Visiting Angels Home Care Presents: Support and Care for the Family Caregiver

As the family caregiver, you have many responsibilities. Your partner, children, career, and parents are all depending on you, which is intimidating. With over 60 million family caregivers in the United States, know that you are not alone. Scheduling out your days may be tough, but always keep in mind that you are doing a great deed to your family.

With always improving medications and life expectancies, the number of family caregivers that are needed is also increasing. It’s our job to help our caregivers as much as they help us!

Does your family member need care? And how can you prepare yourself to become the future caregiver for your family?

• Enlighten Yourself: Research as much as you can regarding your family members condition. Anticipating what is coming in the near future (in terms of signs and progression of their disease) can help relieve the stress of the unknown. If you are planning on going to your loved one's doctors appointments, it will help you to know what to ask the doctor as well.
• Find Help: If you start getting irritated, it might be time to start looking for a support group that is able to relate to your situation. Between online resources and local support groups for family caregivers, there are people out there who share your everyday struggles.
• Call for Support: Understanding your limits is the first step to take for being a great caregiver. Asking other family members, friends and professional caregivers is nothing to be ashamed of and it may help you out more than you think.

Family caregivers are often weighed down by day-to-day responsibilities and may tend to forget that they are able to receive help from family and professionals. Distributing tasks like getting groceries or picking children up from school can help you tremendously. All you have to do is write out a task list and ask for help.

Most family caregivers tend to lean on professional caregiver’s agencies, especially Visiting Angels Home Care, for multiple home care services. Visiting Angels Home Care offers customizable services to fit your senior loved one's needs. Taking time for yourself is as important as helping your senior loved one. We are able to take some weight off of your shoulders and suggest you do the following:

• Have a journal handy to be able to write down what you’re feeling
• Find a healthy way to release your emotions
• Find a support group to get your questions answered
• Have a balance of activities that you want to do and make sure you make time for them
• Make sure you make time to eat healthily and exercise daily
• Getting enough sleep is the most important factor. You will not able to keep up the day if you are tired 

Contact Visiting Angels Home Care with any questions or concerns you may have about professional home care!