Medical alert system can help sandwich generation
March 24, 2011
When Barb Brzezicki lost her job after 14 years, she was already caring for her newborn son, Noah, and her infant daughter, Tola, according to The Winnipeg Press. In addition to being a parent, she was trying to be a good child to her own mother, who was developing Alzheimer’s disease.
From December 2009 onwards, she was trying to juggle all of these responsibilities, driving her mother to the doctor’s office and trying to watch over her children at the same time. The stress ended up getting the best of her and she wound up sick herself.
“I love my mom but I became, ‘Today we’ve got to do this, and tomorrow we’ve got to do that,'” Brzezicki told the news source. “I wasn’t enjoying the relationship of being a daughter….We totally lost that.”
Brzezicki decided to hire Jeanne Ireland to help with her day-to-day duties. Now, she has some free time to herself, even though she still visits her mother three to four times a day.
Caregivers who are part of the sandwich generation may benefit from the installation of medical alert systems in a senior’s residence. This can allow an older adult to instantly send a personal emergency response message if they suffer an unexpected injury and require assistance.
The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that there are currently 5.4 million Americans suffering from the disease and expects the condition to affect millions of baby boomers in the future.
