antiquity
06-20-2002, 07:53 PM
Free caregivers course teaches ABCs of coping
06/20/02
JILL SMITH
For months now, 79-year-old Violet Teasley of Garden Home has been helping her husband walk, dress, go to the bathroom and eat.
Howard Teasley, a former Rosarian who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, emphysema and blindness in one eye, doesn't always recognize his wife of 55 years. Once, thinking she was hired help, he told her, "I may have to let you go at the end of the month."
"I thought, 'Oh goody. Please,' " the devoted Violet remembers wryly. Caregivers need a sense of humor, she said. "Otherwise you cry a lot."
Caregivers like Violet Teasley are the unsung heroes of our society, said Jill Getz, who helped organize a pilot series of "Family Caregiver Training" sessions that started June 11 and ends Tuesday.
The free sessions are being offered through the Washington County Department of Aging and Veterans' Services, where Getz is aging services coordinator.
Maryville Nursing Home and Northwest Parish Nurse Ministries also support the program, which will be offered again depending on demand.
The sessions cover every aspect of caregiving, from how to control constipation or avoid bedsores to issues of death and dying. It even includes the wonders of the sock aid, a contraption that lets a person pull on a sock without bending over.
The sock aid interested Marlene Rogers, an Aloha resident who has cared for her husband, Dick, since a series of strokes disabled and blinded him five years ago. "I have arthritis in my hands," she said. " know sooner or later it's going to be hard to do certain things for him."
Rogers joined Teasley and 18 other caregivers at the June 11 session, which drew spouses, daughters and a great-niece.
Equipment demonstrations Participants were impressed by physical therapist Randy Grossman's demonstration of the gait belt, which helps steady a person with balance problems or weakness or helps transfer the person from a bed to a wheelchair.
Grossman also talked about the proper way to use canes, wheelchairs and walkers.
"It's not that simple," said Beaverton resident Karen Bergen, whose great-aunt used to trip over her walker all the time and fell while using a cane.
Occupational therapist Peggy White seemed to offer a gadget or tip to compensate for every possible physical failing. There is a transfer bench for people who can't lift their leg over the side of the bathtub, a long-handled sponge for people who can't bend and twist to wash their feet or back, wash mitts for people whose fingers can no longer grasp a cloth, weighted forks and spoons to steady hands with tremors.
White urged people to comparison shop, particularly with more expensive equipment. One woman reported spending $895 for an electronic chair that tilts her husband into a standing position. That was after calling around and finding even higher prices. She later learned about DZ Enterprises/Seniors Helping Seniors, a Hillsboro company that deals in new and used equipment and offers the same chair for $495.
Coping with confusion The biggest lesson Teasley came away with was a tangential tip on how to handle dementia-like confusion.
"I have a tendency to try to straighten him out when he tells me something fantastic," said Teasley, who has tried to explain to her husband that his mother is no longer living and that he cannot drive a car.
But home health nurse Marcy MacDonald encouraged people to follow the example of Maryville Nursing Home, where a resident used to wander the hall asking, "Have you seen my mother?" Instead of explaining that her mother was long dead, staff would say, "No, but if I see her, I'll tell her you're looking for her."
"They're in a different reality," White said. "Don't bring them back to yours."
Caregivers have to expect that they will feel frustrated and overwhelmed at times.
"You can't feel guilty if you get angry at your husband," said Marlene Rogers. "The only thing good about his having the short-term memory loss is that if we have an argument, he forgets it."
You can reach Jill Smith at 503-294-5908 or by e-mail at jillsmith@news.oregonian.com.
06/20/02
JILL SMITH
For months now, 79-year-old Violet Teasley of Garden Home has been helping her husband walk, dress, go to the bathroom and eat.
Howard Teasley, a former Rosarian who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, emphysema and blindness in one eye, doesn't always recognize his wife of 55 years. Once, thinking she was hired help, he told her, "I may have to let you go at the end of the month."
"I thought, 'Oh goody. Please,' " the devoted Violet remembers wryly. Caregivers need a sense of humor, she said. "Otherwise you cry a lot."
Caregivers like Violet Teasley are the unsung heroes of our society, said Jill Getz, who helped organize a pilot series of "Family Caregiver Training" sessions that started June 11 and ends Tuesday.
The free sessions are being offered through the Washington County Department of Aging and Veterans' Services, where Getz is aging services coordinator.
Maryville Nursing Home and Northwest Parish Nurse Ministries also support the program, which will be offered again depending on demand.
The sessions cover every aspect of caregiving, from how to control constipation or avoid bedsores to issues of death and dying. It even includes the wonders of the sock aid, a contraption that lets a person pull on a sock without bending over.
The sock aid interested Marlene Rogers, an Aloha resident who has cared for her husband, Dick, since a series of strokes disabled and blinded him five years ago. "I have arthritis in my hands," she said. " know sooner or later it's going to be hard to do certain things for him."
Rogers joined Teasley and 18 other caregivers at the June 11 session, which drew spouses, daughters and a great-niece.
Equipment demonstrations Participants were impressed by physical therapist Randy Grossman's demonstration of the gait belt, which helps steady a person with balance problems or weakness or helps transfer the person from a bed to a wheelchair.
Grossman also talked about the proper way to use canes, wheelchairs and walkers.
"It's not that simple," said Beaverton resident Karen Bergen, whose great-aunt used to trip over her walker all the time and fell while using a cane.
Occupational therapist Peggy White seemed to offer a gadget or tip to compensate for every possible physical failing. There is a transfer bench for people who can't lift their leg over the side of the bathtub, a long-handled sponge for people who can't bend and twist to wash their feet or back, wash mitts for people whose fingers can no longer grasp a cloth, weighted forks and spoons to steady hands with tremors.
White urged people to comparison shop, particularly with more expensive equipment. One woman reported spending $895 for an electronic chair that tilts her husband into a standing position. That was after calling around and finding even higher prices. She later learned about DZ Enterprises/Seniors Helping Seniors, a Hillsboro company that deals in new and used equipment and offers the same chair for $495.
Coping with confusion The biggest lesson Teasley came away with was a tangential tip on how to handle dementia-like confusion.
"I have a tendency to try to straighten him out when he tells me something fantastic," said Teasley, who has tried to explain to her husband that his mother is no longer living and that he cannot drive a car.
But home health nurse Marcy MacDonald encouraged people to follow the example of Maryville Nursing Home, where a resident used to wander the hall asking, "Have you seen my mother?" Instead of explaining that her mother was long dead, staff would say, "No, but if I see her, I'll tell her you're looking for her."
"They're in a different reality," White said. "Don't bring them back to yours."
Caregivers have to expect that they will feel frustrated and overwhelmed at times.
"You can't feel guilty if you get angry at your husband," said Marlene Rogers. "The only thing good about his having the short-term memory loss is that if we have an argument, he forgets it."
You can reach Jill Smith at 503-294-5908 or by e-mail at jillsmith@news.oregonian.com.