The next time you feel like you’ve endured a long day at work, think about the following description of a typical day for Joanne who is one of the millions of Americans, known as “The Sandwich Generation”, who are caring for an elderly parent or loved one, while also caring for their own children and family.
Joanne works in the accounting department for a commercial real estate developer. Once her workday is done, she races home to feed her family. On her way out the door to take her son to his soccer game, she throws in a load of laundry. Then she heads over to her mother’s house. Several months ago, Joanne started to notice that her mother wasn’t eating properly and that most of the food in the refrigerator was spoiled. So now, she spends three to four nights a week at her mother’s house cooking nutritious meals, filling her pillbox, and making sure her mother is bathing properly. Some days her mother looks at her like she is a stranger. Joanne has been juggling her roles as mother, wife, employee, daughter, and now family caregiver for several months and the stress is becoming harder and harder to handle.
There is a good chance that you know someone like Joanne who is currently caring for an aging loved one. What you may not know is that recent medical research has found that the stress associated with care giving can lead to a weakened immune system, and in some cases even premature death for the caregiver.
Specifically, family caregivers who provide care 36 or more hours weekly are more likely than non-caregivers to experience symptoms of depression or anxiety. For spouses the rate is six times higher and for those caring for a parent the rate is twice as high. What a difference a Comfort Keeper could make. Comfort Keepers is the premier provider of affordable, non-medical in-home care. Our goal is to enable seniors to remain in the privacy of their own home for as long as possible. Often all that is needed is a helping hand with daily tasks including, but not limited to, meal preparation, light housekeeping, medication monitoring, laundry, transportation (beauty salon, doctors, etc.), grocery shopping, companionship, assistance with bathing/showering, grooming guidance, recreational activities, and more. We are also instrumental in lowering the stress for family members who are juggling their own busy lives and work schedules around attending to an aging loved one’s needs. Our service provides peace of mind knowing these needs and daily activities are being taken care of. It will allow quality time to be spent with loved ones, rather than attending to chores. If falling is a concern, just knowing someone is with them can make all the difference. Comfort Keepers prides itself in the quality of our compassionate, bonded and insured caregivers, and our mission to treat our clients like a member of our own family.
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Myles McNamara is the Certified Senior Advisor and owner of Comfort Keepers In-home Care, providing assistance to seniors in the comfort of their own home. Offices are located at 24355 Lyons Avenue, Suite 110. For more information, please call 661-287-4200 or visit www.comfortkeepers.com .