You don’t always know where to ask for help. It would be easier if there were one single place to turn for good information, says Marc.
Transcript
Because I’m sure that there are people who are at a loss with the situation, because it’s all new, who haven’t journeyed as much as my situation of 30 years has made me journey. And knowing that at the CLSC, they can help you with respite, family support, specialized equipment. To know that the rehabilitation centre can help as well. To know that in the hospitals there are specialized healthcare workers who can help you. It’s certain that you go from one place to another, but to have everything centralized in one place as far as resources, that’s something that I could tell you, “Here’s this, that, and the other.” But as a general rule to answer your question, and in the context of this interview, I imagine I’m trying to summarize as well.
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- Travelling, holidays and respite – MarcMarc and the friend he cares for love to travel. Travelling helps them get through more difficult moments.
- Navigating the system – MarcIt can be “hit or miss”; sometimes Marc knocks on the right door, and other times the wrong door.
- Resources – MarcYou don’t always know where to ask for help. It would be easier if there were one single place to turn for good information, says Marc.
- Effects of care recipients’ behaviour – MarcMarc is very touched and inspired by the friend for whom he is caring.
- Trying to find the right balance – MarcMarc gives a lot of time to care for his friend, but also needs time for himself. He has learned to reconnect with himself during his free moments.
- Caring for yourself – MarcIn his experience, Marc was confronted with an existential dimension to caregiving: “Caring for someone is also suffering; it is suffering through love.”
- Financial impact – MarcMarc makes little money as a caregiver, but he is not worried. This is a choice he has made.
- Impact on health – MarcMarc lived through two periods of depression, but feels that now he has found a better equilibrium.
- The future and caregiving – MarcMarc doesn’t know what the future will bring but believes "where there is a will, there is a way."
- Providing support – MarcMarc’s friend is only able to speak with his eyes. Marc describes how this made his hospital stay more complicated.