Kate Dyer-Seeley  

(This picture is an oldie but goodie)While November is officially National Family Caregivers Month, the first few weeks of January have seen a surge in caregiver stories in the national media.  This incredible feature in the New York Times is a must read, especially coupled with news that came out late last week highlighting the fact that husbands caring for ailing wives are at great risk for strokes. 

The Alzheimer’s Association has seen a 25% increase in calls to the 24/7 Helpline (800-272-3900) from December 2009 through January 2010.  At our office in Portland, there’s been a steady stream of family caregivers coming in the doors for support groups, classes, care consultations and to browse our lending library.  It’s wonderful to witness people connecting with our programs and services but overwhelming to see how great the need is.

Watching the weathered, anxious faces of caregivers also takes me back to the days of trying to juggle a newborn and help out in caring for my mom.  I’m sure the sleep deprivation didn’t help, but there were days that it took every ounce of energy I had to hold it together.  And, I was NOT her primary caregiver.  That duty went to my father who was working full time in order to cover the cost of medical care.  In hindsight, I wish we would have tapped into more services but at the time (like most caregivers) we were just trying to get by.  So, to any blog readers out there who are also caregivers please visit www.alz.org, call the Helpline and take care of you too!

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 21st, 2010 at 11:17 am and is filed under Alzheimer's Info, Community, Press. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.