Three Caregivers, One Story: Deborah Duppins, Clarence Grant, Pamela Thomas
The three siblings in the Grant family are caretakers for their 78 year old mother, Lula Grant, who has Alzheimer's. They took over her care following the death of their father in April 2008, as a loving team of Alzheimer's caregivers.
That was when Deborah moved out of her apartment and in with her mother. This resulted in a complete change in the daily schedules of Deborah, her brother Clarence and her sister Pamela. They find they have to continually adjust their schedules weekly and have even had to take unplanned time off from work to care for their mother.
Between the three of them, the Grant siblings handle cooking, housecleaning, shopping and taking their mother to the hospital and to doctor's appointments. They also manage her medications and dress her.
Deborah, Clarence and Pamela have gotten caregiver support from the Alzheimer's Association with finding a sitter and getting various services. But they say it gets expensive by the end of the month with medications and sitter payments.
They find that their biggest challenge with their mother is her forgetfulness, which causes her to continually misplace things. They say that her mother's greatest frustration is being so dependent on her children. It's hard for her to sit there and wait for us to help her.
Their primary source of caregiver information right now is from the Alzheimer's Association and AARP web sites. They look forward to using Ask Medicare.
We agree that caregiver resources would be great for us and for others in our situation. Every day is both journey and a challenge with our mom.