WHAT IS A CAREGIVER CRUISE AND WHY SHOULD YOU CONSIDER TAKING ONE?
Consider a Caregiver Cruise – Reprinted from Sixty and Me
There are 66 million family caregivers in the U.S. alone; 70% are female and 25% are Millennials. Caregivers suffer worsened health than non-caregivers and 40-60% report symptoms of depression. Some caregivers, like my sister, pre-decease the ones for whom they care.
Recently, my local church, through funding through my Rotary chapter, was given a sizeable grant to support their Monday respite program. To say they are bursting at the seams is an understatement.
Family caregivers love the time to themselves while their loved ones have time to participate in activities. But many of the caregivers stay and participate themselves. They love spending time with their loved one in a fun setting.
A cruise multiplies this by 10 – or maybe seven depending on how many days you choose! Let’s look at some reasons you might consider a cruise/conference.
Relax, Recharge, Rejuvenate
You should consider relaxation first and foremost for respite. Caregivers need to recharge and need to smile. Cruises typically travel to warm, exotic locations during the months when the weather is cold elsewhere.
A Non-Threatening Environment to Discuss Important Family Issues
You may just be seeing the signs that mom or dad needs care or you are new to caregiving. Chances are you did not prepare for it because typically aging around the world happens in a crisis.
Cruises provide a perfect setting for a family reunion. Families can have fun and learn about the issues ahead and plan for them together. In fact, everyone learns something about how to prepare for their own aging, too. It’s a great way to discuss important issues in a relaxed, supportive atmosphere.
Meet New Friends in a Mutual Support Group
Because these cruises are dedicated to family caregivers, you typically meet others going through what you are going through. Even former caregivers tend to cruise and are around to lend an ear and a shoulder.
You Can Learn a Lot on a Caregiver Cruise
There are many kinds of caregiver cruises. Some are totally focused on dementia. Others are more broad-based. All have an educational component. You may find faculty that includes legal and financial professionals, geriatric care managers, people living with dementia, people who are involved in the long-term care industry and more.
So instead of seeking out six different experts in your community, you have them all gathered in one place where you can listen to them in formal lectures and converse with them informally throughout the cruise.
There Are Creative Ways to Pay for It
Yes, cruises are expensive but typically a cruise/conference is bundled in such a way that it’s more affordable than if you were just going to cruise. Certainly family caregivers are under financial stress. That is where you get creative.
Online funding mechanisms can help offset expenses with people adopting specific individuals or couples to go. Cruise sponsors can have a portion of their sponsor money put into a fund to help too. And hospitals and other health providers can honor caregivers through events that culminate in a heroic caregiver being awarded a cruise.
If you or someone you know might be interested, I am hosting a Caribbean Cruise next January. The Caregiver Smile Cruise will depart Ft. Lauderdale on a 10-day adventure.
If you are a caregiver, what do you do to relax and release stress? Have you ever taken a caregiver cruise or short trip with other caregivers? What topics would you look forward to discussing? Start the conversation here in the comments section.
Anthony Cirillo is president of The Aging Experience. He helps organizations craft experiences and seize opportunities the mature marketplace. He helps family caregivers thrive and individuals make educated aging decisions. He is a consultant and professional speaker.
Care Coordination – Key to Not Falling Through the Cracks – Smilecast 21
Care Coordination
Care coordination is perhaps the biggest issue facing family caregivers, especially if a loved on his hospitalized. That is when it is important to pick a great primary care physician who can serve as your medical home. This will smooth transitions and assure that your loved one does not fall through the cracks. Sometimes you have to reach out for help. That is when the services of a geriatric care manager can be invaluable. You may also consider a patient advocate who can help too. Let’s look at these issues.
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When You Need to Tell a Elder Loved One to Stop Driving – Smilecast 49
Stop Driving – Taking Away the Keys – How to Talk to an Elder
Thirty-six percent of adult children polled by the Web site Caring.com and the National Safety Council said that talking to their parents about the need to stop driving would be harder than discussing funeral plans (29 percent) or selling the family home (18 percent). In this Smilecast taken from my appearance on the Charlotte Today Show, we talk about the issue of senior driving, knowing the signs for when to have a talk about stopping, and interim things you can do to help everyone ease into the conversation.
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Key to Multitasking Effectively and What It Means to Brain Health
Effective Multitasking Can Be Learned
Although “multitasking” is a popular buzzword, research shows that only 2% of the population actually multitasks efficiently. Most of us just shift back and forth between different tasks, a process that requires our brains to refocus time and time again — and reduces overall productivity by a whopping 40%.
New Tel Aviv University research identifies a brain mechanism that enables more efficient multitasking. The key to this is “reactivating the learned memory,” a process that allows a person to more efficiently learn or engage in two tasks in close conjunction.
“The mechanism may have far-reaching implications for the improvement of learning and memory functions in daily life,” said Dr. Nitzan Censor of TAU’s School of Psychological Sciences and Sagol School of Neuroscience. ”
The research, conducted by TAU student Jasmine Herszage, was published in Current Biology.
Training the Brain
“When we learn a new task, we have great difficulty performing it and learning something else at the same time. For example, performing a motor task A (such as performing a task with one hand) can reduce performance in a second task B (such as performing a task with the other hand) conducted in close conjunction to it. This is due to interference between the two tasks, which compete for the same brain resources,” said Dr. Censor. “Our research demonstrates that the brief reactivation of a single learned memory, in appropriate conditions, enables the long-term prevention of, or immunity to, future interference in the performance of another task performed in close conjunction.”
The researchers first taught student volunteers to perform a sequence of motor finger movements with one hand, by learning to tap onto a keypad a specific string of digits appearing on a computer screen as quickly and accurately as possible. After acquiring this learned motor memory, the memory was reactivated on a different day, during which the participants were required to briefly engage with the task — this time with an addition of brief exposure to the same motor task performed with their other hand. By utilizing memory reactivation, the subjects were able to perform the two tasks without interference.
By uniquely pairing the brief reactivation of the original memory with the exposure to a new memory, long-term immunity to future interference was created, demonstrating a prevention of interference even a month after the exposures.
What is interesting is that I find musicians are natural multitaskers. Look at drummers. They have all of their limbs in action when playing. When I perform, I am singing, playing guitar, and working foot pedals. And I can do them all equally well. But that has come with years of practice and I reactivate those skills every time I strap on the guitar. Get good at multitasking. It could serve you well in the future.
