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Nurse Jan Dougherty shares three tips for women who are Alzheimer's disease caregivers.
Nurse Dougherty:
Three tips; first I would say, learn how to get help. Don’t try to do it alone, and there are many ways to get help, and if you’re not hooked up with the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, the Alzheimer’s Association is a wonderful place to begin learning about the disease and getting connected to a support group or even finding a confidant and just knowing that you don’t have to be alone.
The other, I guess advice I would give is, don’t feel like it’s all gloom and doom, that there is help to be found, there’s joy to be found, that there are resources to help you make a difference.
And the third thing I would say is, stop fighting with your loved one. It’s not about being right, and often times that’s the hardest thing for us as family members to see this person change, and we want to correct them and that creates a lot of grief.
So as a basic principle, just stop fighting and learn how to communicate in a different way to go along with the person and the journey that they’re in, that at the end of the day, your life will be a lot easier and the person will be much happier if we just stop arguing.
About Nurse Dougherty, R.N., M.S.:
Registered Nurse Jan Dougherty is the director of family and community services at Banner Alzheimer’s Institute and has a master’s degree in gerontological nursing.
View Nurse Jan Dougherty's Videos:
https://www.empowher.com/users/nurse-jan-dougherty
Visit the Banner Alzheimer's Institute:
http://www.bannerhealth.com/_Alzheimers/Alzheimers_Disease_Institute.htm