How I Used Pinterest as a Caregiver

Pinterest is one of those sites that I find to be addictive to me. I can spend hours and hours looking at the site and pinning and repinning stuff.  Pinterest is a free site to join and it is basically a place where you can put links to stuff that you're interested in instead of creating tonnes of bookmarks, printing out stuff or clipping out magazine articles. It's kind of like a electronic corkboard for your ideas. 

Picture: posterize/freedigitalphotos.net

There are pages/categories (boards) there for caregiving (for caregiving and other specific things you have to enter it into the search bar) women's fashion, food and drink, fitness, home decor, quotes and much much more. I've been keeping all of my pins on one board but you can set up different categories for whatever interests you  for example, "my style" or "dinner ideas" or however you want to title your boards. 

As a caregiver I was using (and still use) Pinterest to find slow cooker, snack and freezer recipes, fangirl stuff (I love Doctor Who!), inspirational quotes, organizational tips, homemade cleaning and beauty products and ideas on fashion as I couldn't get out to buy new clothes. I was doing this because I was running out of ideas on what to cook for my husband and I and I was also beginning to suffer from caregiver burnout (although I didn't know it).

I was getting so fatigued that I started on Pinterest by looking to make mealtimes easier for me. I liked the fact that in the food and drink category you can find foods that are vegetarian, gluten free, paleo diet, "skinny" foods, slow cooker recipes, snack ideas, freezer meals and more. I'm all for making my life easier, especially when I'm tired and don't want to think about cooking, which is why I like all the slow cooker recipes and  freezer meal ideas such as the recipe I tweaked for slow cooker "roast" chicken. In fact, I still look in this category for meal ideas when I have no idea what to eat.

I continued to browse and found ideas on how to organize the fridge so that my husband could easily find something to eat when I wasn't there or I was asleep. I also found ideas that helped me tidy and decorate so that the husband was comfortable and our home looked nice (well, most of the time). The Women's fashion category helped me figure out what I had in my closet and how to organize it so I could find nice outfits to wear. Looking at the quotes kept me inspired so I could keep on going.

All in all I've found Pinterest to be a great inspirational site and very useful but I must say very addictive to me.

How do you use Pinterest as a caregiver?

Medify: A Cool Website for Research

As caregivers, researching about our loved ones conditions can be time consuming and confusing and I'm all for trying to make life simpler. 

I was thinking about writing about the benefits of aromatherapy and dementia when I discovered the website Medify. Medify basically looks at millions of research articles and arranges them in an easy to understand overview that can help you to put it to work. As they say:

"Our goal is simple: to help you and your family more easily navigate, stay current, and manage the often complex process of finding answers, while empowering you to get help from those you trust most."

 As I just discovered the website, I'm still learning about it but so far it's easy to use and you don't have to join to do the research. Joining the site ( for free) will allow you to save your research and create a private online support community that you can invite friends to, share your links, updates and other info and request help from others in your community. I also like the fact that that the information is "100% vetted by medical researchers" and that they comply with the HONcode  standard for trustworthy health information.

The site is in Beta so some diseases are harder to find and there are some errors in their terms (I looked at a study for spina bifida on speech training with computers and the acronym in the study was LSD (letter-sound) but Medify had it under LSD as in the drug) but there is still information there on related conditions that can be a good starting place for further research.

All in all this is a good site and I'd recommend it for those who are new to research as a starting point.

In the Bedroom (Not What You Think)

I was looking around on Pinterest today when I came upon this blog on Basic Bedside Care. It's a great starting point for anyone who is caring for someone who is bedridden - I just want to add a few more pointers.

1) Most medical devices can be rented. This includes things like adjustable beds, commodes, walkers, hoyer lifts, lifting recliners and air mattresses to prevent pressure sores. Renting is a great alternative if you are only going to be needing the device for a short period such as just getting out of hospital after a brief stay from a fall.

2) Have a comfortable chair in the room with arms and a good backrest. This is for guests, you and your loved one for when they feel able to sit up.

3) Find that old TV dinner table. They are useful for keeping supplies handy, for eating meals at that chair you have, playing games, and as a place for those get well cards and flowers. 

4) Some supplies you might not think of to have in the bedroom:  baby wipes- great for quick washes of face and hands as well as bottoms, hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes for commode seats, paper towel for spills, box of tissue, examination gloves, disposable masks for those guests who insist on coming over with a cold, a couple of bath towels for moving your loved one, under knees, backs and positioning to prevent pressure sores, and a plastic mug with a handle for water- it's lighter and won't break if it drops.

5) Keep the bedroom beautiful. This keeps it feeling like a home and more comfortable.

6) Talk to your health care workers about the positioning of medical devices such as commodes - where you'd like it and where it needs to be can be two different things.

7) A night light- This makes it easier to check on your loved one without having to turn on a light and disturbing their sleep also they can see where they are and where things are, like the commode or their water, thereby reducing the chance of falls and spills. 

8) A bed tray for eating and other activities like reading. They can be simple or as fancy as one that can hold a laptop or book while you are lying on your back.

Finding Support for Yourself

Finding support for yourself as a caregiver is one of the more difficult things to do as I am finding out. Part of the problem is the isolation that you feel and can have while being a caregiver. This is not to say that help is not out there, it's just tricky to find. So, I've been searching the net to find things for my mental health and general well-being. I'm just going to lay the information I've found so far into a list in no particular order.

http://www.meetup.com is a site where you can find groups who get together in your local area, anywhere around the world. These groups cover everything from a girl's nite out to travel, pub crawls, yoga, meditation and much more. Some groups are open to everyone and some to members only. They may ask for a nominal fee if you join ($1-$5) and you are expected to pay for your own meal or materials.

The Alzheimer's Society of Ontario has links to sites where there are online chats for caregivers as well as other resources.

Your local library may have groups from learning English, knitting, book clubs, health seminars, tax clinics at tax time, gardening, and more. Here in Toronto some of the groups are available in Cantonese, Mandarin, French and English.

These next three links I found by following one link to another after searching for caregiver online support groups Canada.

http://www.helpguide.org/elder/caring_for_caregivers.htm  A great article on making care-giving easier with links to other resources.
http://www.von.ca/en/caregiver-connect/home/ a great resource on all things for caregivers.
http://www.fcns-caregiving.org/ has great resources as well as web and tele seminars on a variety of subjects.

If your loved one has a particular illness, the foundation or society for that illness usually has peer support groups in your area as well as other resources.

I decided to toss in a copy of the Caregiver's Bill of Rights because this is what this post is really about.