Identifying as a Caregiver

Most people don’t recognize that they are caregivers. Perhaps they have always been a caregiver to a special needs child. Their understanding of what a caregiver is may be limited or different. They may think that being a caregiver is a 24/7 role or it is minimal. They may think that because they live far away, they are not caregivers. Caregiving is in the home only, they think. They may consider caregiving to be taking care of all needs: financial management, medica management, housekeeping, and shopping,

The truth is caregiving is about making sure that the patient or person requiring care gets the help they need. It is flexible because it depends on his needs. For some people, caregiving will mean merely making sure someone checks in regularly; the person can mostly take care of himself so long as groceries and medications are delivered to the home. Other seniors may need help with housekeeping, cooking, financial management, and making medical appointments.

All the tasks don’t have to be done by the caregiver himself. Someone else can manage the personal care needs, shopping, housekeeping, bill paying, and other tasks. Someone on top of all the kinds of help is the caregiver; he will be checking that the needs are being met by the specific providers.

A caregiver may be a friend, neighbor, adult child, or spouse. He may feel that the caregiver role overtakes the personal role he had before, and it is not comfortable. It’s important to recognize that the primary role-that of wife, daughter, partner, or friend- is not lost. The situation may require being the manager of care, being a caregiver, but the person is still the wife, daughter, partner, or friend.

Another reason people struggle with the role of being a #caregiver and don’t identify as such is because caregiving for a parent or elder is part of their culture or family culture. Some languages don’t even have a word for caregiver.

Identifying as a caregiver is important. It gives you power. It gives you information. Nurses, doctors, and medical personnel know that you are important in the care of the person and respond to you as a partner.

Identifying as a caregiver is critical to stress management. And there are many challenges to being a caregiver. There is substantial physical strain. Caregivers are less likely to go to their own doctors for their own needs. #Caregiving is emotionally draining; there may be fear, guilt, grief, frustration, and anger as well as love. These emotions need to be tended; support groups and therapists can be very helpful in processing these emotions. There are serious financial implications for caregiving. People lose hours of work and necessary attention to their own finances.

Awareness of #selfcare is vital. This includes finding support, physical activity, health management, and some recreation. If self-care is neglected, then there are long range implications for both caregivers and patients. They get #caregiverburnout and tune out. More and more, municipalities and hospital centers offer #caregiversupport services which may include #respite workers, help with financial management, and therapeutic services.

Accepting the role of caregiving, whether you live close by or monitor things long distance, getting the support for yourself will have many benefits to your health, your patient’s health, and your family’s welfare.