Nadine’s website, Relative Care, is a topic that many of us care to explore as we begin to cope with the tasks of aging parents–particularly in a society that does not always assign proper value to its elderly population. Our society centers around the concepts of industry and productivity, and for many, the onset of advanced age brings along decreased levels of these attributes as defined by our culture. Unfortunately, many of us overlook the degree of evolved wisdom that age often brings, and which often cannot be properly measured in a society based on generating tangible, real-time results.
Nadine’s website hits home particularly because as a health care professional I have witnessed the tremendous and often overwhelming responsibilities that adult children often face when their parents’ physical and/or emotional health declines past the point where they are able to care for themselves without assistance. NANDA (formerly the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association) defines Caregiver Role Strain as a separate diagnosis that requires assessment and intervention by nurses as they manage patient care to ensure the most optimal health care outcomes.
Many readers can relate to Nadine’s website because it serves as important function of providing resources and support to those who are in similar situations as those that she describes; the sites also provides links to resources that can provide additional information to novice caretakers who may be looking for a good starting point.
I look forward to reading more of Nadine’s posts, and hopefully being able to provide feedback based on my own experiences caring for patients and their families who eventually had to leave the hospital but still make sure that the individual’s care did not suffer. I think that Nadine’s site also can provide valuable insight as I seek to research the topic of Universal Health Care; perhaps I can make a comparison between the government system that is in place to help care for the elderly (Medicare) and the proposals for universal health coverage for all citizens.
