The CaraVita Blog

Having a job as senior caregiver can be a very fulfilling and rewarding career, that will provide for complete job satisfaction. When you care for an elderly loved one, there is a great sense of honor and purpose in your life. It may sometimes become a little tough to exert a lot of energy into helping someone else, so it is important to seek help to avoid caregiver burnout. CaraVita Home Care wants all caregivers and family members who care for others to feel appreciated. Here are a few words of wisdom for senior caregivers.

At CaraVita Home Care, we are proud of the services we provide in senior home care and the partners we work with. One of our partners, Aloha to Senior Solutions, believes the act of aging should be treated with the Aloha spirit, otherwise known as a harmonious and respectful way of living.  The following information was provided by our guest blogger Dawn Reed, CEO of Aloha to Senior Solutions and Founder of Aloha to Aging, Inc. In a previous article, we discussed ways caregivers can remain positive, in this edition we are expressing why caregiving should be a team effort.

It can be easy to neglect your own health when you provide in-home care for a loved one. When you overexert yourself caring for another, you will most likely encounter caregiver burnout which can lead to more severe outcomes, such as depression or physical ailment. You can avoid the detrimental effects of caregiving by remembering to take care of your own health and stay positive with in-home care. However, preventing pessimistic thoughts can be easier said than done. At CaraVita, we know it can be challenging to stay positive but it is essential, so here are three tips to aid in optimism!

CaraVita Home Care is proud to partner with Senior Advisory Services (SAS). SAS provides excellent guidance for senior living and senior care options. They provide education to help individuals make the right decision about transitioning to a senior living community. In this guest blog Stephanie Fiber-Sutton, CEO of Senior Advisory Services gives tips and resources to balancing a personal life, work life, and caring for a loved one.

Caregiver burnout is a state of exhaustion that affects a person's physical, emotional, and mental health and leads to a change of demeanor and attitude. This condition affects family caregivers who have taken on too much responsibility (either physically or financially) in caring for a loved one and are not getting the help they need. Symptoms of this burnout are fatigue, stress, anxiety, and depression. 

If you are providing home care to a loved one suffering from any stage of dementia related symptoms, you have a lot of trial and error in your future. But we're here to help. After hundreds of combined years experience providing in-home senior care, we have learned a thing or two. Whether your caregiving journey has just begun, or you are about to nod knowingly as you check these off your mental list of things to avoid in care, these are the ten biggest things you can avoid doing to make your communication and caregiving that much more effective.

The dreaded parent-child life talks. Odds are you've been having them with your folks since the first time you cut your sisters pony tail off, or did some other childhood things to warrant the "go wait in your room, your father will be hearing about this when he gets home," bomb from mom. You probably slinked away, awaiting that conversation with anxious energy. Funny how some things never change. Now that everyone is a little older, a little wiser, surely we can all talk about things like aging, right? Of course not.

Remember the President's campaign slogan from 2016; the one on all the red hats? "Make America Great Again," it read. Well we think it's just as important that if you or a loved on is aging in place, we should come together as a people and learn how to Make Aging in Place Safe Again.

Forget learning how to program the VCR—the technology seniors need, and the ones they have their eyes on today include mobile gadgets, wireless connectivity and digital devices.

So, you've seen your parents. You've checked our checklist. It seems like maybe they might need a little help. What to do?