Turning Points

 For everyone who is a caregiver, there are important milestones, or turning points, in the caregiver’s journey. For example, there is the moment when you first become a caregiver. Shocking, scary, and overwhelming, this is probably the most obvious example that comes to mind. But there are other turning points in the journey where caregiver’s find themselves once again, out of their depth.

Often, as the people we care for grow older, suffer medical complications or setbacks, or progress through a disease process, there will be points in time where the needs of the person change, or increase. The caregiver, who once had it all figured out, now struggles again to make it work.

I remember well a family I was helping whose mother had terminal cancer. She’d been doing mostly alright for a long time, really just needing supervision for safety. Then, one day, as the cancer progressed to the bones in her legs, she found herself unable to walk. Now, there was a whole new set of needs to be met, and new skills required of her husband and adult children. For a while, not knowing what to do, the woman’s husband would physically pick her up and carry her from her bed, to the toilet, to the dining room, etc. But his back could only handle that for so long, and eventually he had to stop. The kids got her a walker, but she wasn’t strong enough to use it, and the wheelchair they had wouldn’t fit into the bathroom. This wonderful family was absolutely beside itself trying to care for the woman they all loved, and they were very capable of doing so… they just didn’t have the knowledge they needed to make it safe and manageable.

That’s when our paths crossed. In one session, I was able to teach them about the equipment and skills they needed to safely and easily help their loved one. Although she didn’t recover from her cancer, that wife and mother was able to live the rest of her days safely at home with her family…. And even though her family grieved deeply when she passed, they were able to celebrate the time they had with her, knowing they had done everything they could to make her life comfortable and meaningful.

Stories like this are why I do what I do. It’s why I make life changing training available to caregivers all over the world. Join me and caregivers just like you to get the training and knowledge you need… knowledge to keep you and your loved one safer and happier, together.

Get the training and knowledge you need, now. Visit www.higherstandardscaregivertraining.com

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