Navigating a dementia diagnosis can bring families together if they work toward a common set of goals. Or it can create more stress than is already present if families are at odds with how care is provided. Remember, Mom or Dad put the family first for years, so the goal is to make THEM the…
Navigating Ambiguous Loss & Grief By Dementia Alliance of NC Your loved one is there. Your loved one is NOT there. They may be sitting right next to you, looking in your eyes, but they are no longer present in quite the same way as before. This roller coaster of absence and presence common to…
Support Group Leader Spotlight: Dale Krech and Pat Soler By Dale Krech Pat and I co-facilitate a twice-monthly support group for caregivers in the Sandhills area. Previously, in California, each of us had taken care of loved ones for about 10 years. Pat’s mother had elder dementia and lived with her and my wife was…
Preparing for Family Events by Dementia Alliance of NC Whether it’s a holiday, mother’s day, a wedding or graduation, small changes such as timing an event around your person’s best time of day or limiting the number of guests can make the experience better for everyone! Don’t get so involved in the plans you forget…
by Rosalind Scott This year Dementia Alliance of North Carolina highlighted two of its book club care partners in honor of Black History Month. Caregiving for someone can be overwhelming, no matter the care needed. However, statistics have proven that caring for an individual with a Dementia/Alzheimer’s diagnosis is twice as overwhelming and challenging. We…
By Kathy Montero In parts one and two of “The 3 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Became a Caregiver,” I shared strategies for pacing yourself for the care-giving marathon and expanding your support network. In this third and final piece, I hope to impart the significance of finding joy through humor. As caregivers,…
3 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Became a Caregiver… by Kathy Montero Part 2 In part one of The 3 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Became a Caregiver series, I shared that caregiving is a marathon, not a sprint. Setting priorities and re-evaluating activities that are either no longer feasible nor…
By Kathy Montero PART ONE: Several years ago, when our youngest child was only 3, my husband and I found ourselves suddenly responsible for caring for all four of our aging parents within a 6-month period. Each of us had a parent with ‘yet to be diagnosed’ Alzheimer’s Disease and when the other parental half…
By Jessie Hrivnak In early 2020 my Dad was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia. It was not a term that I had heard before and knew very little about the disease. I quickly learned the impact that Lewy Body Dementia would have not only on my Dad, but on our family as a whole –…
by Michelle Colgate The shadow of doubt in my father’s eyes, the inability to find the right word, losing his way home from the grocery store and forgetting that his wife had died: these events are quick snapshots of the impact that dementia had on my father. Dementia’s slow creep of darkness took my father’s…