Happy New Year!

Dear Caregivers,

September always feels like a second "New Year" to me. Perhaps it was all those years in school, where I followed up a summer vacation with sharpening pencils, getting new notebooks, and clearing off my desk: It puts me in the mood to make a fresh start on things!

For a caregiver of a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s, that September urge for a fresh start can be a good feeling as well. For many caregivers it may feel as if every minute is filled with something that needs to be done, with your constant managing of your loved one's meals, medications, and appointments. And that can mean pushing aside big, important projects for "sometime later."

So, in the spirit of the “September New Year,” I propose that you make this the time that you finally get started on one of those long-term projects that you might have been putting off. Here are some project ideas to help get you started:

Build a “Caregiving Command Center:” Choose an area in your home where you gather all the necessary caregiving information you need into one place. It might be a paper folder, a shoe box, or a computer file. Pull together items such as a list of medication, key phone numbers, legal documents, a calendar, critical contact information, and other items that you have found yourself accessing on a regular basis. Start with gathering only five things, perhaps, and build from there. You have begun!

Tackle One Big Thing You’ve Been Avoiding: Perhaps you have put off having a conversation with a loved one that involves a touchy subject. Maybe it’s about curtailing driving, creating an Advance Directive, or going to an Adult Day center. Or maybe it’s simply making an appointment to check out a nagging symptom that’s been happening for a while. When a project feels hard to start, make the first step easy: Simply “make a plan to make a plan.” That is, put an actual appointment on your calendar for yourself, when you will take the time to think through how to get started. You don’t have to solve the whole problem that day! You just have to make it a little easier to begin. Your NAN Navigator can help you think through how to approach such a conversation.

Organize Your Posse: As a caregiver, you continually run the risk of being the “go to” person for every task that arises. And when people ask “how can I help?”, sometimes it feels as though finding something for them to do is yet one more task for you to manage. Begin by making a list of family members and friends, and then make a list of things that need to get done on a regular basis, such as grocery shopping, picking up medicines, and driving your loved one to an appointment. Then start assigning specific tasks to various people who may be best suited for those activities. Then, the next time someone asks “How can I help,” you are ready to assign them a specific thing that you need to get accomplished. You might even begin keeping a calendar of when certain people do certain tasks.

With a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, you never know exactly what lies ahead in the coming months. But you can put a few things in place today that may make tomorrow a little easier.

Here are some more resources to help you get started: