The Knee Bone's Connected To ...
tsb

Such a face! Daddy Bones@ age 12, gracing the book's cover.

 

 How to Keep Your Sanity Intact When a Loved One Needs a Nursing Home  

It’s estimated that more than 50 million people provide care for a chronically ill, disabled or aged family member or friend during any given year.

Studies show that extremely stressed caregivers can age or die prematurely. 

“Bette Davis said ‘old age is no place for sissies,’ but caring for an older loved one isn’t for the feint of heart, either,” says Bones. “I loved my dad and we were very close, but the strain of ‘putting’ him in a nursing home was so overwhelming for all of us that I felt like I was on the edge of a nervous breakdown.”

Becoming aware of some of the don’ts” of long-term care can make daily life easier for nursing home residents and for their family caretakers,” she notes.

Bones offers some key examples from her Nursing Home Checklist:

· Ask clergy, family, and friends - especially those in the health care field - to recommend outstanding nursing homes.

· When touring a nursing home, ask other visitors for frank feedback about the facility. Don’t just inspect the “sample” room, look into residents’ rooms to check for cleanliness.

· Assure your loved one that you will be their ongoing advocate.

· Visit your loved one often and at varying times of the day - and night. This alerts all of the caregivers that you are keeping an eye on your loved one.

· Get to know the staff, especially your loved one’s immediate caregivers.

· Thank the employees for the thankless job that they do.

· Put your loved one’s name on all their belongings, including clothes and personal products. Never leave money or valuables in their room.

· Place a quilt, photos and other small touches to create a “homey” room.

· Put a brief bio and picture of your loved one at the entrance of their room to “introduce” them to staff and visitors.

. Bring old photos when you visit your loved one - it will give you something to look at if conversation lags.

. Bring different edible treats to spice-up the resident's menu.

 

 


 

 

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Tuesday
Jun302009

As the Crab Flies...

DateTuesday, June 30, 2009 at 04:58PM

So there we are at the Jersey shore, in beautiful downtown Margate with our 89-year-old friend Mary. We are on a mini-boardwalk area that extends out over the bay as the five-o'clock sunlight paints the view with a serene loveliness. Suddenly, a huge seagull flies above us. Hey, does it have something in it's mouth? Something big? Something struggling? Holy Toledo, it's a crab. The gull circles around and lands behind us on the strip of boardwalk, dropping the crab and then pecking at it pleasurably. The crab darts to the left, only to be jabbed by the gull's sharp beak. Then it darts to the right, dodging fruitlessly. Again, the gull goes in for the kill. We three witness the whole shebang, crab shred by crab shred. We can't go anywhere, with the gull blocking our path, so we have to witness the death dance of the crab, literally on its last legs. Finally, when the crab is a goner and the gull flies away - burping? - I promptly exit, tip-toeing past the leftovers, shook-up by the brutality. Hubby say no big deal, it's just Wild Kingdom at its finest, but I didn't watch that show when it was on TV and I certainly don't want to see it up close and personal on a perfectly wonderful summer day. Mary? She is unfazed, a survivor. Why am I so freaked? I don't know, forgive the maudlin attitude, but it's been a weird week, with all the Farrah, Michael and Billy Mays news. It just makes me think - you never know when a seagull or its equivalent is going to swoop you up. In the meantime, guess we just have to be kind, have fun and live it up.

AuthorDiane Bones | CommentPost a Comment | Reference2 References |

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