When Is Extra Care the Right Choice?

Caregiving is often nothing short of exhausting, and depending on how your support system is structured, caring for an ill patient, particularly a hospice patient, can overwhelm your life, often turning into a 24-hour a day responsibility that may quickly turn to burnout.

What is Burnout?

While it’s sometimes tough to recognize, caregiver burnout happens when people don’t get the support they need, or they try to do far more than they should. Often you see symptoms like fatigue and anxiety, as well as the common symptoms of depression. Because caregiving is such important work, though, caregivers often feel guilty about the symptoms themselves, and that can lead to additional problems.

Creating a Team Approach

When a caregiver feels he or she simply can’t move forward without support, whether burnout is in full swing or not, it’s then time to create a team approach to care. Medicare covers many support services, and often you can create a family-based team approach that will help ease everyone’s mind. No matter what teamwork approach may work in your situation, the goal is to ensure the primary caregiver gets the support he or she needs and to keep the lines of communication open because things can change so quickly.

At Hospice of the North Coast, we have registered nurses on call twenty-four hours a day. With a low staff to patient ratio, we’re ready to help, offering the personal care each individual patient needs. To learn more about how we can help you develop the team approach most needed right now, contact us today.