The Alzheimer's Digest: Caregivers DO Matter!

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Caregivers DO Matter!

Do I Matter if I’m a Caregiver?

The Caregiver's Voice Finalist Caregiver of the Month

Family caregivers and professionals matter. I thought I
mattered while I was a full-time caregiver, though not everyone agreed.
And despite the thousands of caregiver-authored books (mine included) and
hundreds of speeches given each year (including mine), we remain mostly in the
shadows.

Even celebrities diagnosed with dementia and their caregivers seem to fall by
the wayside until they do something that captures the mainstream market’s fickle
fancy.

The river of life is fast moving and all too often caregivers are caught in
the flow without a life jacket.

For these reasons, I wonder if we need to do something more–like a massive
recognition campaign featuring the guardians of people who cannot care for
themselves–caregivers.

Someday, you and I might require care.

Would you want to ensure your caregiver has a livable
wage?
Would you want to ensure your caregiver knows enough about
this insidious disease called dementia that claims millions of
innocent lives each year?
Would you want to know that your family won’t be left among the
ruins trying to provide you with quality care?

We need to work together.
Unfortunately, ours is one of the leading fields (besides farming) that
practices silo management. Each organization wants to make headway alone.
Meanwhile we advise families to seek help. How can we in good conscience provide
this advice then shun the cooperative spirit of collaboration in our own
efforts?

Researchers are scrambling to discover a cure or even ways to prevent
dementia. The many diseases that lead to dementia such as Alzheimer’s, Lewy
body, vascular, Parkinson’s, and dementia’s rarer http://www.zazzle.com/artnip*causes make it harder than salmon trying to swim upstream blocked by a dam!

It’s all about fractions.
The way I see it, if researchers were to partner with a fraction of
the hundred million-plus caregivers around the world, they’d extend their
research outside of the laboratory and onto the front lines.
If caregivers were to receive a fraction of the billions spent on
research and funding in return for reporting on what works (and doesn’t), we
could amass a wealth of knowledge with real-time data from the front lines.
Amidst the millions and billions in funding, something gets lost–the glue
that holds everything together–the caregiver. Click on the images to read
caregivers’ stories from around the world.

What do you think? Is starting an “I’m a Caregiver and I Matter” campaign too
lofty a goal? If not, what’s our first step? Please take a moment to share your
thoughts below because: You’re a Caregiver and YOU Matter.