Hope for the caregiver

That’s the title of a new book I’m reading by Peter Rosenberger.

I heard about the book from a new radio program on AFR, American Family Radio, 90.3 FM in Cordele and 88.9 in Warner Robins. It’s a weekly broadcast on Saturday mornings from 8 to 9 AM, Eastern. The program is uniquely aimed at caregivers for their encouragement.

The show has a very large potential audience because some estimates are that 29% of our population is involved in care giving to some extent or another. With seniors being the fastest growing segment of our population, Peter says that “If you love somebody, you will be a caregiver. If you live long enough, you’ll need one”. In fact the CDC charts show that if you’re a 65 year old senior in the USA, you can expect to live until you’re early to mid 80’s on average. So I suspect that many of us will need caregivers before we checkout of this world.

The host of the show and author of the book, Peter Rosenberger, is uniquely qualified to advise and encourage Caregivers. As his wife’s sole caregiver for nearly thirty years, he has labored through a medical nightmare that has mushroomed to 78 operations, the amputation of both her legs and $9 million in medical bills. The experience and wisdom he has gleaned gives Peter a unique perspective regarding the healthcare issues facing millions of people.

When my sons and I started Visiting Angels ® of Central Georgia ten years ago I must confess I had a very distorted view of Caregivers. That view has changed 180 degrees since that time. A quote from Peter’s book sums up how I feel about Caregivers: “In this world, awards go to CEOs, movie stars, professional athletes and supermodels—-rarely to Caregivers who volunteer to care for a suffering human being for months , years or even decades. But the words of Jesus teach us that the most esteemed men and women on this planet are not the widely recognized faces we see on magazine covers. The greatest among us are those who serve. And that includes you.”

That’s just one of the reasons we celebrate all of our Caregivers this time of year with a sit down banquet and special awards to recognize milestone years of service and special sacrifices so many of them have made.

If you have a Caregiver in your circle of life, I hope you’ll go out of your way to encourage them and offer them hope, perhaps even with a copy of “Hope for the Caregiver”.

Thanks for reading All About Seniors…..see you next week!

Bill Milby is a Director of Visiting Angels® of Central Georgia, a non-medical, living assistance service for seniors. If you have questions or comments about this column you can reach him at william.mercylink@gmail.com or search for us at https://www.facebook.com/VisitingAngelsofCentralGA/