365 Caregiving Tips: Hospitals, Care Facilities and Hospice, Practical Tips from Everyday Caregivers

By Pegi Foulkrod, Gincy Heins, Trish Hughes Kreis and 2 more

There are a variety of situations caregivers tackle and all five of the authors have dealt with our share. One of the reasons we became so close is because we were helping one another through all kinds of caregiving situations.

Some of the most important tips we shared with one another involved hospital stays, care facilities and hospice. Many caregivers face these same situations so it was an easy decision to focus this book on practical tips to help caregivers during these difficult times.

We understand caregivers have enough to do and are stressed out when their loved one is hospitalized, staying in a care facility or entering hospice. We are committed to helping you through these challenging times and hope these practical, easy to read tips will help.

Know you have someone (well, actually, five someones) on your team.

We are all in this together!

Please connect with us at www.365CaregivingTips.com.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jul 23, 2017
• ISBN: 9781387118731

Book preview

365 Caregiving Tips: Hospitals, Care Facilities and Hospice, Practical Tips from Everyday Caregivers

365 Caregiving Tips: Hospitals, Care Facilities and Hospice, Practical Tips from Everyday Caregivers

By:

Pegi Foulkrod, Gincy Heins, Trish Hughes Kreis,

Richard Kreis, Kathy Lowrey

Cover Art:

Pegi Foulkrod

Thank you for reading our book! Caregivers need as much help and support as possible and, as caregivers ourselves, we want to share tips with others. This and other books can be purchased at 365CaregivingTips.com.

© 2017 365 Caregiving Tips and Pegi Foulkrod, Gincy Heins, Trish Hughes Kreis, Richard Kreis and Kathy Lowrey

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the authors or publisher.

The tips included in this book are from personal experience, common sense or common knowledge and are readily available through a variety of sources. These practical, common sense tips have been organized in an easy to read format for busy caregivers.

As you may have guessed, this book is not intended as a substitute for the medical advice of physicians. The reader should regularly consult a physician in matters relating to the loved one they care for, especially with respect to any symptoms that may require diagnosis or medical attention.

Published by 365 Caregiving Tips, Sacramento, California

ISBN 978-1-387-11873-1

First Edition

We shall never know all the good

that a simple smile can do.

Mother Teresa

Dedications

We would be remiss if we did not take this opportunity to thank our own loved ones for their patience and love while we learned about caregiving on the job.

Between emergency room visits, hospital stays, various stints in care facilities and under hospice care, our loved ones have taught us about resiliency, advocacy, love, dignity, humor and excellence.

Most of all, they taught us about miracles.

Our hearts are forever with the people we care for and have cared for with love and devotion.  We would not want it any other way.  These are the people who inspire us every day.

Pegi

to her beloved husband, Jimmy

Gincy

to her dad and to her husband, Steve

Trish

to her mom, Judi, husband, Richard, brother, Robert and

mother-in-law, Carol

Richard

to his mom, Carol and brother-in-law, Robert

Kathy

to her husband, Bobby; her grandmother, Ruby (aka Ma); her mom, Molly; a precious friend, Arnold; a foster hospice patient, JC and currently her brother-in-law, Ronnie

Introduction

The authors of the 365 Caregiving Tips books have one goal: help other caregivers by sharing practical caregiving tips. We are caregivers ourselves so we have come by these tips through research, common sense and trial and error. We want to save you the trial and error part.

There are a variety of situations caregivers tackle and all five of us have dealt with our share.  One of the reasons we became so close is because we were helping one another through these caregiving situations.

Kathy had experience managing incontinence in her husband so she gave Trish a few practical tips when Trish was struggling to manage her brother’s incontinence.

Trish had the opportunity to return the favor.  Trish’s brother has uncontrolled epilepsy so she gave Kathy support and practical tips when Kathy’s husband started experiencing seizures.

Pegi gives Richard wound care tips, Richard shares his pain management tips with everyone and Gincy and Kathy are generous in the dementia tips they share.

It is no wonder we all became fast friends!

Some of the most important tips we shared with one another involved hospital stays, care facilities and hospice.  So many caregivers face these same situations it was an easy decision to focus our next 365 Caregiving Tips book on practical tips to help caregivers through these very stressful situations. 

The 365 Caregiving Tips: Hospitals, Care Facilities and Hospice book is structured like our other books so the tips are easy to find, quick to read and practical enough to put into practice immediately.

We understand caregivers have enough to do and are stressed out enough when their loved one