Caregiver Backpack

Caring for a loved one is one of the most rewarding, yet often challenging responsibilities individuals can face. Very frequently family members are completely unprepared for the financial, legal, medical, and moral obligations associated with care giving, and feel overwhelmed by the urgent nature of the learning curve.

I know I did, when my mother fell, breaking her hip and shoulder, leaving my siblings and I to care for my father, who had been diagnosed the year before with dementia. Our lives changed immeasurably as we waded through hiring in-home caregivers, placing my father in an assisted living facility, finding an appropriate rehabilitation center for my mother, first cleaning out their home of 60+ years, then selling it, shuttling them both to doctor appointments, reading through complicated trusts, living wills, power of attorney documents, and medical authorization representative paperwork. In those early days the library proved to be an invaluable source of reliable, easy to understand, comprehensive information.

The Mercer County Library System, in partnership with the Mercer County Department of Human Services, Aging & Disability Resource Connection, recognizes that caregiving is a privilege, but also can be a tremendous challenge. That’s why we’ve developed The Caregiver Backpack, available for check out to library patrons at any of the Mercer County Library System’s nine branches. We hope that the materials included in the backpacks are informative and helpful to you in your journey as a caregiver.  Along with numerous flyers and pamphlets, which you are encouraged to keep, the Backpacks contain a list of helpful websites and the following print titles and DVDs:

A Caregiver’s Workbook: a guidebook to becoming a caregiver for your loved one, by Kathy Macaraeg

Age in place: a guideto modifying, organizing, and decluttering Mom and Dad’s home, by Lynda Shrager

Caregiver’s SurvivalGuide: Caring for yourself while caring for a loved onecaregiverssurvival, by Robert Yonover, PhD and Ellie Crowe

Elder Care: The Road toGrowing Old is not Paved, by Buckley Fricker

Peace of Mind for your aging Parents: a financial, legal, and psychological toolkit for adult children, advisors, and caregivers, by Kenneth O. Doyle

The 36 Hour Day: afamily guide to caring for people who have Alzheimer disease, other dementias,and memory loss, by Nancy L. Mace

Me Before You (2016) DVD

The Savages (2007) DVD

You’re Not You (2014) DVD

The Caregiver Backpacks are available for check-out for a 3 week period, and can be renewed four additional times, if they are not on hold for another patron. There is a $1.00 per day overdue fine associated with the backpacks, and they must be returned inside the library and not through our book or DVD drops.

You can find the above titles, and so much more at your local branch of the Mercer County Library System. In addition, the staff of the Mercer County Aging & Disability Resource Connection are available to offer assistance to you and your family as you navigate the somewhat overwhelming, oftentimes confounding, yet extremely worthwhile circumstances of caregiving.  They can be reached at 609-989-6661 or ADRC@mercercounty.org.

If you find the resources in the backpacks valuable, or if you have title suggestions for inclusion, we’d love to hear from you!  For your convenience there will be surveys included in the backpacks.

Thank you,

-          Ellen Brown,  Library Director