What comes to mind when you hear the word caregiver? A spouse? A neighbor? Your respiratory therapist? Perhaps yourself?
The term caregiver, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, means “a person who provides direct care (as for children, elderly people or the chronically ill).”
Seems simple enough. But is it?
According to the book, The Comfort of Home For Chronic Lung Disease, A Guide for Caregivers, by Maria M. Meyer and Paula Derr, with Mary E. Gilmartin, “the need to provide care for another person arises for many reasons.” “Often, the person who needs care does not realize it and family members must step in to help make decisions. One of those decisions involves who the caregiver will be and where care will be provided,” it says. “When one member of the family becomes disabled, roles within the family often change. A person who took care of the family in the past or was the income provider may become dependent, while another person in the family takes on added, often unfamiliar responsibilities.”
Does this sound familiar?
Samuel Harris, a COPDer, was diagnosed three years ago, but wife Michele Harris says her role as a caregiver began years before.
“I was already there long before that, but with the diagnosis, we pulled together,” Harris says.
Since her husband’s diagnosis in 2007, Harris says as a caregiver she’s realized that it’s been easier to involve not just their kids and family, but doctors and pulmonologists to create a team effort.
“In my opinion it goes beyond just the husband or wife . . . we have a lot of people involved in the team approach to get him better,” she says. “We have a pulmonary specialist, the people who come to check his oxygen machine, all of these people are important.”
For Harris, becoming a caregiver to her husband was a natural transition, with no thought or much change occurring. But caregiving might not always be that way.
There are several definitions of a caregiver, and using Harris’s term of a “team effort” translates to a label extending to all family members, friends, neighbors even health care professionals. Seeking outside help such as home health care and public help programs can ease the burden. Caregivers should know they are never alone and there are many resources available for them.
According to an AARP report “Caregiving in the U.S. 2009,” 29 percent of the U.S. population, or 65.7 million people, are caregivers. They average 20 hours of care per week. The study also found that 66 percent of caregivers are female, 48 years old on average. 86 percent care for a relative (most often a parent – 36 percent) and seven in 10 caregivers care for someone over the age of 50.
For more information, advice, or general information on caregiving and/or COPD, you can call our C.O.P.D. Information Line 1-866-316-COPD (2673).
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