Family Caregiving

Multiple sclerosis and it’s Financial Burden:Comments on the Guardian’podcast

San Jose Care Resource Guide:The Guardian brings us a podcast on the worsening financial  burden of  MSers. True, this is about NHS in England, but the austerity tidal wave has certainly hit the US too. For starters, look at our recent post on the cuts in California social and health safety net  by Gov. Brown (Click Here for that post)

San Jose Care Resource Guide: The guardian’s podcast is not going to make MSers feel better about their plight. Maybe it could emphasize the need to advocate for them and their family caregivers. Here is the link to the ‘cast

San Jose Care Resource Guide:  The recent change in the US Health Care system has emphasized dilution of the concept of disability and included questionnable ills in the society’s network. Just check out some of our previous posts:

• Ways The New Health Law May Affect You in 2011 (KHN)
• Health Care Law Should Help With Jail Inmate Treatment (thecrimereport)
• Is your government draining money away from the benefits of the highly disabled?

We must force the government to distinguish between true the true hardship of the auto-immune diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinsons’,  Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus as well as all the forms of Cancers and Spinal cord Injury from more benign ills. The culprit? Here you have it :

“SUMMARY OF KEY PROVISIONS: EEOC’S NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING (NPRM) TO IMPLEMENT THE ADA AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2008 (ADAAA)”

Please help hep Advocate for the truly disabled and/or chronically ill! CLICK HERE TO CONTACT US

Either way, we would love to hear your comments!

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Diabetes: Foot Care Vigilance Is a Must!

SJCRG: This article from French hospitals (sciencedirect) about  diabetic foot infections is not good news:

Quoting: “..In spite of being managed at specialized centres that were, in general, following the agreed-upon published guidelines, the prognosis for diabetic foot infection remains poor, with a high rate (48%) of lower-limb amputation”

Caregivers and Care recipients must be vigilant and react quickly: Better waste a doctor’s visit than being sorry..

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Caregiving Skills For Dementia (Lippincott’s Nursing Center)

San Jose Care Resource Guide:  This is a very rich article from the Lipingcott’s Nursing Center on dementia in its various forms. Essentially a class  for nurses , but family caregivers will benefit immensely from the information. Click Here for link

San Jose Care Resource Guide: Here are some of the  topics

• COMMON TYPES OF DEMENTIA
•  NURSING CARE MODELS (Techniques for interaction with a person afflicted with Dementia)
• INTERVENTIONS ( What can be done to improve the situation)
  • Illustrative examples of cases and what was done
  • Responses to specific dementia issues such as
    •  agitation
    • withdrwal
    • apathy

One of the best article we have seen in a long time!

Dementia Caregiving: Poor Skills=Frustration + Depression!

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Caregiving: Lifting Patients from Beds (SafetyInstruction.com)

DisaHealth:    Caregiving is not just a labor of Love, it is also a skill. Here is a YouTube video from SafetyInstruction giving a class about bed transfer safety

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About Caregiving and divorced parents (Huffington)

SJCRG: Another painful side effect of divorce. Click here for the link to the article in the Huffington Post

SJCRG: I could go on an old curmudgeon’s  rant about the causes of divorce, but I would probably loose you guys in the process.  So I will be quiet, but you get my drift…

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American Heart Association (AHA) has a good caregiver website

SJCRG: Here is the link AHA-Caregivers.    Excellent site for caregivers of all stripes. I particularly like the tone, “Caregiver, we are here for you” . Take a look at the “Reach Out”  communication tips, they will save you grief!

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Spouse Caregiving: a Facebook Fibromyalgia Page

SJCRG:This group was started by Adrienne Dellwo, who runs a newsletter on fibromyalgia from the About.com site. I have found that Adriennes’s newsletter carries worthwhile information, so  I expect the FB group to be well led and valuable.

Issues facing couples with one spouse with a major chronic disease are unique.  They have to deal with all sorts of  frustrations, burried resentments, guilt: a therapist’s job security!

SJCRG: By the way, such group should carry discussions valid for couples facing other chronic diseases

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Caring for the Caregiver – Coping With Anger (YouTube, Elaine Sanchez)

SJCRG: Caregiving is difficult for the care recipient and the caregiver. Particularly for the family caregiver. Click here    for a link to one of our posts about anger issues in caregiving

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Effect of Body Position on Cerebral Oxygenation in Patients With Acute Neurological Conditions (Lippingcott)

SJCRG: One can find in nursing journal information not readily avalaible in medical research papers. A good example here is this article about the effect of body position on brain oxygenation

Quoting the Lippingcott Nursing Center  :
“…Current positioning practices in neurocritical care units are largely based on studies that suggest head of bed (HOB) elevation may reduce ICP. However, there is no consensus on the degree of elevation for best practice. Although 30[degrees] of head elevation is believed to be associated with improvements in ICP (intercranial Pressure and  and CPP (cerebral perfusion Pressure)….study to examine the effects of patient positioning, including a combination of head elevation and side lying on PbtO2 ICP, CPP, and MAP after severe brain injury…..Our data suggest that there is no single optimal body position and that the lateral position should be used with caution….”

The study still shows that body position matters..so the nurses should monitor the impact of patients position. 

Here is a YouTube video showing a hightech hospital bed (Striker InTouch) that could help in find optimum positionning of patients [not endorsed] :

SJCRG: This study was for patients with major accute problems. But it begs the following question: what about long term the effect of body position on chronically ill such as quadraplegics or even  paraplegics in their chairs or beds? Any?

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When the Family Needs Mediation between the Caregiver and the Care Recipient (NYT)

CareResourceGuide:  This is an interesting article in the New York Times  on a “new” caregiving field : Elder care mediation.

CareResourceGuide:  Not an easy field as sometimes stress will heighten tensions. Sometimes changing the Home Care Aid is appropriate, but when several have come through the door, the problem ca become acute. Things are probably compounded when there is already bagage such as when the  caregiver is a spouse or a relative…

The NYT gives a plug for two such mediation organizations

•  Elder care mediatiors
• Mediate.com

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