by Emily Cooper
For busy caregivers who may be overwhelmed with written materials and too many details, it can be helpful to learn caregiving skills in a more entertaining and visual way. There are numerous websites that offer videos about caregiving, which often feature “real people in real circumstances facing real challenges,” that can make learning more enjoyable.
Terra Nova Films (a distributor of health films) sponsors the Visual Education Center for Caregivers, at www.videocaregiving.org. This selection of short films covers Alzheimer’s, stroke, falling, home care, and caregiver self-care— all with actual caregivers talking about their own experiences.
Caregiver Action Network, formerly National Family Caregivers Association, offers a great variety of educational tools for caregivers including its Alzheimer’s Caregiving Videos at http://www.caregiveraction.org/resources/alzheimer-videos.
AARP also has quite a selection of short videos on caregiving topics and skills, as well as other aging-related topics, at www.aarp.org (select Caregiving Resource Center, then scroll down to Videos).
And Family Caregiver Alliance offers the Caregiver College Video Series, which trains viewers on practical skills such as lifts and transfers, nutrition, dental care, bathing and dressing, toileting and incontinence, and behavioral issues – primarily for the care of persons with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia. You can find the series at www.caregiver.org (select Caregiver Education, then Video Channel). These particular videos don’t feature “real” people, but they’re useful nonetheless.
Watching videos can be a fun change of pace and can help family caregivers feel more informed and less alone. Caregiving, however and wherever it occurs, has a lot of commonly shared experiences, and it’s good to see that’s so.
~ Emily Cooper is Information and Assistance Specialist for Caregiver Programs with Boulder County Area Agency on Aging. For information on BCAAA caregiver services, call 303-678-6116 or email InfoCaregiver@bouldercounty.org/.