Have you found yourself at the stage of life where you are spending more and more time helping an aging parent or declining spouse? If so, just know that you are not alone. According to statistics provided by AARP, close to 40 million Americans are in the same boat.
The Family Caregiver Role For An Aging Parent Or Spouse Can Happen Gradually
In many situations, our role as Family Caregiver happens so gradually that we don’t even think about it at first. The caregiving journey may start with you realizing that your Aging Parent or Spouse is sick and needs your help. At this stage, you probably don’t even identify with the term Family Caregiver. You probably just think of yourself as “son”, “daughter”, “wife”, “husband” or whatever your relationship is. Your loved one needs help, you love them and you will do whatever it takes.
But as days turn into weeks, then months, you begin to understand. The care you are providing is more than a temporary thing. You realize that your Loved One has started to rely on that care. Further, without you, there would be some critical daily tasks related to the health or well-being of your Loved One that would remain undone.
Am I A Family Caregiver?
You know that to provide the necessary care for your Loved One, it will require a lot of your time, effort and support.
How do you define the term “Family Caregiver”? The term is broad and may include many situations. Caring for your Aging Parent or Spouse could involve 24 hours / day X 7 days / week support. It could also be an out of state caregiver who calls “Momma” on a daily basis and does many tasks for her remotely.
Help Me Help “Momma”… Why Momma?
The name of our web-site, came to mind for me and Cindy, because we were caregivers for our Mommas. “Momma”, as used here, also includes those who are caregivers for their Dad, Husband, Wife, Aunt, Uncle, Adult Child or other loved one. “Momma” is an all-inclusive term. It’s an endearing term that’s close to our heart. It’s honoring our Loved One. We want to be here to support you as a caregiver no matter who your “Momma” is.
Private Facebook Group For Caregiver Support
To help support you, we have set up a private Facebook group which we refer to as Caregiver Support Group. The purpose of this group is to provide a forum for Family Caregivers to interact with each other. For providing encouragement and support to other Family Caregivers. There is no substitute for talking to another person that you know is currently serving as Family Caregiver for their loved one. They are walking in your shoes and are doing the best to provide care for their Loved One on a daily basis.
Closed Group, Free Entry!
Our Caregiver Support Group is a closed group and may currently be joined at no charge by going to the Help Me Help Momma Virtual Family Caregiver Support Group on Facebook. Only members of the group can see your posts. These posts will show up in your feed BUT WILL NOT show up on anyone’s feed not in the group.
The reason we are offering this closed group is to have a safe place where caregivers can share with each other. A place for sharing tips, joys, sorrows, what-worked, what-didn’t and positive words of encouragement. Our goal is to have a judgment-free, positive-feedback-only group that will uplift and help those who are walking the same journey as you.
If you would like to get access to this group, please go to the Help Me Help Momma Virtual Family Caregiver Support Group. We hope to see you there.
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