Letter in the Charleston Daily Newspaper, Charleston, W.Va.

Dear Editor,

I would like to share my experience and some information with our community. I am the sole caregiver of my father who has dementia and aphasia. For those who are not experienced with the definition of these conditions I will explain them first. Dementia is the loss of ones cognitive or intellectual functioning. It can include losing the ability to completing tasks as common as remembering our name to completing complicated math equations. It affects problemsolving and judgement as well. Aphasia is a communciation disorder that inhibits a person to use or understand spoken or written words.
As we live in a time where people are living longer, there is a guarantee that we all may come to a time in our lives where we must be caregivers to an elderly loved one. Although there are alternatives to caring for these loved ones besides in our own homes, there are several people who are willing to make the sacrifice to do this. Some common reasons can even be due to guilt or fear of their loved one not receiving the proper care.
These are the reasons I am writing to you today. I would like to make available the information these individuals may need should they choose to have their loved cared for at home. The resources to obtain this information can be found in the following websites.
www.duq.edu/ancds
www.asha.org
www.aphasiahope.org
www.aphasia.org
There is no doubt that the education of family members about aphasia and affective communication strategies has a significant positive affect on the patient and caregiver relationship. This in turn can have a positive affect on the patients quality of life and the caregivers overall capability of maintaining their care at home. I am part of an advocacy group for caregiver education that meets every other week at a local church. We hope to provide our community with a newsletter that will contain information to guide caregivers that are experiencing the obstacles of taking care of their loved ones at home. I would appreciate it if you could print this letter or just the information contained in it to let people know there is help out there, if you know where to look. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Mildred Hodges, caregiver