Getting the word out on caregiving

Rick Lauber knows a lot about caregiving for older people and much of that knowledge is based on personal experience.

Lauber, an Edmontonian, acted as caregiver for both his mother, who had Parkinson’s disease and leukemia, and his father, an Alzheimer’s sufferer.

Since then he has been attempting to help other caregivers by sharing what he learned as a result of his experiences.

In 2010, Self-Counsel Press published his book the Caregiver's Guide for Canadians.

In the book, Lauber describes his own caregiving experiences and provides recommendations for other prospective, new and current caregivers (including adult children, friends, spouses and/or partners).

“I like to think that my book has been written from a very personal perspective,” he has said. “There are other books on the market about caregiving and a number of conditions, but a lot of them are written by professionals. So my book offers a more everyday, anecdotal experience.”

The book is intended to provide encouragement and support for caregivers, along with practical advice on how to care for elders in need. It deals with issues such as balancing caregiver responsibilities with personal life, applying for guardianship and/or trusteeship hire a professional caregiver should the need arise and when a move to assisted living is necessary.

The Caregiver's Guide for Canadians is available at Chapters bookstores, at Amazon.ca, and from the Self-Counsel Press web site. The price is $17.95.

In addition to promoting the book, Lauber also works to get his message about caregiving out through writing articles, giving interviews, a blog and a twitter account, @cdncaregiver.

“I do see that more resources are becoming available,” he remarked. “That’s a good thing. But I think a lot of the resources are still difficult to connect with for family caregivers. I’m not sure why, whether it’s a lack of advertising or a lack of public knowledge, but it is unfortunate because the resources are there to help.”