FROM THE EDITOR'S PEN
/Talking Care
/
Editorial List
Winging my way across the friendly skies
after spending the day in a room filled with highly motivated
family caregivers in Connecticut, I feel free to reflect on the
day. The event in
question was the third annual caregiver appreciation day hosted
by the good folks at the Eastern Connecticut Health Network. And the
event certainly lived up to its name.
After my session, the caregivers were feted with a
terrific lunch and then able to have a massage, visit with
make-up experts, play with two lovely service dogs (guess what I
chose to do) and/or continue a conversation with yours truly.
I believe that most attendees availed themselves of all
of the above choices.
During my general session, I discussed the
Reverse Gift List and asked them to write out an abbreviated
version which we could share with one another.
I have found that when I ask this of a group, there does
seem to be a similar theme running through the conference room.
In past cities, it has been asking people to help with
the laundry, getting handy friends to do small fix-it jobs
around the house or even, grocery shopping.
This day, nearly every answer pertained to talking.
Asking the kids to call their caregiving or care
recipient parents, having friends stop by to chat or my
favorite, the lady whose worksheet stated:
Son as a person
she trusted to help and
calling when her husband was watching the ball game so they can
share the experience, as the thing he can do to help. The
next line stated:
daughter-in-law as
person she could trust and
talk as the thing she could do to help.
Except in this case, there was one extra line which
stated:
too much. When I asked her
what that meant, she said although she would want her
daughter-in-law to call to talk, she usually talked too much.
Oh well, who said you can’t have too much of a good
thing?
Gary Barg
Editor-in-Chief
gary@caregiver.com
