How adequately were you trained for your caregiving experience?

Recently, the Family Caregiver Alliance group in California undertook a survey that showed:

The survey found that nearly 60 percent of caregivers reported that they received no training from health care professionals for essential care responsibilities, such as bathing, feeding, or moving a patient from bed to a chair. While these tasks may appear simple, they can be extremely difficult to perform when a patient is ill or disabled. Special techniques must be used to move patients, for instance, to avoid injury to both the caregiver and the patient-techniques that many professionals learn as a routine part of their training.

Go here to read the rest of this report.

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Puffin

Very useful stuff, Pats. Thanks so much for the time you took to refresh your memory and post!

Here is additional info about Rogge and his tape. (Note: this mention is for informational purposes and not an endursement of the site, the author, or the materials.)

And just as a sample of what's out there, from the University of Alabama site some Alzheimer's videos.

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Puffin

[This message has been edited by puffin (edited March 07, 2001).]

PUFFIN: I have had these tapes about 3 years so I had to look at them again to refresh my memory before I could really answer you.

The 2 tapes from Home Care are generally basic as they are produced by the Home Health care pros. They each show 3 different families coping at home with either full or part time home care help. The one for "older adults" has a husband dealing with a wife with AD, a family caring for a mother after a rather severe stroke, and a man terminal with prostrate cancer with a blind wife being helped by hospice. The one about "adults" has a man who became quadraplegic when in high school whose main caregiver is his father, a 34 year old man with aids dementia who moved back home with his mother (who had had a stroke) and a pregnant sister, and a woman terminally ill from breast and lung cancer. They recommend that convalescent homes show them to family before their LO comes home. They are interesting but I wouldn't pay a fortune for one (I got mine cheap on sale). They are a nice introduction for new caregivers on how other families are coping and about using home health care professionals to help you out. Each of these tapes is just over a half hour long.

TIPS AND AIDS FOR CAREGIVERS is completely different. It is really a home video by Robert Rogge on different things he did or made to make the caregiving of his wife easier. It is very unique. It is mostly him talking about different AD problems (wandering, feeding, toileting, bathing, etc.) and telling how he dealt with those problems including showing some ingenious devices he made at home to help. Somewhere around this house I have his book but have no idea where I put it. Hope I didn't loan it out and forget where! I particularly liked the chair & board device that he uses if she ends up on the floor. I tried something like it myself but didn't have a brace on the back to keep it from tipping over when I set it upright and Momma was light enough that I could usually get her up if I used stools of different heights. However after seeing it again on the tape I just may fix it up again with a tripod brace as she has gotten a lot weaker and can't hang on to me the way she used to do. I would definitely recommend this to nearly all caregivers as he touches on so many different aspects and almost everyone should be able to find at least one item that might help them or at least give them an idea of their own for coping with their particular problems of the moment. PATS


[This message has been edited by patsfewregrets (edited March 07, 2001).]

Great suggestions and resources, Pats. Thanks!

Did you find the tapes helpful? Are they quite basic or do their deal with AD unique problems?

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Puffin

I have some VCR tapes I purchased that deal some with caregiving.

1. Tips and aids for caregivers(home management of Alz. Disease) by Robert H. Rogge, Longleaf Press, Chapel Hill, NC

2. Home Care series By Your Side (Home Care for older adults)

3. Home Care series Going Home (Home care for adults).

2&3 address on net is (www.nahc.org)
There was another set of tapes that I thought might be more helpful than these but I didn't purchase them at the time. They were in the MOM'S catalog where I purchase Momma's incontinent supplies. They are not in the current catalog but they may still have an inventory or would at least know the names of them (I think there were 3 in the series) and who supplies them.

MOM'S website is (www.momsup.com)
Something to look into anyway. PATS

[This message has been edited by patsfewregrets (edited March 06, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by patsfewregrets (edited March 06, 2001).]

Unfortunately this is true even today. Last night I talked to a CareGiver that was struggling at home caring for a parent at home. the Loved One was at a stage that she needed to know how to transfer and care for a total care Loved One. It is extremly frusterating for the CareGiver and on my part as I do not have any real solid places to send anyone to learn these skills. the Alz. Assoc. in most areas do have some CareGiving classes but there is no way that even if the classes take a couple or several days that it can adequately cover all that a family memeber needs to learn.

One thing I would like to see in the future and that would most likely benefit the home CareGiver the most is a good care facility providing training for home caregivers and combining the training with day care and respite care. A care facility would be able to provide the training that would be more accurate to what you need to know, could be more hands on, while providing respite and altervnate care plans for the family and the Loved One. Plus they would be able to provide a 24 hour hot line to answer questions and assistance when the need arises.

Thanks, Edyth Ann. Sounds like even as a professional health care person, you were pretty much on your own so far as AD training went.

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Puffin

As I mentioned in earlier post in the 70's I worked in a NH. Then in the late 70's to early 80's I did in home care. My medical care technique training during that time is of great value, however during those years Alz. care was not an in thing and their care was more on keeping them quiet and unseen.

However in the 80's while caring for some Alz. patients in the home the care agency I worked for bought me a perscription to a professional nursing magazine. During that time little was said about Alz. but when an article came out I read it. The ideas on caring for those with Alz. and their value was beginning to change (slowly) at the time and it was reflected in the articles I read then.

I dropped out of caregiving for many years untill my mother in law (MIL) Milly showed signs of Alz. We were also on line about that time (we were beta testers for Windows 95) and I began searching for info on Alz. and lucked out by stumbling 0on a e list that specialized in Alz. and had Professionals and other CGs on it. There I learned and had many of my caregiving theries and caring experience with Alz. confirmed

I wonder if our caregivers would post a bit about how they learned what they needed to learn about caregiving. Did the doctors tell you what to do? Did nurses? Did you get help from local Alzheimer's groups?

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Puffin

I guess one answer to this problem is online communities such as this, right, Edyth Ann? At least here caregivers can exchange experiences and information and teach each other.

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Puffin

This is one of the sadest truths that happens. The majority of families are told of a Loved Ones diagnoses and then told to bring their Loved One back in X months. The health Care Pro's even may tell the family the care of a Loved One is a matter of love and common sense. this can not be further from the truth and sets up the family for unearned guilt when they feel they are not caring for their Loved One correctly. Unfortunately what may be common sense to Pro's in the field is confussing and makes very little sense to the average person. How much you love or don't love a person has nothing to do with your ability and knowledge on how to care for them.

The Alz. Assoc. does have some training classes so many times a year for CGs but it is impossible to teach someone all the skills and knowledge they need to know in a short period of time. One solution that I could see really working is for the better care facilities to provide a training program for those caring for someone in the home. It could be included in a respite/day care situation and could include having a nurse that one can ask questions of.

The sadest thing about the lack of training and support that is given to the CareGiver, is that because of the lack abuse is often what ends up being the results. Way too many of the so called adult abuse cases are the result of a CareGiver that has recieved no traing, no knowledge and no support in the care of their loved one. I firmly believe that if the CareGiver was properly assisted that adult abuse cases would drop tremendously.