What do comfort seats, caregiving workbooks, caregiver friendly assist jackets, loving conversations, and medication tracking systems all have in common?  These are descriptions of some of our Caregiver Friendly award winners from past seven years.  They also represent thousands of hours of loving labor by their producers and manufactures, all working with one thought in common, “What can I do to help the life of the family caregiver become easier?” Every year, we are truly impressed by the quality of the entries into the award program, but what I am most excited about is the wide variety of industries that are now sending in entries and the incredible work they are producing with family caregivers in mind.  We have been asked to extend the deadline this year to accommodate some of these organizations and are happy to comply.  Therefore, the new deadline for entries into the Caregiver Friendly Awards has been extended to April 15, 2009.

We at Today’s Caregiver magazine and caregiver.com, launched the Caregiver Friendly Awards in 2002 to celebrate products, services, programs, books and media designed with the needs of caregivers in mind. Entries for products include wheelchairs, consumer medical devices, disposable products and accessible devices. Among the entries for services and programs are insurance, medical and EAP programs, care and case management organizations, Long Term Care facilities, homecare and transportation organizations, as well as non-profit agencies. The entries for books concentrate on caregiver friendly books (informative, educational, inspirational, and insightful). Areas encompassed by the media entries are audio, video and website producers.

Award winners will be recognized at Today’s Caregiver Magazine’s Annual Fort Lauderdale Fearless Caregiver Conference. Winners will also be highlighted on caregiver.com where last year’s winners can presently be found and in the pages of Today’s Caregiver magazine.

Please share your labors of love with family caregivers and let them know that someone out there is thinking of them.  Award entry applications can be found online at www.caregiver.com or by calling 800-829-2734.

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Take care

Gary Barg
Editor-in-Chief
gary@caregiver.com

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Take a look at the new books in our bookclub.  Listen to the interview with two of the authors.
Feature Article
Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency and Caregivers
By  Cheryl Ellis, Staff Writer
With a whopper of a name, Alpha-1 was once nicknamed “The Viking Disease” because it was prevalent in geographic areas where the Vikings traveled.  Alpha-1 is a protein that is manufactured in the liver, and balances the enzyme that helps with keeping the lungs “clean.” ....Continued
Additional Article
Don’t Let Depression Get You Down
By  Michael Plontz Caregiving can sometimes be a depressing venture. Not only does it usually involve someone we love deteriorating before our eyes, our own lives become completely rearranged. ....Continued
Guest Column
A Balancing Act: Simple Steps to Help Seniors See the Need for Home Modifications
By  Mary Becker-Omvig, MS, OTR/Lfa
They are questions caregivers face on a daily basis. How do we balance between too much and too little care? How do we balance what we think needs to be done with what might be most helpful?  ...Continued (Do you have a story? Tell us.)
Caretips
The Home Caregiver’s Guide to Coping  With the Hospitalization of Your Loved One
By Deidre A. Grab
As a caregiver, one of the most stressful things you may experience is the hospitalization of your loved one, especially if the hospitalization is in an intensive care unit. As an intensive care unit nurse for many years, I have had the opportunity to work with many families in this situation.. ...Continued
Carenotes
I am taking care of my 80 year old father who has early stage Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. He hardly speaks, only when you ask him something and even then it's like pulling teeth. He sleeps a lot and eats with his eyes closed most of the time. It becomes very difficult most days to deal with him. I have to bathe and dress him, but he can feed himself, sometimes. He attends adult day care, reluctantly. How can I get him to communicate and get more out of life? Is he supposed to be that tired all the time or is he just having a hard time dealing with his issues?? Answer This Week's CareNote
Caregiver.com Support Group Directory. Click here for information about any caregiver support groups in your area. Caregivers need your help. Please add information about your local support groups to our Support Group Directory. Include the name of the group, where and when it meets, city and state and support group leader contact information.
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