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Greg Feldman
Greg Feldman is Co- Owner of Always There Senior Care in Wichita. He moved from rural Western Kansas in 1979 to Wichita where he attended Butler County Community College and graduated in 1983 with an Associate Degree in Nursing and in 1996 he graduated from Kansas Newman University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing. After several years of intensive care nursing at Via Christie St Francis he left to accept a consulting position with Procter and Gamble in the long term care industry for ten years. The past 8 years have been spent in the Pharmaceutical Sales. Since becoming Co-Owner of Always There Senior Care in 1986, he is responsible for the day to day operations and directing attendant care services and care givers in homes of seniors. Greg Feldman can be reached at 316-946-9222 or on the internet at www.alwaysthereusa.com. You can email Greg at mail@alwaysthereusa.com.
Senior Living
2007-05-01 13:27:00
Finding a caregiver
: I feel a great burden with my aging parents, as I am the primary caregiver. How do I begin the process of finding someone to help me?
Question: I feel a great burden with my aging parents, as I am the primary caregiver. How do I begin the process of finding someone to help me? Answer: For working children with responsibility for aging parents, not having short or long term care can create hardships. Without intervention from appropriate care services in the community, these hardships can cause serious mental and physical problems for an active family. Many active families feel guilty while trying to set up care for an aging family member. They feel as if they are the ones who must care for this relative. It is also sometimes just a burden to even start talking to the aging family member about their situation. Because of this, the feeling of failure from being pulled in so many directions also arises. Some issues that are common to arise from stress related mental health are physical and mental exhaustion or hypertension, just to name a few. To relieve the families from the additional stress of aging family members, respite care allows the primary care giver with relief from one to twenty-four hours a day to reincorporate into their life a dinner out or a weekend away. One of the first steps in the process is deciding when it is necessary for a care service to begin. Some typical signs that extra assistance is needed are sudden weight loss indicating poor nutrition, failure to take medications indicating confusion or forgetfulness, deterioration of personal habits such as hygiene, or just general forgetfulness such as not paying bills, missing appointments, or other regularly remembered information. Getting assistance soon can stop further problems from arising and relieve the extra burden of stress put onto the already overwhelmed family care giver. The next step is to talk with the aging family member. It is always best to be upfront and honest with them. Share with them their different options given their current situation and let them know what each option would fully entail. Explain to them your own personal needs and about your time and energy levels that come with working a full-time job and caring for them. An alternative way to talk with them is to suggest the smallest change so that the elderly parent can adjust to the changes and not become overwhelmed themselves, which could cause more guilt for the family care giver in an already stressful procedure. Just remember that your aging parent will have their own opinion as to what care they need. They want to maintain their independence. The best thing is to reassure them that this process is only going to help maintain their independence while helping the family care giver with some respite care.
 
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