November is National Family Caregivers Month, a time to recognize and honor family caregivers. It’s also an opportunity to raise awareness of caregiving issues, educate communities and increase support for caregivers.
For the past four years, Ann has been caring for her husband, Ron, who lives with Parkinson’s disease. His health complications mean that Ann can’t leave him alone and she also has to be on watch for seizures that can occur when he is moving around.
While helping someone you love can feel like second nature, it’s important for caregivers to think about their own needs. Unfortunately, those needs can wind up at the bottom of the daily to-do list.
Ann knows that firsthand. After trying to ignore a nagging pain in her foot, she finally had to go to the doctor and wound up in a boot to allow her foot to heal.
“Everyone said, ‘You need to take care of this.’ And I know caregivers have to take care of themselves,” she said. “But it’s really hard because it complicates everything.”
Because of Ron’s seizures, Ann can’t bring him to the store to pick up a few things. She can’t leave him in the car, either. So, she relies on her sister and others to help her make time for herself. She also gets a break when two students from Lori’s Hands visit with Ron to talk and play air hockey. The students talk with Ron and allow her to get some time of her own.
“It’s good for him to talk to people other than me. He would sit here and watch TV or read the paper otherwise. It’s very hard to get him to do anything on his own,” Ann said. “When they go play air hockey, I go upstairs and take care of something I want to take care of.”
Caregivers can struggle with feeling like they are imposing on someone, so it helps that the Lori’s Hands volunteers also benefit from the time spent with the Ann and Ron. Ann said one of her Lori’s Hands volunteers has expressed an interest in learning more about Ron’s condition. He even sat in on a presentation given by Ron’s neurologist about Parkinson’s Disease.
“He sat there, Ron sat there and we watched the Zoom call,” she said. “He’s pre-med, so he’s really interested in what’s going on with Ron. I think it helped him as well as me. It’s about getting that experience. I’m glad we can be part of that.”
