Listening

Why Listening is the Caregiver's Secret Weapon

Too often we rush to finish a conversation because we write off an elder's complaining as chronic dissatisfaction. But you could be missing serious underlying messages by not taking the time to listen. Find out how simply just listening is your secret weapon to making caregiving a little easier.

This is true for many of us. 


When a child falls and cries, feeding back the message they are giving you is important. As a parent, I learned to mirror back the message a child was giving me. 
They want to know their message has been heard, 
"Oh, my. That must really hurt!" you say.


The same is true for us as adult caregivers. Let them know that you have heard what they are saying. Clarify the message and repeat it back for them.

Professional Caregivers

Nannies, foreign workers face new rules

A CBC.ca article reports that the federal government is tightening the regulations affecting live-in caregivers and temporary foreign workers, as well as the people who hire them.


Employers who fail to meet their commitments to workers with respect to wages and working conditions will face a two-year prohibition on hiring foreign workers.

'The government is taking action to protect temporary foreign workers, including live-in caregivers, from potential abuse and exploitation.'— Jason Kenney, immigration minister

There will also be a four-year limit on the amount of time a foreign worker can be employed in Canada. Once that limit is reached, the workers must return home and wait four years before they can work in Canada again.


Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2010/08/19/con-nanny-regulations.html?ref=rss#ixzz0xuKd5Om6

Alzheimer's identifier?

Alzheimer's predicted by spinal-fluid test

Alzheimer's disease can be accurately predicted by analyzing biomarkers in spinal fluid, researchers in Belgium have found.
A protein signature was found in the cerebrospinal fluid of 90 per cent of people with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and 72 per cent of people with mild cognitive impairment or MCI, a disorder that often progresses to Alzheimer's.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/08/10/alzheimer-predict-test.html#ixzz0wJurFuFq

Still, I wonder, how many of us want to be tested? 
How many in the early stages of the disease will do anything?
What can be done in any case, to ameliorate the progress?
Those of us, adult children who end up caring for adults with dementia, are fighting with parents to recognize their frailties, and to seek help. 

The health care crisis

Carers outnumber autoworkers in Germany

The provision of care for the sick, elderly and disabled in Germany employs more people than the country's automotive industry, a study by an economic research institute has found.


Despite those increases, there are still too few trained caregivers. A 2009 study completed for the European Employment Observatory noted that public action aimed at encouraging workers' up-skilling and professionalization of the sector was on the rise everywhere. 

It seems to me that this is a universal problem.  It behooves us all to exercise, eat properly (all 4 food groups - eat food, mostly plant), socialize with friends, keep active, volunteer.

I think we should simply surprise our children and take care of ourselves!

Generic drugs in Canada

Message from the 

Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care

: A YouTube video from their YouTube Channel. They commented on this blog, through an agency - I didn't know they were making videos!

Learn how drug prices differ between Ontario and the US. We'll show you why Ontario pays more than some U.S States and how fair drug pricing could help strengthen our healthcare system.