HEALTH
By Toria Huff-O’Bryan, TheHappyExecutive.com
Caregiver: chances are,
you’ve been one in the past,
are currently one, will be one,
or will need one in the future.
selves, would very much like to do those
tasks and much more for themselves and
others. The fact that they are unable to
do their own laundry may be a source of
heartache for them. And, if they are recuperating from an injury or illness, they
To Scrabble players, “caregiver” is a nine
may have lots of time on their hands,
letter word that represents 15 points. And, so to speak, to think and even dwell on
when we look up this word in a dictionary, what they cannot do at this point in their
we find that a caregiver is defined as a
lives. Sitting there watching others do for
person who provides care to someone
them when they used to be able to care
else who may have health impairments
for themselves can be a devastating and
preventing them for caring for themselves. painstaking task.
This care may be paid or unpaid and given either temporarily or on a regular basis. While you read this, thoughts of your
mother, your father, a relative or friend
Some examples of people receiving care
may come to your mind. Just think how
are an elderly person with a medical con- your loved one may feel when they are
dition, a dependent child, or any other per- not physically able to put their own shoes
son experiencing difficulty with the many
and socks on themselves. Maybe it is
activities of daily living. These activities of temporary, although that mere and simple
daily living or (ADLs) may include: driving thought can be very humbling. Perhaps
to a doctor or therapy visit, medication re- the next time we bend over to put our
minders, helping to bathe or dress somesocks and shoes on ourselves, we will be
one, making a hot cup of coffee or tea,
blessed with a feeling of gratitude and a
preparing meals, washing dishes, laundry, much deeper understanding of how our
and a myriad of other household chores.
loved ones may feel.
Perhaps, some of us may take those everyday chores for granted and possibly
even complain about washing those dirty
dishes in the sink. It is quite possible that
those people who are physically unable to
complete those everyday tasks for them-
According to history, the first documented use of the word caregiver originated
in 1966 although it really did not become
widely used until the 1980s. Some people
may assume the role of a caregiver to