Experts Offer Advice to Caregivers of Elderly
Sun Jul 8, 7:01 PM ET

SUNDAY, July 8 (HealthDay News) -- Geriatrics experts are offering a new easy-to-understand information sheet designed to help prevent burnout in people caring for elderly parents or other older loved ones.
The new information sheet, Caring for Mom and Dad, How to Avoid Caregiver Burnout, is available online from the American Geriatrics Society's Foundation for Health in Aging.
It's estimated that as many as 44 million Americans care for older loved ones, and the level of care ranges from occasional assistance with chores to 24-hour care. While providing care can be rewarding, it can also be stressful and frustrating.
"Increasingly, Americans are becoming caregivers to their aging loved ones. It's important that people taking on the role of caregiver understand what they should do to maintain their own physical and emotional health in the process," Jan Busby-Whitehead, a Foundation for Health in Aging board member and chair of the AGF's public education committee, said in a prepared statement.
The new information sheet offers advice on how to plan for older loved ones' changing care needs; making simple home modifications that ease the job of providing care; working with older loved ones' health-care providers; asking family and friends for help with caregiving; and the types of community services available for older adults and their caregivers.
The tip sheet, at http://www.healthinaging.org/public_education/tipsheet_caregiver.pdf, offers advice on planning for older loved ones' changing care needs