Christine hopes that ensuring support for caregivers soon becomes part of the routine process when patients and their caregivers seek help from the healthcare system.
Transcript
So I think it should be once someone has a chronic illness or is in need of the caregiver—has a caregiver—I think that not only should the person who is ill get the help and the doctors involved and nurses and social support—the social services—but I think when they realize there’s a caregiver involved, I would hope that sometime, some day, right away, it would be an automatic thing: “Well, these are the services available for the person you’re caring with, but also these are the services available for you that are very important.” Because you always hear that. You always hear, “Oh, you can’t do it alone.” You can’t, and you don’t realize it until either you’re right in it and you don’t know where to turn, or it’s too late. And I’m not saying like I’m over, my life is over. To me, I’m just restarting my life, or building up my life again. But I became very sick as a caregiver and I didn’t get that support that all caregivers should get. Never mind like getting some kind of financial help, just the recognition and everyone says it.
More content
- Additional Supports Needed for People Living with Long COVID – ChristineChristine wishes there was more information about long COVID specifically for employers.
- Support from Employers, Colleagues, and Worker’s Compensation Boards – ChristineChristine is only allowed to use her sick days midweek even though a Monday or Friday would give her more recovery time.
- Advice to Healthcare Providers – ChristineChristine describes the potentially serious impacts of an insensitive conversation on a patient.
- Impacts on Partners and Households – ChristineChristine worries that she is often too sore to welcome physical contact from her husband.
- Support from family and friends – ChristineChristine’s sister criticized her for the way she was caring for their mother, and accused her of being selfish and abandoning their mother.
- Navigating the system – ChristineSometimes you don’t know about the helpful services that are out there, says Christine.
- Impact on professional life and career – ChristineChristine was so caught-up in caring for her mother that she never resolved her employment situation.
- Impact on health – ChristineChristine was so exhausted that she reached a point where she considered suicide.
- Hospitals and facilities – ChristineChristine realized she had to leave her mother’s home to protect herself. When she left, her mother moved to a care facility.
- Home care and live-in caregivers – ChristineInteraction with the home care staff was difficult for Christine’s mother as she kept meeting new people.