Making the Moments Count

For professional, volunteer, and family caregivers, an invaluable guide to creating meaningful and enjoyable activities for people needing on-going care.

What do you do when the meals are over and the dressing has been accomplished? Those caring for a person with an illness or disability who ask themselves this question can find a wealth of answers in Making the Moments Count. For professional, volunteer, and family caregivers, here is an invaluable guide for creating meaningful and enjoyable activities. Whatever the ages or circumstances of the people in a caregiving relationship, such shared moments can bring positive changes in the present and build memories to treasure in the future.

In Making the Moments Count, therapeutic recreation specialist Joanne Ardolf Decker provides practical, doable suggestions for spending leisure time with people of all ages who need care, whether they are recovering from an illness, facing a terminal disease, or growing older and more dependent on outside help. Caregivers are obviously important in providing help with feeding, hygiene, and health care. But they are also crucially important in caring for the mind and spirit. This book will help caregivers accomplish that part of their jobs when life is most difficult—when the need for joy and meaning is greatest.

Through descriptions of individual situations, Decker shows how caregivers can focus on:

•Keeping the mind active •General body movement •Influencing self-esteem and outlook •Making plans for each day •Keeping outings simple •Hobbies, interests, and feeling useful

In addition to case examples of individual situations and lists of suggestions for appropriate leisure activities, Decker provides information about the benefits of the activities and how to adapt them to fit different abilities, interests, and age groups. Checklists are provided for recording information about the person receiving care—information about which activities were meaningful in the past, what is possible in the current situation, and how activities might be enjoyed in the future.

Making the Moments Count is a valuable resource for professional caregivers and volunteers, and for family and friends who provide care for a loved one, whether in the home or in an institutional setting.