Caregiving

When someone receives a diagnosis of dementia, fear and isolation can quickly loom large. Will my loved one need to move out of her home? How will she manage her day to day affairs? Who will look out for her if I can’t be around? These are legitimate concerns which…

The data is clear: if given the choice, most people prefer to grow older in their homes and familiar neighborhoods i.e., they want to “age-in-place.” But as we age accommodations often need to be made: Repairs or changes to the environment for safety concerns, assistance in the home for difficult…

While the beloved cartoons may be absent, the New Yorker Radio Hour, broadcast by WNYC in New York, features many wonderful New Yorker writers speaking with subjects of articles or revealing behind the scenes facets of their stories. Recently this radio program featured two pieces addressing home care.  First, listen…

Does this sound like your house? Piles of books and paper teetering on counters, multiple wires tangled in a mess on the floor or cabinets packed to overflowing?  When a person with dementia comes to live in your home, this chaos may not only be confusing, it can also be…

For caregivers providing care to dementia patients in the home, that caregiver burden can be especially wrenching. Monitoring activities at the home while maintaining some semblance of outside life becomes virtually impossible. Now, researchers at UC San Francisco have embarked on a three year study to develop a “Care Ecosystem”…

Hovering over many 21st century children are over-involved parents: attentive to every activity and every moment of the child’s daily routine. While such close oversight and involvement may be done with the best of intentions, the impact of these “helicopter parents” on the child’s development and independence can be disastrous….