Who cares for the carers?
Barbara Binland is the pen name of a senior, Julie Grenness, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She is a poet, writer, and part-time English and Maths tutor, with over 40 years of experience. Her many books are available on Amazon and Kindle.
Are you a carer? It might not be the retirement you planned, now you are over sixty. Sometimes people can become accidental caregivers for a husband, a wife, a geriatric parent, a significant other, or for your adult children, for any health or disability issue.
So, who cares for the carers? Caregivers are a silent army, largely invisible in their working environment. If your to-do list is daily expanding, you may wake up exhausted. It is hard to acknowledge the demands of your role as a carer. You must take care of you own health. Carers need to cut corners, such as obtaining frozen or home delivery meals. You can automate grocery shopping, have it home delivered. If finances permit, you can engage the services of a gardener. There is support from the local council for domestic tasks, and for caregiving needs, such as showering the caree.
Primarily, in Australia, government departments, such as the Department of Human Services, or the Department of Health, can be consulted to assess the caree, and assess the needs to keep them in their own home. One service is My Aged Care Services, or MACS. The carer can have the caree appraised, to ascertain the level of ongoing support and available services needed to keep aging people in their own home.
Essentially, a carer must take care of their own wellbeing, or there is no one to care for your caree. It is a good idea to maintain some personal exercise program, and to keep your own medical appointments. You can inform your GP that you are a carer, and enlist his/her support. Where possible, you can seek to pursue your own hobbies and interests. Rest is best.
If you are feeling isolated in your role as a carer, there are online support groups. If your caree becomes high maintenance, you and the doctor can explore respite care, or enlist a support team to monitor the domestic situation, and give you a break.
Ultimately, who cares for carers? If you wake up in the morning, and the car started, just think, “The assassins failed again!” Rise and shine, accentuate the positive. Nothing lasts forever, carers must take care of themselves!