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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Sunday
May102020

ALL HAIL, WARRIOR MOMS

My Mother once lent me her Volkswagen Beetle for a whole year so that I could commute from my apartment to classes during my senior year at college. 

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A few years before that, circa 1971, she also let me and my siblings decorate our family car (also a Beetle) with so many large flower decals that looked like the whole clan was heading straight to Woodstock, but that’s another story.

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The point is, Mothers are and have always been awesome and self-sacrificing (even when their offspring don’t fully recognize the magnitude of their giving hearts until many, many decades later).

And nowhere is maternal fortitude more apparent than in the midst of the Corona pandemic.

True, it has been brutal for all of us.

And, yes, it has been devastating for many and deadly for thousands.

But among all the devastation, what stands out in this ongoing battle are the Mothers who for months now have continued nonstop entertaining kids, feeding kids, trying to educate kids and enveloping kids in a blanket of love.

The rest of us can semi-cope with the challenges of quarantine by binging on shows, reading People magazine and Zooming with friends.

But Moms get no coffee break in the best of times, let alone when social distancing and isolation from babysitters or grandparents are added to the mix. Moms can’t regroup for a few minutes on the couch, they are too busy rallying the troops and maintaining family sanity.

Therefore let’s give Moms everywhere, particularly those with little kids, some extra praise this Mother’s Day.

Making sacrifices is what Moms do, even when it means they’ll be stranded without a car for an entire goddamn year.  

So thanks, Mom, and Thanks, Moms.

Someday years from now, may your children recall your Warrior Spirit that guided them through the pandemic, no matter how exhausted, depleted or woefully bad at math you were. 

Now more than ever, Moms, YOU RULE! 

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