Make regularly scheduled visits.

• Depending on the level of independence, those visits could be occasional or frequent. Use your visits to assess the person's needs.
• If you cannot visit often, consider having someone who lives near the person take responsibility for care. . . . [Read more]   

Gallup recently released data from surveys of employed caregivers, with three in-depth articles. The first article focuses on demographics of caregivers and a trend that the less income and education an American has, the more likely they are to be a caregiver. Twenty-one percent of Americans who make $36,000 or less report that they are caregivers, while only 15% of high income ($90,000+) employees report serving as caregivers. The authors speculate that . . . [Read more]

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices have been around a long time to help people communicate effectively. Traditionally, this type of assistive technology cost thousands of dollars and required sophisticated knowledge to set up and use. However, with the introduction of the iPad^®, its ready availability and the ease with which free or inexpensive applications can be developed and loaded onto them, AAC is now potentially available to a much wider audience . . .   [Read more]

Caregivers spend so much of their time attending to the needs of others that they sometimes forget to take proper care of themselves. We're including a quick and helpful checklist of sorts to help you stay healthy, prepared and confident in your ability to continue caring well for others . . . [Go to list] 

"Lana is a gift to FCA. In addition to sharing her administrative skills, she is incredibly flexible, patient and kind. She doesn't think twice about lending a hand to help staff and clients alike. The staff recently held an impromptu "we love you Lana" day to thank her for all she gives of herself everyday."