By Janet Mclean According to a new report from CIBC, the cost of caring for family members and friends comes with a big price tag for unpaid caregivers. Many Canadians juggle the demands of employment along with providing care to family members and friends and it is estimated that this is costing them $33 billion […]
Blog
Marathon Caregiving
Many of us expect we’ll need to care for a loved one at some point in life. We may think caregiving will take up a few months or years before life resumes as it was before. This isn’t the norm for most people, however, and it certainly wasn’t the case for Barbra Hopkins. Barbra’s journey […]
Balancing Work and Caregiving
You have a looming deadline at work and your mother is calling because your father has fallen yet again. You are notified by your mother’s housing provider to find immediate overnight care due to your mother’s dementia and wandering at night. When you arrive late for work after taking your dad to his medical appointment, […]
Plan Ahead For Your Next Trip To The ER
by Wendy Johnstone As we prepare for our upcoming webinar, Acute Care for Caregivers, I thought it would be handy to blog on a trip to the Emergency Department (ED). I’m reminded of my last visit to the ED. After rupturing my Achilles tendon in a squash tournament, I was taken to our local hospital […]
Melt away stress with conscious breathing
During our recent webinar on Loss & Grief (available at www.familycaregiversbc.ca/webinars), guest panelist Christy Linder talked about incorporating Frank Ostaseski’s approach to finding a place of rest in the middle of things (YouTube: “Find A Place of Rest in the Middle of Things – Self Care for Caregivers”) to coach her sick mother with conscious […]
Caregiving: Unexpected Changes
My Dad is 95 years old and honestly, some days I can’t believe he is still alive. I’m his only daughter and caregiver. I’ve been looking after him for 4 years now. In those years, we’ve had pneumonia, a broken hip and a stroke. What I’ve really learned is there are always unexpected challenges. I […]
“The village helped to raise our child”: A Smithers family reflects
By Vince Terstappen, Project Assistant with the health promotions team at Northern Health When you walk into Sport Chek in Smithers and see Jesse Clegg unpacking garments and hanging gear, you may not realize the significance of that moment. You may not realize the number of people, programs, time, and advocacy that created that moment.
Personal Planning Documents: Representation Agreements and Enduring Powers of Attorney
By Vienna Kappell, Notary Public for Notaries on Douglas, Victoria, BC In British Columbia, there are two key personal planning documents: Enduring Powers of Attorney and Representation Agreements. An Enduring Power of Attorney deals strictly with financial and legal matters while a Representation Agreement may deal with personal and health care matters and or legal […]
Turning plans into action
Many caregivers acknowledge the importance of caring for themselves yet, in another breath, we hear them use statements such as, “I feel overwhelmed,” “I’m stressed out,” “I’m too busy to eat, let alone find time to stay healthy,” or “there are so many things to do, how can I make time for myself?” Firstly, self-care […]
Advance Care Planning—A Work in Progress
By Rachel Carter For many of us, picking out a birthday gift for a loved one is a difficult task if we don’t know what they want. Imagine trying to make decisions on their behalf about their healthcare needs. The concept of Advance Care Planning resonated with me as soon as I heard about it. […]