Helpful Hints on Caregiving, Long-Term Care Offered
Free Online by MetLife
Produced
with National Alliance for Caregiving for Long-Term Care Awareness Month
Oct, 24, 2008 – In advance of Long-Term Care
Awareness Month coming in November, six new long-term care and
caregiving publications are being made available free online by the
MetLife Mature Market Institute.
Helpful Hints, produced in conjunction with the
National Alliance for Caregiving, are two-page informational bulletins
that contain tips and advice for older Americans and for those caring
for aging friends and relatives.
These six tip sheets can be accessed online and are
available in hard copy.
1. Advocating for a Family Member in Healthcare
Situations
With advice for caregivers who act on behalf of a
loved one in health care matters, this guide includes advice for talking
with medical and insurance company personnel, working with hospital
staff and discharge planners, and interacting with home health care
aides and companions. It also has information on how to maintain a plan
of action and how to prepare questions for physicians. It stresses that
record-keeping is essential.
2. If Care is Needed at Home
Provides helpful information for those who care for
a disabled or elderly relative at home. The guide provides tips on how
to determine what level of care a person needs. It lists ways to select
a care provider, how to enlist professional help in the selection
process, the importance of checking references and how to intervene if
problems arise. It advises caregivers to monitor a situation carefully
and to be ready for emergencies with documentation and information.
3. Choosing an Assisted Living Facility
Contains tips on how to find the assisted living
facility that is the right size, location and fit for an individual. In
addition, families will want to know what services are included in the
basic cost, what level of care the resident will have, both at the onset
and at a later time when he or she will be less independent. The guide
also educates families on how to obtain recommendations, how to make a
successful transition from home to assisted living and how to understand
cost, contracts and payment.
4. Choosing Adult Day Services
With insight into services at adult day centers (ADSs)
and information on how to find the right center for a loved one, this
brochure also contains Web sites and resources that may provide
assistance. ADSs can replace or supplement the need for home care during
the day and can help bridge the gap between living at home and moving to
a long-term care facility. At the same time, ADSs offer older adults a
social environment so they can spend time with their peers while
receiving help with their day-to-day activities.
5. Caring from a Distance
Long-distance caregiving poses special challenges,
as such, caregivers often juggle their jobs and two households to
provide care, exacting an emotional and physical toll. The guide advises
caregivers to:
1) Develop a care plan and determine if your loved one will remain
at home,
2) Communicate with friends and family members who may be able to
help,
3) Consider an emergency response system if your loved one lives
alone,
4) Keep important medical and financial documents in an
easy-to-reach place, in case of an emergency, and
5) Know your loved one’s doctors and be ready to communicate with
them on short notice.
6. Caregiving and Alzheimer’s
Directed specifically at families caring for a
loved one with Alzheimer’s, this publication contains information such
as:
1) How to communicate patiently and effectively with an Alzheimer’s
patient. It has tips on verbal and non-verbal communication that may
comfort the patient and ease a caregiver’s burden,
2) Safety tips to help caregivers anticipate potential hazards and
modify a loved one’s environment,
3) How to adjust to a person’s changed behavior and personality
traits, and
4) How to help a family member be as independent as possible.
Established in 1996, the National Alliance for
Caregiving, www.caregiving.org, is a nonprofit coalition of national
organizations that focuses on issues of family caregiving across the
life span. The Alliance was created to conduct research, do policy
analysis, develop national programs, and increase public awareness of
family caregiving issues.
MetLife Mature Market Institute
Established in 1997, the Mature Market Institute
(MMI) is MetLife’s center on aging and the 50+ market. MMI’s
groundbreaking research, gerontology expertise, national partnerships,
and educational materials work to expand the knowledge and choices for
those in, approaching, or caring for the mature market.
The Mature Market Institute supports MetLife’s
long-standing commitment to identifying emerging issues and innovative
solutions for the challenges of life. MetLife, a subsidiary of MetLife,
Inc. (NYSE: MET), is celebrating 140 years and is a leading provider of
insurance and financial services to individual and institutional
customers.
Additionally, extended versions of these
publications, which include tools for caregivers and listings of
resources, called “Since You Care Guides®,” can be found under “All
Publications” and then “Since You Care Guides.” To receive hard copies,
please email a request to the MetLife Mature Market Institute at
maturemarketinstitute@metlife.com, or write to: MetLife Mature Market
Institute, 57 Greens Farms Road, Westport, CT 06880. Please be specific
about your request.
Produced
with National Alliance for Caregiving for Long-Term Care Awareness Month