SEC-S13/W4 | "The Role of the Caregiver ♥️ "

Steem greetings from the motherland-Cameroon to friends of the Healthy Steem community. It is week 4 of the season 13 engagement challenge and we are required to share ideas about the topic "The Role of the Caregiver ♥️”.

My presentation will focus on the guiding questions below and I hope you all find pleasure in reading through.

Have you played the role of caregiver or do you know someone who has put it into practice? Tell us about it.

A caregiver is someone who renders help with someone’s daily activities. This could be a paid job or unpaid job depending on who is rendering the service and on who. I have had the opportunity to render a caregiver opportunity for free with my grandmother.

My grandmother was critically ill and it was during the holidays. As a kid, I was so excited to care for my grandmother. My mom was busy and could not leave my younger siblings alone to care for the mother. She asked me to go and stay with my grandma for some time and assist her by washing her clothes, cooking for her, and giving her medications on time.

My excitement was cut short because my grandma made life so unbearable for me. I had to call my mom to come over while I went back to our house. She complained about everything I did and at times threw insults at me which made me angry most often.

At times, she will request a meal, and I will run around preparing the meal. Just for me to serve her the meal and she will say that was not what she requested and will refuse to eat the meal. It was so nerving and as a child, I was so annoyed with such behaviour.

It was during my experience with my grandmother as a caregiver that I knew they are to be rewarded well for the service rendered especially to elderly people.

Do you think that caring for a sick person should be a team effort or the work of a single person?

I am a fan of teamwork because I always believed that teamwork makes it easier to achieve better results than an individual.

Caring for a sick person requires a lot of attention and comfort because it plays an important role in the patient’s psychology and the patient heals faster.

According to my opinion, caring for a patient or sick person should be teamwork because a single person cannot have all the expertise to produce better results.

As a team, different expertise is put together and better results are achieved. For instance, one person can be good at putting a smile on the sick person’s face, the other team member might just be good at giving medications on time, and the other team member might just be good at sanitation, etc.

What qualities do you think a caregiver should have?

The following are some 4 qualities I think as a caregiver, you should be able to carry on. They are as follows:

Communication Skills: As a caregiver, the way you communicate should be of utmost importance because some sick persons can be nervous and irritating at times. The way you communicate with sick persons determines the kind of relationships you build between the caregiver and the patient. Once communication does not flow well, the relationship between the two is more likely to cause more stress.

Patience: As a caregiver, you need to be patient to be able to offer good services. There are times you leave your comfort zone and are forced to do other activities just to please the patient.

Show Empathy: We all know some sick persons are very aggressive and abusive towards their caregivers. Try as much as possible to remain calm and place yourself in the patient’s shoes.

Trustworthy: As a caregiver, you should be trustworthy enough to make things happen without any doubts. The moment you start giving doubts, you are no longer trusted by the patient.

What advice would you give to a person who is performing this role?

We all know that this role is challenging especially when dealing with elderly persons or persons with disabilities. They turn provocative and can cause you as a caregiver a lot of stress. In all, still, show them love and treat them happily.

When faced with a challenging situation with a patient, take a break and have some time for yourself. The break will be a time for you to do self-control and reflection. This will help you boost your mental health.

The last advice I will give to caregivers is to seek help and speak out when faced with challenges. You cannot take proper care of a sick person if you are not in good health.

This is the end of my presentation and I am inviting @josepha, @majerius, @saxopedia, @eliany and @mesola to share their opinions about the topic of this week's challenge.