What Should You Be Doing More as a Caregiver?

How you approach life and caregiving can have a huge impact on how effective you feel as a caregiver. If you’ve neglected some of these categories, it might be time to put them a little higher on your priority list.

Assess Your Habits Around Your Own Health

Home Care Services Naples, FL: What Should You Be Doing More as a Caregiver?

How you treat your own health is a bigger deal than you might expect. If you’re ignoring your own health, though, you’re not going to be as effective a caregiver as you want to be. Take a real look at your sleep habits, your eating habits, and your exercise habits. Look at what you’re doing right and what you want to do better. Map out some small steps you can take to get from where you are to where you want to be.

Get as Organized as You Can

Organization can truly save your sanity if you’re a caregiver. It might not seem so important, but when you can lay hands on the exact object or information you need, right when you need it, that’s a game changer. Do what you can to get yourself organized, starting with using a calendar or planner regularly. Then move on to your physical environment.

Ask for Help When You Need It

Caregivers find it very difficult and complicated to ask for help when they need it, for the most part. But if you don’t learn how to ask for help when you need it, you’re always going to feel stuck and alone. Remember that other people in your life can’t read your mind and don’t know what you need if you don’t let them know.

Lean on a Support System

It’s also vital that you have a support system. Yours might include friends, family members, and other caregivers that you’ve met along the way. Lean on them when you need a little more support and let them be there for you. Even if all you need to do is to vent a little bit, do that. You’ll feel better afterward and the people who love you will feel better for having been there for you.

There’s a lot for you to keep up with and to manage as a caregiver, but these four things need to be on your priority list. They’ll help you to cope with the challenges you face as a caregiver. Don’t worry about getting them all perfect from the start. It’s okay to start where you are and to make improvements.

If you or an aging loved one are considering Home Care in Services in Naples, FL, call the caring staff at Dial-a-Nurse today. Naples: (239) 434-8000. Ft. Myers: (239) 939-1228.

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Ted Wolfendale

Administrator at Dial-a-Nurse

Mr. Wolfendale is a graduate of Stetson University, and Stetson University School of Law, and was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1988. He is admitted to practice in the Middle district of Florida, is an active member of the Florida Health Law section, and Lee County Bar Association.

In 1995 he became Administrator of Dial-a-Nurse nursing agency, the oldest nursing agency in the Southwest Florida succeeding his mother who started the company 37 years ago. He is also President of Nevco, Inc., an educational healthcare training company begun in 1988.

Mr. Wolfendale has worked with the U.S. Department of Commerce on various Missions to improve the quality of life around the world by development of supportive healthcare programs. In 2005 he traveled with U.S. officials and addressed the Italian National Government assisting in the creation of Nurse Education mandates for that Country. In 2006 he was invited and spoke with the National Institutes of Continuing Education in Eastern Europe on healthcare education and developmental mandates, and most recently represented the United States at the European Union in Lake Balaton, Hungary in 2011. In 2014 he traveled with the U.S. Department of State to Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam in an effort to improve caregiver knowledge and training.

Mr. Wolfendale has worked with a number of non-profits in contributing and creating curriculum to improve the quality of life in third-world countries since 2001, and notably created a successful program in Odessa, India that has been modeled in other areas of the world. In his backyard, he has worked with local Goodwill Industries to provide curriculum and training to underserved individuals who have obtained employment as a result of educational training. He was the Congressional appointment to the Governor's purple ribbon task force in 2013, and has worked to educate caregivers in all aspects of Alzheimer's training.

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