Can You Deal with Grief While Actively Caregiving?
Anticipatory grief is an odd type of grief that you’re likely to experience well before the “precipitating event” for the grief. Little losses that you and your senior experience along the way, like injuries or bad health news, also contribute to this type of advance grief. The good news is that you can find ways to manage it easily.
Home Care in Zionsville IN: Caregiver Grief
Stay Informed, but Keep Your Worries in Check
It’s vital that you know what’s going on with your senior’s health. That’s tough to keep up with when each piece of news makes you worry more, though. Even though that’s understandable, you need to do what you can to compartmentalize a bit. Stay as informed as you can about your senior’s future possible issues but save worrying for a specific time and place.
Process Your Feelings When They Crop Up
Just because you’re not allowing yourself to worry constantly, that doesn’t mean that you have to bottle up your emotions. In fact, if you do bottle them up, you’re much more likely to experience an explosion later. What you really need to be doing as you go is processing your emotions. Feel what you’re feeling, work through those feelings, and then allow them to pass through and leave. This helps your emotions to be less overwhelming as you sort through them.
Take Advantage of Help When You Can
When you’re dealing with grief and yet still have to be a caregiver, you have to be gentle with yourself. There’s a lot that still has to be done and you likely can’t just run away for as long as you want. What you can do is to take advantage of respite time a little more often than you might have been in the past. Bringing in senior care providers ensures that your elderly family member is in good hands and that you can take the time you need to rest and to do whatever else you need to do.
Do What You Can to Maintain Normalcy
Routines do a lot to support your senior and you in your quest to keep things moving along as normally as possible. If your routines don’t feel like they’re working, it might be time to make some adjustments. Changes in your senior’s health, mobility, or abilities can all create a situation that necessitates some small adjustments in how her day runs, too.
You’re likely to experience episodes of anticipatory grief at various points as a caregiver. It’s not always something you can predict, but it is something that you can manage compassionately.
If you or an aging loved-one are considering Elder Care in Noblesville, IN, please call the caring staff at Home Services Unlimited. Serving Greater Indianapolis Area. Call for Immediate Info & Assistance: (317) 471-0760
As a practicing Registered Nurse, Etelka was keenly aware of a void in quality patient care that could be provided in the home. She embarked upon a journey to develop a home health care agency that would exceed all expectations and become a trusted partner to physicians and patients.
A Distinguished Career From Nurse to Director of Nursing to President of Home Services Unlimited
Etelka’s distinguished career followed a logical progression to her position as President of Home Services Unlimited. She graduated as a nurse practitioner with a Bachelor of Nursing (RN) in 1972 from Meshgorya University in the Ukraine, close to where she lived with her family. She married her husband Phil in 1973 and decided in 1977 that they would relocate to the United States to be closer to family and to come to this land of opportunity. With an eagerness to continue her budding career, Etelka sat for and passed her Boards in the U.S. in 1979.
A Love and Talent for Working with the Elderly
Etelka began her nursing career in the U.S. at Colonial Crest, now part of Golden Living, where she was the In-service Coordinator, the Director of Training and Education and Director of Nursing, a position she occupied for several years.
With a group of partners, she co-founded Adept Corporation, which operated group homes for the mentally challenged. The business was successful and in 1996, Etelka sold her share to return to her roots, caring for the elderly.
In January of 1997, Etelka opened Home Services Unlimited as a fully licensed business to provide home health care. In her quest to learn to do better for her patients, she had already obtained a Masters in Healthcare Administration (MHA) in May of 1990 from the College of St. Francis. As President of Home Services Unlimited, Inc., Etelka guides the trusted, experienced care model Home Services Unlimited uses to continue providing excellent home health care.
Giving Back to the Community of Indianapolis
Volunteering for community services is a high priority for Etelka. Her memberships include the Indiana Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, Executive Women in Health Care and the Indiana Association for Home and Hospice Care, where she is a member of the Board of Directors.
Etelka has also served on the Board of Directors with Hooverwood Home, a highly regarded geriatric facility, since 1997 and as the President for 2005-2006. Through her community work, she has received several awards and accolades, including the Nora McFarland award in 2002, from the Indiana Association of Home and Hospice Care.
- Home Care Differences Between Grooming and Hygiene - April 24, 2023
- 4 Senior Home Care Tips to Get Out of a Food Rut - April 13, 2023
- Elder Care Tips For Managing Senior Stress - March 21, 2023