Caregiver Community

  • Caregiver Community
    2318 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.

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  • Caregiver Training Video - Touch Therapy
    This is a caregiver training video resource from HCA Hospice Care, Singapore.  It shows how you can gently massage to soothe an elderly person or a patient.   
  • Back of a person carrying a basket of fruits and vegetables in the shopping aisle
    Tips for Caring for a GERD Patient
    Caring for a GERD Patient Heartburn is the most common symptom of this condition, although some GERD sufferers don't feel heartburn but instead experience chest pains and difficulty swallowing. Fortunately, with proper treatment and monitoring of the patient, the onset of more serious conditions can be prevented. Use the following suggestions to help comfort your family member or patient and ease the painful symptoms of GERD. Follow Up  After the initial GERD diagnosis, a follow-up doctor'…
  • 13 Steps To Better Sleep
    By family practitioner and paediatrician Dr Gita Mathai. How much sleep we need, the best time to go to bed, effects of sleep deprivation and how to improve your sleep practice.  How much sleep do we really need? We actually sleep away one third of our lifetimes. In infancy, a baby may sleep anywhere from 14-17 hours a day. Their sleep requirements are not controlled by outside forces like light, sound or work. So, babies sleep as much as their body needs. As age increases, the number of…
  • Eating right for those living with relapsing MS
    There’s not a special diet plan for those living with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS). But maintaining a healthy diet is a good idea for anyone. Of course, changing eating habits can be difficult, so try setting small, easily attainable goals. Try a new recipe once a month. Cut out dessert once or twice a week. You get the idea. Just make sure to talk to your doctor before starting any diet or nutritional program. Start Slow Plan Ahead Stay hydrated Control portions Make low fat…
  • Stop Your Child Smoking
    Why your child is at risk and what to say to him or her. By Dr Shital Raval Patel. When you think of a smoker, you don’t think of a 10-year-old. But 67% of smokers in India start the tobacco habit between the ages of 9 and 15. According to the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (2006), more than one third of students aged 13 to 15 years (36.8%) reported initiating tobacco use before the age of 10 (Sinha et al., 2008). This could be cigarettes, bidis (which have three times the amount of nicotine and…
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    Organising your Personal Health Record
    Dr Choo Wei Chieh tells you why it’s important and what information it should carry. Patient empowerment means being engaged with your health and making your own health decisions. In order to do this properly (not to mention safely), one’s health information should be well organised. This means keeping an accurate record of your health such that you can access it whenever necessary, wherever you are, and to share it with whoever necessary (family, healthcare professionals, caregivers, etc.).…
  • Managing my mother: From frustration for all to peace in the house
    Mrs. Kalyani talks about her 85-year-old mother and what it took to keep everyone happy. My mother, Vijayalakshmi, is 85 years old and her behaviour can be like that of a young child. She has mobility problems. She needs to be monitored 24x7, mainly to protect her from falling and injuring herself. My mother needs to be taken to the bathroom every 1 ½ hours to 2 hours without fail. Otherwise she would wet the bed or go in the room. While eating she wants the TV on and she will be so engrossed…
  • 2 elderly women at a kitchen table
    Elder-friendly Homes Modifications
    Rehabilitation specialist Lakshmi Gopalakrishnan suggests small changes around the home that make a big difference to the quality of life of the elderly.    Having worked in the rehabilitation field for more than 15 years and having been a caregiver to four elders above the age of 80, I kept coming across the need for adaptations in daily living activities. The idea is to keep the elders as independent as possible and maintain their dignity. अब हिन्दी में पढ़ें: घर को बुजुर्गों…
  • Turning a home into a hospital
    The idea of hospice care in my home overwhelmed me. I was very afraid of witnessing her physical deterioration and her death. At age 99, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Because of her advanced age, there was little to do except make the last months of her life comfortable. Her doctor arranged for home hospice care. But part of me wanted to place her in a nursing home.  When would she no longer be able to bathe herself ? When would she be bedridden ? Incontinent. Read on about how…
  • Atul Gawande And Charles Munger On Why More Health Care Isn't Better
    Quality of life and Autonomy are important criteria in a patient's choice Dr. Gawande stresses that for most people, there comes a time when the quality of those years becomes more important than the absolute quantity. Research shows that older adults are less concerned with safety and more worried about losing their autonomy. The desire to consider quality of life over quantity can conflict with some of the practices of modern medicine. But it’s entirely consistent with the core values of the…
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…

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