The Anniversary Gift

I sat in the main waiting room of a hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida watching with great interest as two elderly sisters picked up a copy of the premier edition of Today's Caregiver magazine. The year was 1995 and frankly, I was exhausted, having picked up the first copies of the magazine from the printers loading dock just days earlier. I had spent the past few days during that year's Fourth of July weekend driving across South Florida leaving copies in hospital waiting rooms in the three counties.

The idea for the magazine had come to me in November of '94 as I ate breakfast in a restaurant on Miami Beach after having visited my grandmother during one of her many hospital stays.  It was hard to find my plate on that table since it was overrun with brochures from assisted living facilities, insurance companies, the Alzheimer's Association and even the state Ombudsman's office. I thought there had to be a better way to get information to caregivers and it came to me that there was a great need for a magazine dedicated to the needs of all family caregivers. My family certainly needed it. I was convinced that such a publication had to already exist which led me to an exhaustive search of bookstores and libraries for the next few weeks (this was in the good olde' days before the internet) and found no such publication to help my family's caregiving, which led me to the idea which would (little did I know at the time) change my life forever.

So here I was eight months later sitting with these two lovely sisters who had picked up the magazine in the hospital waiting room. As they looked through the publication, one lady suddenly brightened up and said, pointing to an article on diabetic foot care; "See Margaret, I told you that you shouldn't go barefoot." and then proceeded to go tip by tip through the article using it to support her contentions about her sisters diabetes care. She was using the article to help her as she cared for her sister. "Hey", I thought "maybe this will turn out to be something of value to caregivers after all." Since then, we have met caregivers from across the nation (and the world) who have made every single day of the past 12 years a true education in loving care.  And I eagerly look forward to the next 12.

Take care
Gary Barg
Editor-in-Chief
gary@caregiver.com
 

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Feature Article
Fighting Caregiver Fatigue By Kristine Dwyer, Staff Writer Calvin’s day begins before 5 A.M. He knows another exhausting day lies ahead...Continued
Additional Articles: De-Stigmatizing Urinary Incontinence By Michael Plontz Too often caregivers feel that their loved one’s incontinence is a natural result of aging, dementia, medication or disability....Continued Recognizing Depression in Elders By Jennifer B. Buckley “Depression in elderly people is a widespread and serious public health concern,” according to the National Institute of Mental Health. ..Continued
Guest Column
Sensory Stimulation What are Sensory Stimulation Groups? By Diane Alvy Why are they so necessary in Alzheimer specific day centers? I work in an Alzheimer specific day center. Each day that I’m there, I spend two hours running what I believe to be a very important group  . ...Continued
Caretips
Surviving The Storm  By Robert Goodman Hurricane season has arrived. Are you prepared? Do you know what to do? Do you know where to get the special assistance your loved ones need and how to get them to safety?. ...Continued
Carenotes
This feature is not available this week, but it will be back in the next newsletter.  However, last week's carenote with responses can still be viewed at: carenotes/2007/index.htm
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