Welcome to National Family Caregivers Month. Yes, Elizabeth we do have our own month.  One that we share with National Hospice Month,  National Alzheimer’s awareness month and National GERD month, but I could think of no better company with which to be associated. This month also marks the tenth anniversary of this very website, caregiver.com.  The website was launched at a time when only eleven percent of households were online. Things were a little quieter then, but we still had raucous chat room sessions. One of my favorite things about online chat or discussion list is that people around the nation or  even the globe can spend time together sharing themselves with other caregivers, no matter what the illness or disease their loved ones are dealing with.

Times have certainly changed with regards to technology, as I type this at 40,000 feet winging my way to the Sacramento Fearless Caregiver event, but the free exchange of ideas between caregivers has not changed one little bit.  At an event in Monterey California last week (love those frequent flyer miles), a caregiver asked “how do you help a loved one who will not let you help them?” What a great question. Hands shot up across the room as many caregivers recognized themselves in the question.  The answers ranged from “with a lot of  kindness” and “always with kisses” to "make sure that they are rewarded and praised for the things that they can do and they will easier let you do the rest”  to “with smiles and lots of screaming into pillows”. I thought this was such a good question that I am opening it up to you to help answer. Send me your thoughts and comments on the question at hand and I will list the answers in our discussion board for all to see.

By the way, we really have come a long way baby, ten years ago we were celebrating National Family Caregivers Week.  On to National Family Caregivers Year!