INSIGHT MARQUIS WHO′S WHO SIXTH EDITION SUMMER 2024 Sixth Edition Marquis Who’s Who INSIGHT 15 What are two key behaviors/personality traits that allow you to be effective in your role? Persistence and embracing change, and often being an early adopter of new things. Being willing to try new technology and being at the forefront of several technological developments as a teacher made my life simpler because I wasn't struggling to keep things the same. What is the most important issue/challenge you are dealing with in your industry? Many people misunderstand how demanding caregiving is. Until people get a wake-up call, they aren't busy acquiring the skills that a person would need to do that. So, it's tough sometimes to convince people that they need to think about it – that's a great challenge. At the same time, I think some aren't receptive at first because they don't realize it’ll apply to them. There’s also a lack of funding for helping people get the skills or the people they need, and there's little support. It's largely a volunteer effort for families. How do you feel your industry has changed/evolved? The first time I was a caregiver, the typical age was around mid-40s. It was assumed that a daughter would take it on for her parents, just as it was assumed that the mother would be the primary caregiver for children. That life continuum was the operating principle. People are beginning to look at that and say, “I'm not sure I can support that anymore.” What innovations or technologies do you feel will shape the future of your industry? Home care or hospital stay at home are mixed blessings. While it removes the necessity of going into another building and negotiating with everyone who’s caring for someone in a hospital, it creates a new load at home of becoming a hospital technologist, which you might not be prepared to do. There are more monitoring systems or artificial intelligence where things can be checked from home, although these are expensive. While I could see ways of using technology to make this easier, I don't know who’ll pay for it. It may not be universally available, and certainly, in countries that are not first-world countries, this won’t happen. In programs in Holland, there are small villages built for Alzheimer’s patients where they can move freely in and out of their houses. There's a monitoring system, but it's not visible to the residents, so they have more freedom. Those kinds of developments are things we should look at to humanize caregiving. It's not all about medicine, and it involves thinking about how to preserve the functionality of the person who takes on the bulk of the caregiving. What excites you the most about your industry? There’s a lot of hope in it. Despite the worries and challenges, people who offer care are doing it for the best of reasons because they love someone and have hope of making their lives better. That's certainly a wonderful human outcome to be striving for. If I can help someone save time, clear up confusion about an issue or find a resource, it lightens their day. If we could do more of that, we would have a better system and better outcomes for everyone involved.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTQ5NDA2