The "Smart" Approach to Caregiving and Avoiding Resentment

Caregivers dedicate most of their time, thought, and effort to the benefit of another person, whether it be a loved one or a client. Often, the care receiver is unable to show their gratitude due to illness or even embarrassment of being dependent on someone else. Using the Smart Caregiver line of fall prevention products, caregivers can claim back some of their own independence and freedom, without having to feel guilty or neglectful of their care receiver.

Caregiving isn’t simply a job, it’s a lifestyle. The everyday heroes who care for the disabled, elderly, and the sick rarely get a well-deserved break to tend to their own needs. Without the opportunity to care for themselves, how are caregivers expected to be responsible for a whole separate person? New and affordable innovations within the durable medical equipment (DME) and home medical equipment (HME) market seek to address this pain point among the selfless caregiver population. The Smart Caregiver line of products features an assortment of devices that alert a caregiver before a fall is likely to happen, so the caregiver does not need to keep a constant watchful eye over the receiver. The technology that Smart Caregiving products feature is the same technology that hospitals use worldwide to be able to split the attention of limited nurses and staff among dozens of patients without compromising quality of care. Now that this technology is becoming more readily available to the consumer market, we recommend utilizing it to the fullest to capitalize on the immeasurable benefits.

There are several different categories of Smart Caregiver devices, bed pads, chair pads, window alarms, door alarms, motion sensors, floor mats, and call buttons with pagers, all aimed to be useful for a particular situation, each device works using two fundamental features; an alarm and a trigger. The basic functionality of one of these fall-prevention alarms is to alert the caregiver remotely via a pager or alarm that the care receiver has moved into a potentially hazardous situation. The triggering event can range from the care receiver wandering near a door equipped with a motion detector leading outdoors, to the care receiver attempting to get out of a chair or bed without assistance. Before consumer accessibility to similar technology, caregivers would need to be looking directly at the elderly, ill, or disabled person to realize when they are putting themselves into a risky situation and require assistance. Now, with the use of alarm systems, the caregiver doesn’t even need to be in the same room. The caregiver is free to live a life of their own, cooking, watching television, or pursuing any other interest all while remaining accessible to assist the care receiver when a moment of need arises.

Resulting from automating the caregiving process with technology, caregivers need not feel guilty or neglectful to spend a moment of their day on themselves, and care receivers are not forced to directly ask for assistance, an embarrassing and avoided conversation by many older people who seek to maintain their independence.

Caregivers must care for themselves. There’s nothing selfish, wrong, or irrational about self-care. Yet, many caregivers struggle to find the time or opportunity to spend more than a minute on their own needs. Giving caregivers back their independence has an immense benefit on themselves and the care receiver, who will not have to face being resented for the overwhelming responsibility that they represent to the care receiver.

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