The
Caregiver’s Caregiver™
(Click
on the picture for online video!)
Lyn Roche
Author, eldercare specialist, public speaker, syndicated newspaper columnist, family caregiver, accredited and experienced dementia support group facilitator . . .
IMPORTANT NOTE: Don’t miss these upcoming caregiver events!
June 6 & 7, 2008
"Breath
of Fresh Air"
Christian Caregiver Conference at
Contact: Vicki McCarty
360-387-0620
June 27, 2008
"Breath of Fresh Air"
Harbor Place
3700 SE Jennings Road
Port St. Lucie, FL
Contact: Kathy Kalck
September 16 - 19, 2008
"SomeOne Cares"
Christian Caregiver Conference
Ridgecrest, NC
Contact: Carmen Leal
email:
cleal54@hawaiiantel.net
or visit www.someonecaresonline.com
This
website, my books, workshops, and weekly columns are all about YOU.
The video and pictures are of me to personally welcome you.
I hope you’ll feel at home here and come often.
Like
you, I’ve cared for elderly family members.
In my case, it was actually three loved ones.
Both my father and my mother-in-law were victims of Alzheimer’s
disease. I was also the primary
caregiver for my grandmother who, though not ill, was very frail for many
years and could not care for herself. She
lived to be 95.
Our
family cared for them before the words “sandwich” and “generation”
came together to become a familiar term. We
learned a lot during our caregiving days.
The main thing we learned is that it’s all about love.
Our motto became, “What’s really important here?”
Love is what’s important and it needs to constantly be poured into
the care recipients – but also into the caregivers.
All
caregivers need support and I had it on my heart to help other caregivers in a
way that could relieve their stress and uplift them every day.
Whenever I met another caregiver, I felt a strong connection.
I wanted to hug them, listen to them, and share with them – if they
asked me to share. Basically, I
just wanted to pour love back into them. I
still do.
My
heart filled with the idea of a book that could be a caring friend who
understands. Not someone who tells
all about their own personal caregiving journey, but a companion who walks
with YOU, uplifts YOU daily, maintains and validates the dignity of the person
YOU’RE caring for – and at the same time offers practical caregiving tips
without being text-like or time-consuming to read.
The
first edition of Coping With Caring was birthed.
The new revised edition (2006) like the first, although over 400 pages,
is small enough to fit in your hand. Because,
a book that fits in your hand can become part of your everyday life!
Each
page stands alone containing a daily reflection and a tip.
There’s a topic-driven index and blank pages for your own notes or
journaling. If you’d like to
read sample pages and endorsements of both Coping With Caring and Sharing
The Care (which I co-authored with my husband, Bill, in 2004) click on www.journeybookstore.com
People
started calling me “the caregiver’s caregiver” and now Bill introduces
me that way whenever we present our “Breath of Fresh Air” caregiver
workshops.
For
the past three years, Bill and I have written a weekly column together for
Highlands Today. It’s called
Boomers & Beyond and you can also read samples of it at www.boomersandbeyondthecolumn.com
It deals with life and meaningful aging.
As we said in its debut, “Come along with us as we embrace the
mundane, the exciting, the bumpy, the smooth, the heartbreaking, the joyful
– all the unique qualities of being part of the generations known as Boomers
and Beyond.”
Many
readers who now find themselves caring for aging loved ones, have asked me to
personally address their caregiving concerns in a “Dear Abby” format.
I’m delighted to do so! Bill
said there was only one name for the new column – The Caregiver’s
Caregiver™. You can email your
questions to me lyn@thecaregiverscaregiver.com
or write: Lyn Roche, Journey Publications, POB 433,
I’m
happy to say The Caregiver’s Caregiver™ began in The Tampa Tribune’s “4YOU”
Saturday
health and wellness insert July 21, 2007.
Click here to read the introduction. 4YOU
Look
for The Caregiver’s Caregiver™ in your hometown newspaper.
If you don’t see it, email or write me and include the name and
location of your paper.
I
invite you to keep coming back to this website.
It will be updated often. Copies
of all previously published articles from The Caregiver’s Caregiver™ and
some from Boomers & Beyond are archived and linked to this website.
Countless subjects are indexed by their caregiving topics.
Click
here for archived articles by subject matter!
It’s
my desire this site be an instant caregiving resource you can come to anytime
day or night. There can be a
healthy balance between caregiving and YOUR LIFE.
Your personal well-being is of utmost importance.
I’ll
be providing free online videos from my home to your home and my heart to your
heart. I’ll discuss topics I
believe are important to YOU. From
time to time I’ll interview people I feel have something worthwhile to share
with YOU. Please come back often.
And, don’t forget to email or snail mail your caregiving questions to
me for The Caregiver’s Caregiver™ weekly column.
Check
this site also for locations of our workshops and links to valuable resources
as we continue to uncover them for YOU!
Please Note:
Lyn reads every email and every letter personally.
However, due to the volume, she is unable to answer questions
individually by return email or snail mail.
If you’ve sent a caregiving question, look for her response in your local newspaper. Again, due to volume, Lyn cannot answer every letter she receives.
By submitting a question through a written
letter or by email, you are agreeing to have your question published.
You may wish to use a fictitious name, that’s fine.
In an attempt to provide you with
immediate caregiving help, we are currently in the process of archiving past
articles Lyn and her husband have written.
We will also add all Caregiver’s Caregiver™ articles as they are
published. They will be linked to
this website and listed by subject matter (driving, wandering, etc.)
Click here to read Driving
and Dementia Don't Mix
And, don’t forget, Coping With
Caring; When Someone You Love Has Alzheimer’s or a Related Condition is
the largest collection of caregiving tips in one volume.
If you don’t already have a copy of your own, click here to order one
http://www.journeybookstore.com
Email me at:
lyn@thecaregiverscaregiver.com
©Journey
Publications 2008