolved person needs to lead the discussion in order to "keep the peace." The Family Caregiver's Newletter summer addition addresses this very issue and will be posted shortly on this website. We hope you get a chance to read it.
Senior Spectrum's Family Caregiver Program

[Winnie]

Another sad aspect of being part of family caregiving for parents is the break down of the sibling relationships. One feels they are doing most of the work - others not enough. Each may have their families, jobs, responsibilities but do as much as they can. Guilt sets in. Relationships become damaged or even estranged. I wonder if others have found ways to prevent this from happening. thanks

[Leslie Bray]

Thank you so much for sharing what is a difficult story to tell. Your advice to a new caregiver is so important,taking one day at a time and continuing to laugh can go a long way in keeping a caregiver going.
We hope you can continue to take care of yourself.

Senior Spectrum's Family Caregiver Program

[majmom]

You really want to know what it is like...the word is heartbreaking. I took care of my husband for over 13 years while he was going through the stages of Alzheimers which robbed him of memory at the young age of 54. Instead of a husband, I now had an overgrown son in his place. All of our dreams of me retiring early when he reached 65, and traveling the world, went up in smoke. We were not rich but he intended to take me to Germany, Spain and Paris because he saw those places in the Army. Anyways, back to reality... He is now in a nursing home because it became too hard for me to care for him...he was awake most of the night, he became aggressive everytime I tried to keep him clean and safe from the burners on the stove etc, and he especially didn't like being locked inside. He would have wandered away if I hadn't locked the doors while we were home, especially on weekends when he couldn't go to the Muskie Center in Waterville. I was just too tired to keep him entertained like they did. What I would tell a person just starting out caring for someone....take one day at a time, keep laughing (we used to make jokes about his disease and then we would laugh together) and cherish every single day you have with that person. My sanity was saved because I always thought ..One, there were people out there worse off than us..he was not suffering or bed-ridden and ..Two, I took care of him like I knew he would have taken care of me...
Now that he is in a nursing home..I have my life back...sort of..I feel single but not enjoying it, I can go swimming at the Holiday Inn but he is not with me...I can visit with my 84 year old mother that was diagnosed with lung cancer last fall...but she will never see him again..and she loved him like a son.