WorkingCaregiver Semi-finalist for Al Marks Inventive Mind Grant From Idea Cafe

WorkingCaregiver.com Semi-finalist for Al Marks Inventive Mind Grant From Idea Cafe

AUSTIN TX/EWORLDWIRE/July 23, 2007 --- WorkingCaregiver.com is a grant semi-finalists of IdeaCafe.com's $1000 Al Marks Inventive Mind Grant. WorkingCaregiver.com is a bright and innovative site delivering products, resources, and professional services to family caregivers juggling work, life, and elder care for aging parents.

Aging in America is driving employers' cost of lost production to over $33 billion, according to a MetLife study, due to absenteeism, work-day interruptions, and leave of absence. Family caregivers across America are arriving to work late, leaving early, or not showing up at all due to the stress and challenges of elder care demands. WorkingCaregiver.com's strategy is to help with the three hardest problems for family caregivers:

1. Finding time for self
2. Balancing work & family responsibilities
3. Balancing physical and emotional stress

The field of semi-finalists for this grant will be reduced to finalists and the winner will be determined by the vote of IdeaCafe.com's 32,000 members worldwide and announced online on August 15, 2007, Idea Cafe's 12th anniversary online. WorkingCaregiver.com plans to add more online functionality serving family caregivers, helping them find balance and support.

Learn more at 'http://www.workingcaregiver.com'.

Are You a Caregiver? Beginning the Process

Since we’ve determined ‘who’ caregivers are, here are some things to think about as you begin your caregiving process.

The Elder You Care for is an Adult
He or she has the right to make decisions about their life. As a caregiver, you should respect that right unless he or she has lost the capacity to make decisions or could put others in danger.

Whenever Possible, Offer Choices
Allow your loved ones choices from where to live to which cereals to eat for breakfast to what to wear. Having choices allows us to express ourselves. As their options become more limited, through health loss, financial constraints, or social losses, as a caregiver, you have to work harder to provide choices.

Do Those Things That Your Loved One Cannot Do
Caregivers often take over when they shouldn’t. If your loved one is still capable of performing certain activities, such as paying bills or cooking meals, then encourage him or her to do so. Helping your loved one maintain a feeling of independence will make him or her feel better about being in a care-receiving situation.

Do What You Promise To Do
Many care recipients find it emotionally difficult to have to depend on others, and many worry about being a burden. So, with all these mixed feelings, your loved one will need to be able to rely on you. Do what you promise. Remember that your loved one needs you, even if he or she doesn’t say so.

Take Care of Yourself
Caregivers often exhaust themselves by trying to handle caregiving responsibilities on top of normal daily routines. Providing care for a loved one while holding down a job, can lead to exhaustion. If you do become exhausted, you’re more likely to make bad decisions or to take out your frustrations on your loved one. So take care of yourself; take time out to do things you enjoy even if it means saying no to your loved one. Caregivers who refresh themselves can be there for the long haul.

Your Family is the First Resource
There can be deep emotional currents when a loved one becomes ill. Some family members will want to do everything, while others will do very little unless they’re asked. Yet spouses, brothers and sisters, children, and other relatives can do much to ease your caregiving burden.

Carol Marak, Founder, http://www.workingcaregiver.com
Delivering products, services, & resources for family caregivers to working family caregivers designed to avoid work interruptions & distractions, emotional fatigue, and physical exhaustion that can result from balancing work, life, & caregiving.

Are You a Caregiver?

It’s rarely possible to pick out a caregiver in a crowd. Why? Because we, who care for loved ones, don’t think we’re fulfilling a role! It’s just part of who we are as daughters, sons, sisters, moms or dads! And it’s what we do. We care for the ones we love.
If you’re a person who provides needed help to an aging or infirmed loved one, supplying emotional support, physical assistance, financial assistance, and many other types of care, regardless of the situation, you’re a caregiver.

Family caregivers are the immediate family, relatives by blood, marriage, or adoption, partners, or close friends who directly provide care, manage the care of, or pay for the care of people who need medical and non-medical assistance, emotional support, and advocacy because they are ill, disabled, or aged and frail.

Caregivers dedicate, on average, 20 hours per week to provide care for older persons and even more time when the older person has multiple disabilities.

Forty-one percent of caregivers have children, too. Part of the "sandwich generation," many women will spend more years caring for a parent than they do raising a child. Caregivers of the elderly spend an average of $279 per month on care-related activities.

Since we’ve determined ‘who’ caregivers are, in a day or two, check back - we'll look at some things to think about as you begin your caregiving process.

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