The role of a caregiver [Music playing] Speaker 1: Caregivers are vital to exceptional medical care. Expert, Saquena Atkins, joins us to tell us more. What is the role of a caregiver? Speaker 2: The role of a caregiver is really to be a patient advocate, to be the primary companion and support person for the patient. And during medical appointments, to assist with medical treatment, giving psychosocial information to the medical team that can be helpful. It's very important in a huge job that caregivers take on. Speaker 1: Our caregiver's usually a family member. Can there be friends or is it someone that you hire? Who is a caregiver? Speaker 2: Usually, caregivers are anyone that is involved in the patient, in the family setting. It could be a neighbor, it could be a friend, it could be a family member. It just depends on who's in your circle. Speaker 1: What kind of role do they play? I mean, what kind of jobs do they do for these folks? Is it just medical? Is it emotional? All of the above? Speaker 2: It's all of the above. Caregivers generally take on the responsibility that the patients had prior to being diagnosed, so that's their daily chores. Sometimes it's the physical lifting of the patient. It may be childcare. It's often transportation to medical appointments. It can also be financially too. Speaker 1: What about the emotional side for the caregiver? Speaker 2: The emotional side for the caregiver is also very important for them to recognize. They often go through the stress, anxiety, depression. Also, they grieve the life that they had prior to with the patient. People always think that grief has to do with death, but sometimes it's just grieving things that you've lost. And a lot of times patients lose a lot of themselves. It could be memory loss, it could be things like that, and so the caregiver has to see a lot of times the decline of a patient. Speaker 1: There's a lot of emotional part to being a caregiver. Besides the physical part, what resources are there for caregivers so that maybe they don't feel so alone? Speaker 2: Here at Ohio State in The James, we have many resources. We believe in innovative patient care programming, so we have psychosocial oncology, which is individual counseling for patients and caregivers. We have JamesCare for Life, which includes all of our support groups and our wellness programs, including nutrition, exercise, patient education, mindfulness. We also have Hope, which is a peer matching program for patients and caregivers. Sometimes they just want to speak to someone who's went through a similar experience as them. Speaker 1: Yeah. I was going to ask what kind of advice you have for folks to get over that emotional hump sometimes if they're a caregiver. What advice do you have for them so that they feel better? Speaker 2: Keep the lines of communication open with your support system and your medical team, and also the patient. A lot of times we feel like patients are so concerned about their caregivers that they're also not taking care of themselves the best. So, keep the lines of communication open, and exercise, and make sure you're taking care of yourself. Be realistic with yourself and be forgiving of yourself. Speaker 1: That's a good one, be forgiving of yourself. And as the patient, what can the patient do to help their caregiver? Speaker 2: I would suggest that the patient also keep the lines of communication open. Know that your caregiver's there to help, your medical team's there to help. And if you see something that you think that we could be doing better or the caregiver could be doing better, or any assistance that anyone needs, just to let us know so we can get everyone linked up with the right resources. Speaker 1: Speaking of resources, there may be caregivers that say, "I have no medical training and I feel overwhelmed. Can I do this?" Does it take medical training to be a caregiver? Speaker 2: No, it doesn't take medical training. It just takes a caring heart. Speaker 1: We went over this before, but what are some of your top tips caregivers can have from you? What advice do you have for caregivers? Speaker 2: My top tips is make sure you're taking care of yourself and making sure that you're making sure you're also the priority. Getting good rest, exercise, accepting help from others and asking for help when needed. Speaker 1: And would that help necessarily come from other family members, friends, neighbors, to look outside your circle maybe? Speaker 2: The help can come from the community. It can come from your support group. It can come from various resources. Speaker 1: Thank you, Saquena. This has been great advice and advice for caregivers. And thank you for joining us. The Ohio State Health & Discovery logo [Text on screen health.osu.edu]