First Posted: 1/15/2009

“One person caring about another represents life’s greatest value.”
— Jim Rohn

My grandmother had a dear friend who suffered from Alzheimer’s. At every visit with her, I would hear the latest saga on what her friend had done recently to cause the family anguish and anxiety. I think the worst story was when he somehow managed to escape from his house and was found later in the nearby woods.
While my grandmother was concerned for her friend, she was also concerned about the friend’s caregiver. “Bless her heart” she would say and then add, “What a terrible thing to have to go through. I can’t imagine having to take care of someone all the time.”
I realize now though, that more and more of us are going to be saying the same thing about a relative or friend and how hard it must be to have the responsibilities of taking care of someone every day.
The reality is that with our country’s growing elderly population, most of us are going to face this decision one day of how best to care for an aging family member or friend. Those of us who decide to take this upon ourselves will ultimately feel that we are making the best decision, but will also submit ourselves to the stresses of being a caregiver. After all, it seems that caregivers would be the ones who actually deal with more stresses than the actual person they are taking care of.
While I am certainly not an expert, I know that caregivers need special support but often they don’t feel that they can sacrifice the time to do so.
So, all you caregivers out there listen up. I’ve come up with a special poem just for you (and before you read this consider that I never said I was the next e.e. cummings or Longfellow). It is titled “Taking Care of You.”

Taking care of others is a hard job
The days are sometimes filled with sobs
Those days that you feel you are going to break
Just remember that you are giving yourself, for goodness sake!
To all you caregivers out there,
Remember that you must have time to spare —
Not for those that you care for day to day
But for yourself, so don’t delay!
Remember that you have a job that should come first at all times —
That is to take the time you need to relax and unwind.

Hopefully, my poem made some of you realize that being a caregiver means that you have to take care of yourself. If you all promise me to do so, I promise that in the future, I won’t torture you with another one of my poems.

Sarah Gray is the Information and Communications director for the Robeson County Health Department. You may contact her at [email protected] or at 671-3094.