By Jane A Malkoff MSN RN NP

• Exhaustion is powerful but never underestimate the strength and determination remaining in someone who is committed to their goal of making sure their loved one is properly cared for.

• Family Caregivers know more about their loved one than the rest of their team combined.  Care needs can be met with excellence when the medical team and others ask the pertinent questions, really listen to what the Family Caregiver answers, and a matching plan is implemented.

• Time is not about the clock on the wall, phone, or watch but it is about the capturing of quality of life whenever possible with someone we love.

• Services engaged for support are not tolerated when they do not work at least as hard as the Family Caregiver does.  Such service providers do not get very far with those who have a primary focus of life quality for a loved one.

• Egos can be smaller than I thought.  Hearts can be bigger than I imagined.

• The secret to happiness may truly exist in one another.

Over 44 million Americans each year provide unpaid caregiving in the United States. This care is an estimated $300 billion in economic value. Can you imagine the stress to the economy without such people in our midst?  It cannot be denied, we truly are in this together.  Let’s proceed accordingly.