Caregiver News and Notes

Don’t Miss the 9th W.B. Ingalls Memorial Prostate Health and Cancer Symposium on Saturday, January 28, 2017, FAU Student Union, Boca Raton. Seven world-renowned prostate cancer physicians and researchers will share the latest advancements in diagnostic and treatment protocols. For info and registration: www.MyHIR.org, 888-MyHIR-55 ...more

IN THIS ISSUE

Caregiver News and Notes
 

The Inconvenience of Incontinence
 

Special Needs Children Turning 18 Years Old
 

Home Safety Tips
 

CareVerses

FEATURED ARTICLE

The Inconvenience of Incontinence 

By Kristine Dwyer, Staff Writer

Just mention the word “incontinence” or “bladder leakage” and watch people react. Most people are reluctant to speak about it and many are afraid to even discuss it with their doctor. Surprisingly, aging alone is not the only cause of bladder leakage or incontinence, as it is commonly known. Actually, it can occur in many age groups and affects men, women and, yes, even caregivers. ...more

GUEST ARTICLE

Special Needs Children Turning 18 Years Old

By Lori K. Murphy, Esq., Bean, Kinney & Korman, P.C. 

A single mother of an adult child visited me to prepare her estate plan.  During our first meeting, she shared that her 24-year-old adult son lives at home and has a mental impairment.  He recently needed a new physician and my client requested to direct his medical care. In response, the new physician asked for her son’s medical power of attorney.  My client was thrown for a loop–she had always directed his medical care and no one before had asked for a power of attorney.  Later, she determined this was because her son had the same medical treatment team since he was a young boy and the team knew her son’s medical condition and that his mother directed his care.  Now that new care was needed, the physician’s office properly sought the mother’s authority to direct care and she needed to determine how to continue to help him.  Our discussion turned from her own estate planning to one about guardianship, conservatorship and powers of attorney. ...more

CARETIPS

Home Safety Tips

By Jennifer B. Buckley

You feel safe and secure with your loved one watching television close by in the next room. On a daily basis, you meticulously monitor their diet, hygiene and warnings on their over-the-counter and prescription medication. Nothing has been left to chance, so you think. What about making your home safe from injuries? Hidden dangers in the home can cause your loved one to have a terrible fall but it can be avoided. ...more

CAREVERSES

A Sea Change in Care

By Barbara Greer

Let us hold hands as we let go
As we let go, as we let go
Of whom you once were
Of whom I once was
They are no longer here
 
Let us push our skiff of memories
Across the water to a safer shore
We will find it later
Where the Light shines
Where songs drift on the air
 
Let us step into a seaworthy craft
To ply through storms of care
Ride the peaks and troughs
Endure the rains of doubt
Set anchor in the harbor of Hope
 
Let us be there 
And write a new song
For what has been lost
And what gained therefrom
I can do the words, you can hum a tune

Enjoy more caregiver poems
or share one of your own