Caregiver Corner
If you are a partner, child, sibling, parent, friend, or another loved one of someone living with serious illness, you are a family caregiver. This means you take on lots of responsibilities to care for your loved one, which may include lifting, bathing, preparing meals, driving to and attending doctor’s appointments, dealing with challenging behaviors, managing medications, and much more.
Caregiving can be very hard and may cause you to miss out on things that are important to you, such as work hours or jobs, hobbies, and time with friends and family. You may even face physical, emotional, and social health issues, which 1 out of 5 caregivers experience when taking care of a loved one. Palliative care can help make things easier—for you and your loved one living with serious illness.
We encourage you to explore this Caregiver Corner by reading and listening to stories, watching videos, checking out helpful resources and tips, and much more.
Caregiver Stories
Navigating Caregiver Burnout
In this caregiver story, Mary Tibbats talks about how she is a caregiver for her 88-year-old mother, Mary Nolan, who has diabetes. She shares how after a rehab visit at the hospital to improve her mother’s blood flow, Mary Nolan went into congestive heart failure. Palliative care helped coordinate her mother’s care and improve her quality of life, and supported Mary Tibbats when she was exhausted and experiencing caregiver burnout. We also hear from Dr. Leanne Yanni, a doctor on Mary Tibbat’s palliative care team, about how palliative care made a difference for the entire family. This story shows how important palliative care can be for patients and their caregivers.
Finding Joy
Gail Sheehy has written about many important events in American history and became an expert on family caregiving with her 2010 book, Passages in Caregiving: Turning Chaos into Confidence. She understands the worries and challenges that family caregivers face. For 17 years, Gail took care of her husband, which inspired her to write a play called Chasing the Tiger. In it, she shares her caregiving struggles and successes.
Working with the Center to Advance Palliative Care, Gail made a video version of Chasing the Tiger, showing its most moving scenes to teach and inspire others. Her video shows how she and her husband discovered palliative care, which helped them find joy even while living with a serious illness.
Blogs
Discover hundreds of helpful blogs that discuss top-of-mind topics for people living with serious illness and their families. There are lots of blogs you can look through, but to get started, here are a few that we recommend:
- When Should You Ask For Palliative Care?
- What to Expect from Your First Palliative Care Meeting
- Palliative Care Helps the Caregiver, Too
- Stressed About Bills? These Nonprofits Offer Financial Aid to Patients and Families
Podcast
Listen to short episodes of our podcast, where people living with serious illness and their loved ones talk about how palliative care has helped them.
Other Helpful Resources and Links
Looking for more caregiving resources? Check our helpful resources and links.
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