Thriving at Home: A Valuable Resource for Family Caregivers

Family members often cannot take time off work or live far away and cannot offer the care loved ones need after surgery or illness. FirstLight HomeCare can fill those gaps with their compassionate caregivers.
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Submitted by Sarah Lane for FirstLight HomeCare

The challenge of “family caregiving” – providing care for a spouse, parent, child or friend with a chronic, disabling or serious health condition – is becoming nearly universal.  A report issued last year by the Public Policy Institute of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) estimated that there are now 40 million family caregivers in the United States who provide 37 billion hours of care to aging loved ones with limitations in daily activities.

Family Learning Center 2
Serving as the primary caregiver for loved ones is a challenging new position for many. FirstLight Home Care’s online tools help support and guide those starting out in this important role.

Being a family caregiver for a loved one takes time, effort and work, and is both rewarding and demanding. In fact, the AARP report observed that “family caregiving today is more complex, costly, stressful, and demanding than at any time in human history.”  The biggest source of stress? “Millions of people who take on this caregiving role have no idea what to do, how to do it, or where to get help.”

As a family caregiver, you will face many challenges and have many questions. And you may not always have the answers, know what to expect or how to react.  That’s why FirstLight HomeCare – South Sound, the premiere provider of in-home care in Thurston, Mason and Lewis counties, is delighted to offer training and support resources for family caregivers, to help you better care for the needs of your loved one…and yourself.

The FirstLight HomeCare Family Learning Center is free for family caregivers who provide home care for friends or loved ones who are homebound, suffer from a debilitating disease or who are simply aging and need companion care. Available online, the site includes over 50 training topics created just for family caregivers that cover everything from basic caregiver training to Alzheimer’s disease and memory care.  You’ll find interactive and engaging courses, videos and tip sheets that will help you understand the multiple perspectives and challenges that go along with providing care.

By taking caregivers step-by-step through a specific topic with engaging and interactive video, the courses are narrated, but can also be read onscreen, allowing caregivers to learn through the method most comfortable to them.  Just some of the topics family caregivers can learn about in the Family Learning Center include:

  • Becoming a Caregiver

    FirstLight Family Learning Center 1
    The FirstLight HomeCare Family Learning Center is free for family caregivers who provide home care for friends or loved ones.
  • Care Planning
  • Challenging Behaviors
  • Daily Care Skills
  • Elimination and Toileting
  • Nutrition and Hydration
  • Promoting and Maintaining Good Mobility
  • Signs and Symptoms of Alzheimer’s

Family Learning Center courses focus on multi-generational family caregiving and are designed to be immediately available to families who need help, but don’t always know where to turn for information or support. The Family Learning Center makes it easy for family caregivers to always have a caregiving resource to turn to whenever they need it because it’s available online 24/7, accessed directly from the FirstLight HomeCare – South Sound website.

There aren’t a lot of resources available to family caregivers to make their challenges easier. We hope the Family Learning Center answers a lot of questions, provides some much-needed training and support and helps caregivers keep their loved ones more comfortable and remaining at home.

Sarah Lane
Sarah Lane

 

Sarah Lane is a certified Home Care Aide and owner of FirstLight HomeCare — South Sound.  To learn more about home care, respite care, dementia care, or any of the non-medical home care services offered by FirstLight HomeCare, give Sarah a call at 360-489-1621 or go to www.southsound.firstlighthomecare.com.

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