Starting Out
While some caregivers come to the role with prior experience, many new caregivers only know what they learned in health class in school, from watching TV programs, or through life experiences. As a result, realizing all that it takes to manage someone else’s care suddenly becomes overwhelming when they first begin to take on the care of someone else. The caregiver feels like they must learn everything doesn’t know how or where to start.
Helping caregivers figure out what they need and where to get it is the focus of “Starting Out.” Some fundamental topics are helpful for all caregivers to know. “First Steps” presents the basics and then provides additional details you’ll need with “Understanding Healthcare,” “Legal Considerations,” and “Money Management.”
First Steps
As a new caregiver, you may feel overwhelmed by the amount of information you need to take in at one time. Indeed, you have a lot to learn, and you likely received it in random order. First Steps provides an organized approach to getting started as a caregiver. How to assess your situation to create a plan begins the process. Once you have a plan drafted, you move on to implementing it.
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Understanding Healthcare
Caregivers must understand how hospitals and doctor’s offices function, medical terminology, how to interpret test results, and who’s who on the healthcare team if they hope to successfully achieve the services desired. In addition, you may want to hire someone to help you with your caregiving duties in the home. If you do, you become an employer and are subject to Hiring laws.
I attempt to cover the laws and regulations that caregivers encounter the most providing links to additional resource information as appropriate to the topic.
Legal Considerations
Healthcare is heavily regulated because negative outcomes can result in death or lifetime disabilities. Therefore, laws, rules, and regulations exist on just about every healthcare topic. In addition, personal privacy, fair and equal access to treatments, rights to decide, and so many other topics keep too numerous to list make it difficult for new caregivers to navigate the healthcare system without stumbling over a roadblock. I’ve worked in healthcare for 30 years and am familiar with many of these laws. My goal is to explain them to you in terms that are easy to understand to help you negotiate healthcare systems with greater efficiency.
Money Management
Caregiving is expensive. Even if you have insurance, you pay for most of the medical supplies and other essentials out of your personal savings. All caregivers need supplies but knowing where to find them and which are the best buy for the least amount of money is a challenge. Other caregivers can help give you suggestions with that. Help with all the medical and supply bills may come from applying for Medicare or Medicaid if you qualify. However, rules are very restrictive.