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Avoiding Caregiver Burnout

Avoiding Caregiver Burnout

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Avoiding Caregiver Burnout

The many conflicts and responsibilities that come with caring for an older person can isolate a caregiver, compromise relationships, threaten job opportunities, and lead to mounting anger, frustration, guilt, anxiety, depression, stress, and a sense of helplessness and exhaustion that is sometimes called caregiver burnout.

Caregivers can do only so much as individuals, and the help they may receive from family members and friends may not be enough. The Merck Manual of Health & Aging offers the following strategies for avoiding caregiver burnout:

• Learn about the cause, symptoms, and course of the person’s condition. Anticipate changes.
• Let the older person make his/her own decisions and solve problems if he/she is able. Set limits to the amount of assistance offered if necessary.
• Avoid taking an older person’s anger, frustration, or difficult behaviors personally. These behaviors may be symptoms of a disorder such as dementia.
• Avoid arguments.
• Delegate responsibilities and ask other family members and friends to help whenever possible.
• Ask for help from trustworthy family member, friends, or neighbors. Be explicit but reasonable about expectations. Avoid criticism as long as the person helping is responsible.
• Eat and exercise regularly, and schedule regular time for relaxing, enjoyable activities.
• Obtain information about the older person’s resources; avoid depleting personal finances.
• Contact organizations that can provide information and referrals for caregivers.
• Consider day care or respite care before the burden of isolation or of caregiving grows too great.
• Remember that assisted living facilities and nursing homes may be the best option.

The text of this document is from The Merck Manual of Health & Aging, copyright by Merck & Co., Inc. Reproduction here by permission. Reproduced with permission of Tim Takacs.

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At Keystone Elder Law, we believe that the physical, social, legal, and financial considerations of our clients all intertwine. We utilize an interdisciplinary approach to evaluate each area, which allows for the creation of a plan that addresses the concerns of the individual as a whole as well as the family. To this end, our model of practice includes a Care Coordinator (usually a nurse or social worker), whose expertise complements our team of attorneys.

When the road of life is smooth, decisions about legal and financial matters are easy to push aside for “a rainy day.” Planning ahead, however, will allow for more options as you view the map of where you’ve been and where you want to go. Don’t let a crisis limit your choices or derail your plans.

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