The pandemic continues to take hard tolls on families caring for loved ones with ailments like dementia and Alzheimer’s. These illnesses disrupt household routines, drain family finances and compel at least one person, if not two or more people, to be on call around-the-clock to take care of the afflicted individual.
Before the pandemic, caretakers could enlist the help of facilities and services to provide much needed respite from the intense day-to-day challenges that come with taking care of a dementia or Alzheimer’s patient. However, the spread of Covid-19 closed many of the care homes and furloughed much of the staff who were on hand to provide those services. Families had nowhere to turn for help and faced the struggle of providing around-the-clock care for their afflicted relatives.
The Advent of the Vaxication
Now that the pandemic continues to abate as more people get vaccinated, the option of utilizing these services again is now back on the proverbial table. In fact, many doctors across the country are urging people in households with dementia and Alzheimer’s patients to get vaccinated against Covid, not only to protect their vulnerable loved ones, but also to indulge in what is being coined as a “vaxication.”
The term combines “vaccine” and “vacation” and is defined as a getaway for people who are burned out from caretaking because of the pandemic. Vaccinated individuals are being encouraged to enlist the services of short-term senior care to provide respite from the daily upkeep and care of their afflicted relatives and take a one to two-week vacation.
Vaccinated caretakers are also reminded not to feel guilty about leaving their afflicted loved ones in the care of a respite service, simply because the time away will help relieve frazzled nerves and emotions that the pandemic wreaked on them and their families. Their loved ones, in turn, will be in good hands among professional care providers that, after months of furlough, are more than ready to get back to work and offer the services that they have been trained to offer.
The pandemic placed unique and difficult burdens on families caring for dementia and Alzheimer’s patients. However, the Covid vaccine can open the possibility of respite for them. They can enlist professional caretaking services for their loved ones and head out on much needed vaxications.