Caregiver Community

  • Caregiver Community
    2313 member(s)

    A place where Caregivers come together to share common experiences, challenges,and resources. 

    Caregivers are truly experts in patient management and can help each other because of their intensive experience in patient care at home. Caregivers can ask questions to others on this forum going through a similar caregiving experiences. They can start topics and discuss things like ways to manage daily tasks, where to find doctors, nurses, and other health services, how they manage stress, and any other topics related to caring for their loved one and for themselves. It is a great place for Caregivers to come and chat about the issues that affect them on a day to day basis and take time to focus on their own needs and health.

    Login To Join
    Add Discussion
  • Tanmay is a young adult on the autism spectrum and is wearing a black tshirt and a hat and sunglasses and sitting outdoors on a green chair
    Managing the Double A - Autism and Adolescence
    An autism dad’s honest story of managing adoloescence and puberty with a positive attitude. Journalist Bhanu Pande shares his experience of pro-actively preparing himself and his son for growth spurts and physical urges to raise him into a responsible and independent person.  #FathersDay It’s hard to be an autism dad. And there’s no getting around it. I had turned reclusive during our early days as a newbie, in autism land. Let alone my interaction with my friends going through…
  • A couple, a woman on a wheel chair with a man standing attentively next to her, both looking into the woods with the sun streaming through
    We Lost the Soul of Our Family to Cancer
    It has been almost three years since his wife passed away, but the void is hard to reconcile. In an emotional piece, Mario recounts the day when his wife Cheryl was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer, and how family and friends rallied together to make her comfortable and happy in her last days. I first met my wife around Oct 84 in a church in Lucknow and after wooing her to hell and back married her in Oct 85. As a family we had our ups and downs but I daresay we had a beautiful…
  • Dietician Navnidhi Vyas playing the game with waiting families of the patient
    A Game Which Engages and Educates
    Have you wondered if the waiting time at a hospital can be used effectively? Navnidhi Vyas, Senior dietician at Sterling Hospital, Vadodara came up with an engaging twist to the Snakes and Ladders Game to explain a healthy diet structure. And three easy to follow healthy recipes. Diet Snakes and Ladders Game Purpose - To refresh and more importantly educate patient’s relatives about healthy dietary practices in their free time, specially when they are waiting in the hospital for their relatives…
  • Narrative Therapy and Its Benefits To Families
    Raviraj Shetty, a lead Therapist, Supervisor and Project Manager at Ummeed Child Development Center talks about his work using Narrative Psychology. He has published a paper in the Indian Journal of Occupational Therapy in the context of handwriting training using Narrative Therapy.  1. What is Narrative psychology? Narrative therapy is a respectful and a non-blaming approach of counselling used for children, individuals, families, couples and communities. Narrative therapy is based…
  • A caregiver in a white dress does an activity with an elderly person with dementia in red and grey
    Memory Stickers for Moderate Middle Stage Dementia
    People with moderate stage dementia can continue to perform their regular daily activities with a little bit of support. Social worker Mangala Joglekar, who runs several programs for the dementia community and has set-up the Memory Clinic in Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, Pune, shares 5 examples of coping strategies for better living. And Advice for Caregivers. Moderate stage dementia could be said to start when cognitive inabilities can no longer be hidden. It is considered as the longest…
  • Image indicates a caregiver holding the hand of an older person
    Life Lesson I Learnt Watching my Papa Die
    We prepare ourselves for everything, but most of us are in denial about death. Aparna Das shares the one final lesson her father taught her during his last few days as he breathed his last. My father was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer in October 2017. Of course, he and all of us did everything in our capacity to save him. But he passed away on the 20th of April 2018. The three days leading to his death were probably the most painful that our family had faced collectively. But I have a…
  • Image: Mother and child for Mother's Day
    How Can You Take Charge Of Your Mum’s Health This Mother’s Day?
    Mothers are often so busy looking after everyone else in their lives that they neglect their own health. This Mother's Day give a gift of health to your mother. Contributed by Portea Medical Mothers are the best caregivers, hands down. From in-laws, kids and husband to her own family, looking after and catering to all their needs doesn’t leave her much time to sit back and reflect on her own self, at the end of the day. So much so, that even modern day workplaces have working women who have…
  • Jyotsna on
    My Disability Took A Back Seat To Motherhood
    Jyotsna Kumar, was living with Sensiro Neural Deafness. But the birth of her child with congenital heart defect and cerebral palsy changed her priorities in life. Jyotsna, tell us about your condition.  I was diagnosed with Sensiro Neural Deafness in 1997, I was 30 years old then. What were the early symptoms? During my childhood I never took annual audiograms and remained unaware of what impact anything could have had on my nerves considering the fact that my mother and most of my…
  • Image: Deepa Jacob with her daughter Asawari a musical talent who died of a rare form of leukemia
    A Mother Never Comes To Terms With Losing Her Child. Ever.
    A loss of a child is unimaginable. Different people try to cope with it in different ways. Deepa and Jacob K Joy set up the Asawari Music Foundation in memory of their daughter Asawari, who was a musical talent herself. Deepa Jacob talks about the Trust, grief and how she has coped with the loss of her child. Please tell us what led to Asawari Musical Foundation being set up? Asawari Music Foundation was set up to remember my daughter Asawari who passed away when she was 15. She was suffering…
  • Image of Ekta, in a black dress, short black hair journaling as part of her self care routine
    Self-Care: The Not-So-Selfish Action Plan
    Ekta Hattangady, a Clinical Social Worker with a specialization in Chronic Illness Management talks of the importance of making your own self a priority. Also seven steps to self care.    My cousin was in her late 20s when her mom, my aunt, was diagnosed with late stage cancer. It was a year of a lot of frantic activity and high stress. It was a year of loss. My cousin spent every minute caring for her mom. During one hospital stay for my aunt, my dad happened to be there. He took one…
Patient not discharged from ICU despite repeated requests
In the last couple of weeks, I have heard of two different cases in India where the hospital kept a patient in ICU on life support for weeks on end. In one case, even after the family asked for the patient to be transferred to a normal room, the…
Counsellor in Ahmedabad
Query from a caregiver Does anyone know a counsellor in Ahmedabad who can go to a patient's home. Patient has had a couple of strokes and even though there is no paralysis believes he is paralysed and does not use his limbs and keeps falling.…
Walking with quad cane assistance
Here is a question from one of our members: My father is 89. He used to walk regularly twice a day and used a simple walking cane. But now he has had a few falls. Doctor says he must use a cane with 4 legs(quad cane) but he refuses to do that. Now…
A family torn apart by illness
When treatment started failing 66 year old Siew Ching, the family became divided into different camps. Some wanted her to stay in hospital so that she could receive maximal supportive care. Others wanted her to be discharged so she could go…
My 95 year old father
My 95 year old father lives with my sister. She takes very good care of him. Normally he is fine. Can manage most daily activities with some help. But he is sometimes very paranoid about domestic helpers coming into his room and trying to harm him…
Tips for Caregivers
We found a great list of tips (in the link below) to help ease the challenges of being a caregiver and help caregivers with self-care - take a look at this list and share with us if you have ever used any of these and how! The tips include:…
Sleep - A big challenge for Caregivers
A lack of sleep or feeling tired is one of the biggest challenges that Caregivers face. Often times we have to wake up at night to check on our loved one, or we have trouble falling asleep because our mind is preoccupied. What are some of your…
How do you ask for help?
As Caregivers we often take on a lot and can get exhausted. It is important to learn how to ask for help - maybe other family members, friends, or neighbors can help take on some tasks and make life a little easier for the Caregiver. For many of us…
Restlessness in semi mobile senior
My MIL is a little bit over weight @ 94, and is able to walk only with a walker very slowly.She is addicted to watching TV whether she understands anything or not, but cannot sit for a long time. WE give her TV time, once a day for 2 hours. For…
Sharing Caregiving Duties Among Siblings or Family
I recently came across a great article that spoke about the importance of sharing caregiving duties among family or siblings. Often, the caregving duties falls upon one sibling or family member, and  this can cause resentment or…

Latest Communities