“There is a moral task of caregiving, and that involves just being there, being with that person and being committed. When there is nothing that can be done, we have to be able to say, ’Look, I’m with you in this experience. Right through to the end of it."
-- Dr. Arthur Kleinman, Harvard Medical School
-- Dr. Arthur Kleinman, Harvard Medical School
Alzheimer's Reading Room
The following is a doctor describing an interaction with a caregiver while examining the caregiver's father.
The man’s dark eyes began to fill with tears. I immediately, reflexively almost, started apologizing for not being able to do more for his father. But he stopped me.
“No, no,” he said, wiping the tears away with the back of his hand. “It’s not that. It’s not that at all.”
He paused and looked toward his father, still lying on the table in the room and smiling at the lights. “It’s just that no doctor has ever asked me if I was tired.”
For those of you that have been here for a while, you know I am a thinker. While thinking I often wonder why?
In this case, I often wonder why doctor's are not more adept at communicating with caregivers.
If you have the time, go read this thought provoking article that was written by a doctor for the New York Times -- Offering Care for the Caregiver.
After you finish reading come back here and share your thoughts and feelings with us.
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Original content the Alzheimer's Reading RoomBob DeMarco is the Founder of the Alzheimer's Reading Room (ARR). Bob is a recognized Influencer, speaker, and expert in the Alzheimer's and Dementia Community Worldwide. The Alzheimer's Reading Knowledge Base contains more than 4,000 articles, and the ARR has more than 343,000 links on the Internet. Bob lives in Delray Beach, FL.
