As of yet, there is no official Caregiver’s Day (although perhaps there should be!). But if you know a family caregiver, think about doing something special for him/her on any day. Some suggestions:
• Stop by with a treat or a meal—If you enjoy cooking, cook something; if not, just take out some takeout.
• Bring some cheery flowers—or even a single rose, to make the caregiver feel appreciated.
• Come for a visit or phone the caregiver with a listening ear—you don’t need to give advice or solve the caregiver’s problems; chances are the caregiver is quite isolated and just needs to be able to talk and be heard.
• Send the caregiver an encouraging greeting card—or even an e-card or supportive email message.
• If you love doing yardwork or home repairs, offer to help the overwhelmed caregiver with chores that you can do easily.
• Bring an entertaining book or CD to distract the caregiver’s mind from illness.
• If feasible, offer to stay with the care receiver for a short while so the caregiver can get out of the house.
• Offer to help with errands if the caregiver can’t get out of the house easily.
Caring for a family member who has a chronic, long-term illness is often an extremely stressful, overwhelming life situation with little, if any, time off or vacations. Caregivers go mostly unnoticed in our busy, fast-moving culture; and not only is there no financial compensation for this job, but caregivers must often give up paying jobs in order to provide full-time care.
It doesn’t have to take a lot of time or effort to give a lift to your caregiver friends. Just share a little of whatever you enjoy, and you will get an emotional lift also. There are tens of millions of family caregivers in North America.—surely we all know one.