Helping Families Cope – You Are Not Alone

Each day is fraught with fear and frustration for those who live with Alzheimer’s disease. They experience the fear of getting lost in their neighborhoods or not remembering the faces of those they love and the frustration of not being able to perform simple, familiar tasks.

Those with Alzheimer’s disease are not the only ones whose lives are filled with fear and frustration. As a caregiver for someone with Alzheimer’s disease, you also experience the consequences of the disease. You are not alone; more than 80 percent of the people with Alzheimer’s are cared for by a family caregiver.

Some family caregivers are famous – like former American first lady Nancy Reagan, who cared for her late husband, former President of the United States, Ronald Reagan.

Most family caregivers aren’t famous. They are individuals that have numerous responsibilities and are often caring for other family members at the same time. Leslie, a single mother caring for a young daughter and her 91-year-old grandmother with Alzheimer’s disease, in her home, helps to illustrate this situation:

“Because my grandmother is home alone during the day, I come home over my lunch hour to check on her. Grandmother has been living with me for three years, but still thinks she is visiting. At first, she was quite independent and resisted any kind of help, saying she could do everything on her own. One day I discovered that she had gone into the back yard, locked the door behind her and spent the afternoon sitting in the sun. The temperature reached 100 degrees that day, and Grandmother had not eaten or drank anything all day. This made me realize that for her safety and wellbeing, she shouldn’t be alone anymore.”