For Those Who Work with Family Caregivers: The Value of Gift Baskets

Family members of patients with serious chronic disease and terminal illness commonly experience significant stress as a result of all they must deal with as a part of their caregiving duties. Day-after-day physical demands can be exhausting. The heavy responsibilities can feel overwhelming. Caregivers may find themselves near the end of their rope physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. No wonder so many develop their own health problems.

In such a situation, most caregivers can use, and will appreciate, all the support, appreciation, and encouragement they can receive. While there are many ways to help make this happen, here is a simple, practical, inexpensive, and memorable way: a caregiver’s gift bag.

Colorful gift bags are available at most card shops for $2 or $3, but you can buy them on-line for as little as 30 or 40 cents in quantity. Take a look at www.uline.com for some ideas. Other options are www.papermart.com and www.bagsandbowsonline.com. You’ll also find colored tissue paper for the inside of these bags as well as specialty gift boxes.

Rather than make each caregiver gift bag alike, consider customizing each one by including those items that reflect the recipient’s individuality and unique needs. Some articles you’d offer a 20-year-old you might not offer an 80-year-old and vice versa. Items you’d give a woman you would not give a man. Having previously met a caregiver and having listened to some of their story, you could add items that relate to their interests, their personal needs, and their home situation.

Giving family caregivers a basket like this communicates several messages:

“You’re remembered right now, as well as the one in your care.”
“You are important.”
“You have your own needs too.”
“You’re worth being pampered.”

Once you develop a storehouse of these gift items—a storehouse that might be as small as a file drawer or a shelf in a closet—then you’re in a position to create individualized caregiver gift bags on a moment’s notice. Here are some items you might gather:

• Small bottles or tubes of lotion.
• Designer soaps.
• Bubblebath and bath salts.
• A mug with a small package of coffee or tea.
• Different sorts of sweets.
• Various baked goods.
• Packaged snacks.
• Candles and candle holders.
• A small box of note cards.
• A decorative notepad.
• A writing pen.
• A small journal.
• A small book of encouragement designed expressly for caregivers.
• A small book teaching them how to do caregiving.
• A relaxation CD.
• An uplifting DVD.

Gift certificates could be provided for:

• a massage session.
• a day spa.
• a drug store or card shop.
• an ice cream parlor.
• a meal for two at a restaurant.
• a movie theater.
• a bookstore.
• a department store.

Your caregiver gift bag need not be large. Half a dozen to a dozen items are plenty. Consider little splurges they might not normally buy for themselves. Consider also items that promote health, foster relaxation, and provide inspiration.

So go ahead: share a lovely, thoughtful gift bag or two to family caregivers you know or work with. Your gift will be remembered long after all the items inside have been gratefully enjoyed.

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“The Thoughtful Caregiver” Website: A New Resource for Family Caregivers

Jim Miller has developed a free web-based resource to provide encouragement and support to family caregivers as they go through their days. There are more such people than you might imagine.

On any given day, more than 25% of all Americans provide care for a chronically ill, disabled, or elderly family member or friend. That’s 50 million caregivers! Of these millions, over 60% work outside the home. Almost one in five family caregivers provides 40 or more hours of care a week.

The majority of these people are women, but the number of men is increasing, rising to over 40% of the total. One-third of the caregivers of older people are themselves over 65. 1.4 million children under the age of 18 provide daily care for an adult relative.

“The Thoughtful Caregiver” is designed expressly for caregivers who are family and friends, but professional caregivers are among the regular readers. New posts are made three times a week—every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Each post is built around a single theme and includes Jim’s photography as well as his writing. Various elements in “The Thoughtful Caregiver” are made to be easily downloadable so they can be printed out or stored on one’s computer and viewed again and again. There are also short inspirational videos that Jim has created.

We invite you to share this creative new resource with those who can benefit from the helpful messages.

The address is thoughtful-caregiver.com.

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12 Thoughts to Help New Caregivers

Jim Miller writes:

“A couple of years ago I spent quite a bit of time interviewing and photographing hospice families in their homes for a public presentation I was creating. Some of these families had been dealing with caregiving for a dying relative for some time. Others were comparatively new to this role.

“I quickly became aware of what a stressful situation this was for some families, while other families seemed able to take this more in stride. What made the difference? What did some individuals and families learn and know that others did not? In addition to speaking with family members themselves, I also interviewed hospice social workers, chaplains, and nurses.

“I didn’t plan it at the time but those interviews led eventually to a small book that we released recently at Willowgreen: This Time of Caregiving: Words of Encouragement and Hope. Christen Pettit Miller, a hospice chaplain, and I wrote it especially for new family caregivers but in such a way that other caregivers could also find it useful and confirming.

“We isolated twelve basic truths which formed the core of this writing. Written directly for the caregivers themselves, those truths are:

1. If things seem unusual right now, that is really quite usual.
2. It is common to wonder how you can possibly handle all that is now yours to handle.
3. The ways of caregiving are many and varied.
4. While there is much right now that you do not, and cannot, know for sure, answers will come.
5. The age-old advice was never truer: one day at a time.
6. Must you surrender to this experience? Certainly. And absolutely not!
7. You are not alone.
8. While you may feel ill-equipped for this role, chances are that you are better equipped than you think.
9. Wisdom awaits you on all sides.
10. The best caregivers make provisions for their own care.
11. Amid all the ordinary and the practical, your caregiving can also have a sacredness.
12. This time of caregiving can have its own richness.

“Christen and I developed each of these ideas in easy-to-read sections, each of which included the liberal use of quotations. You’ll find exactly what we wrote for the fifth and sixth truths HERE (PDF file).”

This book is available at Willowgreen, Inc. at this LINK.

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