More Than Three Caregivers

 

It is said that if you take care of a patient with Alzheimer’s at your home, you need more than three caregivers. A patient with Alzheimer’s needs a 24-hour care every day. We should recognize that caregiving is a job. Being paid or unpaid does not matter. When only one or two workers are assigned in a workplace needing 24-hour work every day, they get sick. It should be eight hours per person, so that workplace needs more than three workers. A patient with Alzheimer’s should not be taken care of by less than three caregivers.

In our case, my father, my wife, and I had achieved a short-term three-caregiver system. Before I got married, the caregivers were just my father and me. After my father passed away, the caregivers were just my wife and me. Of course, we often used day service and short stay. However, we had difficult days.

A patient with Alzheimer’s needs three caregivers, but if the caregivers want to pursue their careers and their hobbies, there should be more caregivers.

Taking care of a patient with Alzheimer’s is not a complicated job. It is simple if it is for a short time. However, many caregivers get sick, commit suicide, and even commit murder in Japan. These situations happen because most of them do their jobs for a long time without any break. Any job could make people insane if that is the case.

In Japan, hundreds of caregivers commit suicide and murder. The government is trying to establish socialized caregiving systems. Of course, we need those systems, but we should treat caregivers as family members, relatives, and neighbors. That is a respectable lifesaving action.

Picture by hobi