Monday, I taught a beading workshop to start the week of activities
offered to caregivers and family members of patients to celebrate Caregiver
Week. Caregivers play a critical role in our health
and long-term care systems, but the American Psychological Association reports
the physical, psychological, and financial stressors they experience are significant. When compared to non-caregivers, caregivers
report increased physical ailments, higher levels of stress, anxiety, and
depression. Many report inadequate time
for sleep, self-care, and other health related activities that leads to lower
levels of well-being and life satisfaction.
I told my class on Monday, “You can’t be a loving caregiver,
unless you take care of yourself.” They made simple wooden bead bracelets of different
color combinations as reminders of how important it is for them to stay
anchored in positive self-care practices.
I watched a caregiver make a bracelet first for her husband a cancer
survivor, who sat reading a newspaper. When
she finished the bracelet and put it on his wrist, he gave her a kiss with watery
eyes, and then sat with her at the beading table and helped her make a bracelet
for herself. As they started to leave,
he came back and said to me, “Thanks, I hadn’t realized how much she’d lost
herself in my care. When we finished her
bracelet I saw and felt her old smile come back.”
Take care of yourself today!
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