Are you a Caregiver sheltering in place

Getting tired of being a Caregiver Sheltering in place?  Med-Q just talked with a working father as well as caregiver and father of three grown children.  He usually says he wanted to spend  more time with his kids.  For example, his toddlers were growing up with out him.  He complained about  spending to much time with them anymore.  However,  this week in a Face time conversation, this caregiver sounded ” be careful what you wish for”.

Not that he doesn’t love being with his family. However, Sheltering in place may be too much of a good thing.  In fact,  he usually does.  However, now it is WTMT (Way Too Much Togetherness).  He also mentioned that it is probably a good thing that there is no booze at home.

First of all, all of our situations are different.  However, a commonalities of caregiving is stress.  Another example, the physical toll it takes.  So what should a caregiver do when sheltering-in-place.  Especially if that is what is in the cards for the near future?

• First of all, try to  find a quiet place in your home.  For example, try a closet.  Second,  take a some deep breaths and count to 100.
• Second of all, take account of the situation.  Who is in the home with you? What is on your plate.  Finally,  who can you ask for some caregiver help?
• Third of all,  think about  what will be done after these trying times are over and we are released from lock down.

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Activities can release caregiver stress

 A good activity when sheltering in place, journaling.  With journaling,  you ought to write something a couple of time a  day.  For example, have  a senior loved  tape record the stories from their youth.  This will be great when  sharing with grandchildren.  They will share stories with their future generations.

Facetime, Zoom, and Skype.

People must  have digital time with friends, family as well as other loved ones.  For example, share the good times Again, commiserating your shared frustrations of living in the time of COVID-19 helps to remain positive.

Don’t forget to laugh with your family members at least once a day.  This is even more important when dealing with dementia or Alzheimer’s.   Do this even if you may have nothing to laugh about.  Again,  smiling as well as laughing creates some extremely valuable and pleasurable endorphins in the brain.  Finally,  how you react to these days will have a lot to do with how your young children learn to react to the adversities they will have to deal with  in the future.

Med-Q’s staff writer  took part in a holiday Zoom call.  It coincided with my great-nephews first birthday.  Hence, the entire family instantly fell into the teasing and laughing.  Hence, the same things we had  shared in person during every other year.  As with every other time, the best way for caregivers to care for others is to learn to take the time to care for yourselves.   Remember, the goal is to make it easier for all.

Get back to basics

Connie Steed is the  president of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.  Also, the director of infection prevention at Prisma Health in South Carolina.  President Steed (background in a caregiver nurse. that worked in infection prevention for over three decades.) says:

I wish I had a magic bullet for calming people’s fears.  Again,  caregivers just  take a deep breath.  Also,  think about the basic things that can be done that can prevent the spread of any kind of infections. teed, who has a background in nursing and has worked in infection prevention for over three decades.  That means washing hands, keeping surfaces clean .  In addition,  keeping our hands away from our faces.

Finally, this is all basic, basic stuff.  Hence,  we don’t pay attention to it when everything is normal.   To sum up, right now, things aren’t normal, so it’s important for us to have heightened awareness about how important that stuff is.