Tag Archive for: remote monitoring

Knute Nelson uses GrandCare Systems to Keep Seniors at Home

By Amy Chaffins
Today at 7:01 a.m.
www.echopress.com

Remote monitoring means home sweet home for seniors

New technology is helping people live at home healthfully and independently as long as possible.

Echo PressFor one year, Knute Nelson has been using GrandCare [Systems] – a home-based technology that provides remote patient monitoring – primarily with its home care and hospice patients.

“It can go in any residence, no matter where the person lives, to provide them support on a variety of platforms,” explained Daphne Karpan, nurse and palliative care manager for Knute Nelson.

In most cases, the system is set up as a touchscreen monitor for patients to use. The program provides a customized intuitive, user-friendly interface for things like health and lifestyle assessments, medication reminders, on-screen messages, news and weather, therapeutic games and puzzles, appointment reminders, daily checklists and more.

It also remotely monitors vital signs using wireless health devices that can measure, track and report things like blood pressure and blood sugar testing.

Test results that are detected outside of a normal parameter – like low blood sugar – would be reported immediately to a nurse and caregiver.

“A nurse can then check in with the patient and assess what’s happening before a doctor visit or ER visit,” said Katie Perry, foundation executive director and vice-president of Knute Nelson.

“GrandCare is more of a consistent and steady approach to monitoring the clinical and socialization aspects, rather than the episodic check-ins, monthly or whenever,” she added.

“We’re keeping them in preventative, more cost-effective care rather than the more expensive ER or hospitalization,” Karpan said.

“Home is the preferred setting for care,” she added. “Even among the 85 and older group, as of 2005, 75 percent of 85 and older Medicare beneficiaries were living at home. It’s where they want to be and where they are so this is how we can keep them there safe and keep the caregiver supported so that they’re able to go to work.”

SERVING CAREGIVERS TOO

GrandCare certainly serves the patient, but the caregiver is also the customer.

“There’s an interest from adult children being actively involved in managing care or having some degree of involvement with their parents’ care,” Perry said.

Caregivers access GrandCare’s online portal to also monitor or receive alerts on the patient’s health and status. There are also sensors that link to the system to detect motion, opening of things like doors or cupboards and bed sensors to determine if the patient has gotten out of bed.

The patient dictates who is allowed access to the information. From that, the caregiver determines which notifications they’ll receive when an event occurs. The system can be accessed from any Internet-connected device.

There are currently about 40 GrandCare systems in use across Knute Nelson’s 26-county coverage area. Users range in age from 7 to 99 years old, but the average age group is 75 and older.

“I have a lady in Little Falls whose son lives in California and he’s her primary caregiver… he’s able to help monitor her activity, provide reminders, provide contact, give her some photos to look at to keep her mind functioning,” Karpan said.

When it comes to training patients who are not at all familiar with computers, staff said they use a delicate approach. In fact, they don’t use terms like “email,” instead it’s an electronic “letter.”

Cadi Breun, a nurse and technical care specialist for Knute Nelson, recently used GrandCare’s video chat feature with a client who has some memory issues.

“She has a daughter in California so we Skyped her daughter for the first time and the look on her face when she saw her daughter on the screen – it’s burned into my memory. She said, ‘Is this real? Is this sci-fi? Is this recorded?’ She was just so happy to have that conversation with her daughter,” Breun said. “Her daughter contacted me and said if it wasn’t for this, she wouldn’t have had the good conversations and good memories with her mom.”

Currently, costs associated with GrandCare and remote patient monitoring don’t qualify for Medicare reimbursements.

However, a bipartisan bill moving through Congress is aimed at boosting telehealth use, which reportedly has the potential to reduce Medicare spending on hospital readmissions.

Remote monitoring technology like GrandCare is used worldwide.

GrandCare Systems Announces Significant Investment in Professional Caregiving Sales Program

GrandCare Systems, a leader in the digital caregiving technology industry, is delighted to announce an increased emphasis and investment on a sales program directed towards professional in-home caregivers, long term care, and healthcare providers.  In order to build and maintain a strong and dynamic sales team, the organization has organized a robust outside sales program including territory directors and an inside sales team.

esther GCSAlthough GrandCare remains available direct to consumer through the GrandCare online store or on Amazon, the company’s focus is on professional caregiving organizations including non-medical homecare providers, home health providers, long-term care organizations, and newly formed accountable care organizations (ACOs).

“Moving away from our previous direct-to-consumer model, the mentality of this new configuration and strategy is to better align our inside and outside sales team to drive strategic growth and, in the end, better serve and support our aging population by arming caregiving experts with the best in innovative technology,” said GrandCare CEO, Daniel Maynard.  “The technology is affordable and has proven revenue success with professional caregivers, enabling them to offer extended caregiving services beyond the traditional hands-on care hours.”

GrandCare is designed to increase profit margins for non-medical and home health providers by allowing for new service models and helping to reduce unnecessary hospital admissions and readmissions.

“Our home care agency has seen significant results using GrandCare technology, including patient and caregiver satisfaction, reduction of emergent care utilization as well as enhanced care coordination and education for the patient” comments Anne Major, Knute Nelson’s Vice President of Home Care and Hospice. “Our services span 26 counties in West Central Minnesota and GrandCare has allowed us to better connect individuals living in rural areas with health care tools that help to manage their care in their own homes.”

System Comp HR NEWOrganizations like Knute-Nelson also use it as a competitive advantage and a socialization connection resource for families.

“It’s a great way to feel like I’m in touch even though I am across the country from mom,” said a Knute-Nelson customer. Another chimed in “[GrandCare has] the ability to continuously receive current pictures from family and friends, from any computer to my mother’s. The GrandCare system has greatly contributed to my mother’s overall mental health. “

GrandCare Systems starts at just $699 and $49 per month for retail consumers and offers volume discount packages for professional caregiving, long term care, and healthcare organizations.

 

About GrandCare Systems:

GrandCare Systems, founded in 2005, combines digital health assessment, biometric readings, activity of daily living sensing, medication management, smart home automation, video chat and virtual touch-based communications into the most comprehensive and fully-featured technology in the private home market. GrandCare is designed for individuals seeking a caregiving solution for an aging loved one or for professional in-home, long term care or clinical caregiving providers. For more information, visit: www.grandcare.com or call 262-338-6147

Going DIGITAL: all your homecare organization needs to know

Esther Taking BP and Skype

Last week GrandCare Systems presented a 35-minute webinar with real case studies and examples proving that you can save money, reduce staff burdens, and secure new revenue streams.

If you are providing in-home care services, you cannot afford to miss this opportunity to learn how caregiving technology can improve your top and bottom lines, make your team more effective, more efficient and enable a larger geographic reach.

 

LISTEN TO THE WEBINAR

 

What was covered in the webinar?

  • The HUGE opportunity
  • What is GrandCare? 1 Stop Caregiver technology
  • Your New and IMPROVED marketplace
  • The truth about PERS and why it isn’t enough
  • Team-based approach
  • The GrandCare HomeCare Advantage
  • Office Staff advantage
  • In-home caregiver advantage
  • Client/Family advantage
  • Competitive Differentiation
  • GrandCare Implementation Story
  • Sally Roger’s story
  • Assured HomeCare’s GrandCare implementation
  • Cost vs. Profit: Return on Investment

Featured Presenter:

Laura Mitchell, VP Business Development, GrandCare Systems

Laura Mitchell, Chief Marketing Officer, GrandCare Systems

Laura is a founding member of GrandCare Systems and was responsible for bringing GrandCares’s product to market in 2006, while aiding in the creation of the “Digital Health” and Aging & Technology industry. She specializes in channel partnerships, growth hacking, and non-traditional marketing and social media. She was featured in Forbes for her social media strategies and has been recognized by several industry media outlets, including Connected World Magazine’s 2014 Top Women of M2M, a nomination for the 2012 WEGO Health “Trailblazer”, 2012 Dealerscope’s 40 Under 40, 2012 “Young Turk of CE” by Custom Retailer Magazine, and the 2011 Mary Furlong Flame Award.

Laura speaks throughout the country at industry events and radio shows on Digital Health, Mitigating Hospital Readmissions Using Technology, Social Media, and Go-to-market Strategies in the Aging Industry. Venues include CES, Digital Health Summit, Mhealth Summit, M-enabling Summit, LeadingAge, AgeTech West, AARP, Connected Health Symposium, and others. She has authored several publications and whitepapers for industry magazines, internet publications, blogs, and books. Laura has consulted for major cable, aging service, and in-home care providers, and has mentored fellow start-up innovators. She was a key organizer in the early days of the EHX and CEDIA Future Home Pavilions, and created the first industry-wide Aging and Technology webinar series in 2008, which flourished for years. Laura was co-founder of the Aging Technology Alliance, an organization encouraging co-ompetition amongst the Aging in Place Technology industry.

Laura is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin in Madison and lives in Wisconsin with her husband, two sons, and two dogs.

 

Interested in reading more about GrandCare?

Visit GrandCare Systems or watch a short Testimonial Video

GrandCare Systems Names Daniel Maynard as New Chief Executive Officer

WEST BEND, Wisc. – November 13th , 2013

New Image

Digital health and remote monitoring pioneer GrandCare Systems, today announced the appointment of Daniel Maynard as GrandCare’s Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Maynard brings more than 25 years of industry experience to his new role having previously served as CEO and President of Connecture. Maynard replaces founder Charles Hillman, who has served as CEO since 2005. Hillman, an MIT educated engineer, will now serve as GrandCare’s Chief Technical Officer and as the company’s vision leader.

“We are delighted to add a person of Dan’s experience and expertise to the GrandCare team,” said Hillman. “Dan has a proven track record of driving and managing growth in the healthcare technology sector. I look forward to leading the product development team and providing a solution that is capable, reliable, scalable and affordable.”

“I had been searching for a proven, innovative technology solution with a large growth potential in the healthcare IT industry,” said Maynard. “GrandCare is already a well-respected and credible industry leader. I look forward to joining this great team and taking GrandCare to the next level.”

Daniel Maynard has held various executive roles in the health insurance technology industry, including sales, marketing, operations, software development, financial management and corporate development. Throughout his career, he has built and led several companies, including CCISoft, Riverwood Solutions and Connecture. In 1997, Mr. Maynard formed CCISoft, which he sold to Workscape in 1999. In 2001, he formed Riverwood Solutions and continued on as president and CEO throughout the 2004 merger with Connecture. He serves on the board at Hayes technology Group and remains a strategic advisor to Alithias and Connecture.

About GrandCare Systems:

Since 2005, GrandCare Systems has provided the most comprehensive caregiving technology on the market, enabling individuals to remain safe, healthy and happy at home. GrandCare’s simple, touch platform enables a Resident to view pictures, receive incoming messages, watch videos, video chat with family, listen to music and play fun games. Using a series of wireless activity and telehealth devices, GrandCare can alert designated caregivers by phone, email or text if anything seems amiss (medications not accessed, glucose levels not taken, abnormal activity, etc.).

For more information: www.grandcare.com or call 262-338-6147

PR Contact:
Laura Mitchell
media@grandcare.com
262-338-6147

Lutheran of Jamestown Smartments equipped with GrandCare receives positive evaluation from Leading Age

Kudos to GrandCare partners, Lutheran of Jamestown, for receiving positive evaluations on their usage of the GrandCare System for monitoring activities/wellness and socialization and family connecting, as well as various complementary technologies, throughout their Apartment “Smartments” community.

Sharon Hamilton, vice president of senior housing for Lutheran, an early and visionary adopter of remote monitoring and enabling technologies recently caught the attention of Leading Age for her usage of the GrandCare remote monitoring and socialization technology, as well as complementary technologies of other enabling and crisis management systems (think “help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”)

She was met with a very positive and encouraging evaluation by third party, vendor agnostic Leading Age of Washington, DC (formerly known as the American Association of Aging). Leading Age is an association of not-for-profit organizations dedicated to making America a better place to grow old.

Hamilton was smart to reach out to the organization and gauge an industry expert, who could take a non-partisan look at the usage of these technologies, in order to scale to a broader community base.

Dusten Rader from the Post Journal of Jamestown, NY wrote an interesting story titled, “Smartments Receive Positive Evaluation” on whether Leading Age found these Smartments to be effective and efficient. While conducting the assessment, the most cutting-edge of the technology solutions, including the GrandCare System were under a lot of pressure to prove their worth. GrandCare is a comprehensive digital health, activity monitoring, medication mgmt, socialization, video chat and infotainment technology to support individuals as they remain more independent, proactive, connected and self aware. The results were clear!

HomeBase

Leading Age’s senior VP, Robyn Stone was quoted in the Post Journal,
“I commend them on recognizing an opportunity,” Stone said. “And, also the notion that this isn’t something that was going to be done once and it’s over, rather that it’s going to be an interactive process. It’s hard for an organization to be a guinea pig, so to me that’s one of the assets of many of members – that they’re willing to think about the investment to really make this work. That is what I call continuous quality improvement.”

To read the full article click here: http://post-journal.com/page/content.detail/id/627641/Leading-Age.html?nav=5057

The Smartments: 737 Falconer St. in Jamestown. For more information, call 665-8197 or visit www.lutheran-jamestown.org

High-tech home help: Saga Magazine, Fit for life

Saga Logo Original DNTAs the leading provider of products and services for the over 50s in the UK, Saga has long been aware of both the positive, and the more challenging implications of an ageing demographic.  GrandCare Systems® is delighted to have been chosen by Saga as their technology to help their over 50’s stay independent, and at home.  GrandCare was recently featured in Saga’s February 2013 issue of Saga Magazine. The story highlights how one family utilized the GrandCare System to strengthen their family bond and feel more connected and in touch, even though they were over 1,600 miles apart.  It discusses Saga’s entrance into the digital health market, introducing this visionary technology into the UK in 2013.

High-tech home help

Saga Magazine, February 2013, Fit for life, Pg. 86
Words Charles Laurence

A new touch-screen system arriving in the UK this year (courtesy of Saga!) promises to revolutionise old age. It helps to keep older people in their own homes for longer by enabling family or carers to keep a loving eye on mum or dad from afar. Here’s where it all began…

At about the time that Michael Murdock began to worry about his mother’s approaching old age, his eye was caught by a stand at a high-tech trade show. It was called GrandCare Systems. Murdock was in business fitting ‘smart’ automation technology to expensive homes – his was a company you called when you wanted to be able to set the swimming-pool temperature from your car, or watch the front gate with hidden cameras. Amid the gizmos and trade tools at the show, GrandCare seemed to be offering something a little different. ‘I thought “Wow”,’ he says. ‘Here was a company with the sort of technology I use, but adapted to help me look after my mom!’

Click here to download the full article: PDF Download

Read more

When PERS alone is just not enough…

I read a great article today by MobiHealth News’ Neil Versel.

“Panic Buttons for Seniors Must Go”

He shared a story about his own grandmother who was living in a facility with panic buttons. She had a fall and because she was unable to press the button, she ended up not receiving help for 8 hours. He called for more passive monitoring soutions that did not require involvement from the individual in order to effectively work.

Clearly at GrandCare, this topic is of utmost importance… I don’t think there has to be only one solution. Perhaps a combination of several pieces can cover several areas.  We combine digital health technology (what are her vitals, is she taking her medications, touchscreen education, prompts & assessments) as well as Activity of daily living remote monitoring…what you were talking about – a series of motion/temp, door, bed sensors can passively give relatives and caregivers information on someone’s routine activities… could this have saved her life? Not sure… but you certainly would have known MUCH sooner that she hadn’t been moving around, perhaps she missed a medication dosage, perhaps you’d be notified she didn’t access the fridge at mealtime or hadn’t used a bathroom in a number of hours.

07a_GrandCare_Taking_BP_on_the_HomeBase_full

The perfect fit is having a combination of a PERS in Conjunction with a system like GrandCare.  If someone is experiencing chest pain and is capable of pressing a button, a crisis mgmt system could be a life saving device.  If someone is having other symptoms (excessive weight gain, wandering, noncompliance, failure to return to bed during the night, etc), the only way you would remotely know that is from a Digital Health/ADL system.  There are some very forward-thinking providers and in-home caregivers out there that have seen the professional caregiving POWERED by technology is the way to go.  I think many times a provider looks at technology as THE solution and instead, it needs to become a vehicle to provide a solution instead of letting the tech define the care.

So who is blazing the trail? Who is doing this right… Just a few honorable mentions go to:

LivHOME’s CareMonitor™ powered by GrandCare Systems®:
One of the largest in-home care providers who combine hands-on care management, caregiving & technology as one complete solution to keep folks independent at home.
www.livhomecaremonitor.com

Lutheran Homes of NY in Jamestown, NY:
They have created SMARTMENT™ homes that combine GrandCare’s digital health monitoring and socialization along with a Personal Emergency Response System and Activity of Daily Living Monitoring!!

I believe the digital health and activity monitoring space is heating up…It’s an exciting time to be a part of this disruptive industry!  Thanks again to Neil for the insightful, personal and thought-provoking article!!

Laura_05
Laura Mitchell, GrandCare Systems
VP Business Development
www.linkedin.com/in/laurahmitchell

EHX TeleHealth & Digital Home Health Technology Session

Collaboration: The Integrator’s Role in TeleHealth & Digital Home Health Technology 

You’ve heard all about Digital Home Health Technology and why it’s going to be the way of the future, but where do integrators come in?

With recent healthcare legislation, hospital systems and payers are being forced to become accountable for improving patient outcomes, while reducing the cost of care delivery. The care delivery network is focusing on telehealth & remote monitoring technologies to help care for the highest risk population in the lowest cost setting – the patient’s home.

However, hospitals and payer systems are tuned for executing today’s care delivery model, but who will focus on technology and services needed for tomorrow? This session will explore the opportunities and role of the solutions integrator as an integral piece of the care transition puzzle.

Presented by:


Instructor:Alex Go, Virtual Health


Instructor:Jeffrey Makowka, AARP


Instructor:Laura Mitchell, GrandCare Systems

Course Code
CE Pro #115
Schedule
Friday, March 16, 2012
10:30 AM – 11:15 AM
Room CI Stage

More Information available at www.ehxweb.com/classes/ce-pro-115

‘It’s a gift from God’: Cybermation tele-health venture makes it easier to monitor activity, medications

Written by Kevin Allenspach
12:40 AM, Dec. 11, 2011

St. Cloud Times – www.sctimes.com

See a video of GrandCare Client, Ed Thelen, discussing why the GrandCare System works for him and how it has been a lifesaver and lifted his spirits! http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid950566939001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAACbynFGE~,sf-WXU5Jxxvzf0yBwv5ezSaUvcZFydJt&bctid=1320587839001

COLD SPRING — After complications from shoulder surgery made it difficult for 69-year-old Ed Thelen to sleep in a bed at night, he’s taken to dozing in a giant easy chair in the living room of his third-floor home at John Paul Apartments. That discomfort isn’t his only concern. He also has a pacemaker, battles diabetes, struggles with Parkinson’s disease and is in a constant fight against obesity and depression. His biggest worry, though, is whether he’ll be able to keep a new device that has revolutionized his life.

As Thelen relates how he came to this place after 45 years of moving around the region as an insurance underwriter, something that looks like a flat-screen TV chirps next to his chair. He reaches over, touches a prompt, and within seconds is talking with his daughter via Skype.

After their conversation, he shows a visitor how the screen also notifies him if he has letters, pictures or video sent from one of his six grandchildren. He calls up his blood-pressure readings from the past month, which he can provide directly to his doctor, and demonstrates how it prompts him to take his pills — morning, noon and night — from a dispenser in the kitchen.

Ed Thelen, 69, of Cold Spring is able to live in his apartment with the help of an integrated monitoring system marketed locally by Cybermation. With the system, Thelen and others can monitor his health and activities and communicate with him through a touch screen he has in his living room. Jason Wachter, jwachter@stcloudtimes.com

“It’s phenomenal,” Thelen said with a hint of emotion behind his eyes. “If I forget to take my medication, it sends a signal and the phone rings. A voice says (with a nasal twang) ‘Mr. Thelen, you haven’t taken your medication.’ With all the things it does, to me it’s a gift from God.”

It is a GrandCare System, a product of a company in West Bend, Wis., that is being marketed locally for the first time by Cybermation, a Waite Park-based business that for 15 years was primarily known for home entertainment and security systems. Thelen has been working with it for about three weeks.

“We’ve mostly been about big boys toys,” Cybermation President Tom Ardolf said. “Commercial and residential people come to us and spend tens of thousands of dollars on their home theater, or they bring us a basket of remotes and ask us to create one that will run everything in their house. But late last year I got a call from a distributor that had known us for 10 years. They’d started a tele-health venture. I just wanted to ask the guy if we could go fishing. He said, ‘You really ought to look into this.’ ’’

Soon after he did, Ardolf decided to launch CyberHealth, a new division of Cybermation. His company is one of more than 300 authorized installers for the GrandCare System in the U.S. and Canada. Four are in Minnesota, with the other three in the Twin Cities metro area.

He said he’s working with an unnamed rural health care provider to distribute the GrandCare System on a wider scale. And, with baby boomers entering retirement and becoming elderly, remote monitoring is expected to be a $9.3 billion industry by 2014.

“My mom passed in 2007, and I often think of how my life, my mom’s life and that of my sisters would’ve been different if we’d had something like this,” Ardolf said.

Family connections

Gladys Ardolf lived in Maple Lake and was 78 when she died of complications from dystonia, a movement disorder that causes muscles to contract and spasm involuntarily. For the last six to eight years of her life, two of Tom Ardolf’s three sisters living in the area made daily — sometimes twice-daily — visits to make sure she was all right.

“The average caregiver puts in 24 hours a week — that’s a significant part-time job,” said Ardolf, 50. “People are willing to do it, especially when it’s their mom or their dad. But around year one or two, there’s invariably some resentment about ‘Why doesn’t this sibling who lives far away do something to help?’ If we’d had one of these systems, I could’ve played a role in her care — even though I’m 40 miles away.”

While the screen is in the user’s home, like the one next to Thelen’s easy chair, it provides a window for family members, caregivers and physicians to monitor the user’s health and activities.

“Just by placing sensors around my mom’s home, I could’ve had a call or text sent to my phone if she didn’t get up between 6 and 9 a.m.,” Ardolf said. “I would’ve known if she was restless in bed, went to the bathroom or didn’t take a shower. We could’ve put a magnet on the microwave that would’ve told us if she’d had coffee in the morning. It’s little things like that which can give you peace of mind — or alert you to trouble if they don’t happen.”

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Long Distance Caregiving might be easier with a little bit of Technology

I read an article today from Health Day News via Caring.com called “For Many Americans, Caregiving a Long Distance Burden”  (see an excerpt below)

The article makes some really great points on the trials and tribulations of being a long distance caregiver and also gives some helpful resources and facts.  However, the article was missing the entire technology component that now enables long distance and virtual care.  Technology is a critical tool for caregivers to use, especially when not all of the caregivers can physically be there.   Technology can help to ease the burden of local caregivers, allowing them to “share the care” with long distance caregivers and family members. Long Distance caregivers can now be involved and have equal access to the information, virtually. For example, the GrandCare System allows family members (near and far) to log into the GrandCare dashboard and check on how that person is doing, make sure the living environment is ok, make sure the loved one is performing the correct activities of daily living, taking meds at correct times, eating, etc.

Systems like GrandCare also enables a new world of communication between all of the caregivers and the loved one. A built in web cam on the resident’s GrandCare System allows the loved one and family to participate in video chat sessions and also enables family to send pictures, messages, emails, reminders, calendar appointments and more to an interactive, simple touch interface. Family can also send fun videos and music. The resident doesn’t need to know anything about technology to enjoy this.

Technology is playing a vital role in caring for a loved one (near or far) and coordinating care between multiple siblings. We have come into an age where you don’t have to physically always be there to participate in care and as a long distance caregiver, using the GrandCare sensors, you can make an educated decision on a loved one’s needs.

 

For Many Americans, Caregiving a Long-Distance Burden

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 31 (HealthDay News) — Caring for a parent or relative in the same zip code can be hard enough, but long-distance caregiving, which is becoming more common in an increasingly mobile society, brings with it added burdens.

By 2012, an estimated 14 million Americans will be long-distance caregivers, so many that some even have new names: “seagulls” and “pigeons.”

These terms refer to family members who alight for short periods of time, make a mess for local caregivers and fly out. What they don’t take into account are the pain, isolation and hassles that long-distance caregivers are dealing with on their own.

“They have unique issues,” said Polly Mazanec, lead author of a paper appearing in a recent issue of Oncology Nursing Forum.

Those include financial concerns, since many people are borrowing from savings to travel at a moment’s notice or to arrange child care or pet sitting during their absence, as well as emotional issues such as guilt, worry and anxiety.

“We found that long-distance caregivers were much more anxious than local caregivers, who could see what was happening [on a more frequent basis],” said Mazanec, an assistant professor of nursing at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

“Long-distance caregivers end up feeling guilty. I deal with it on a daily basis,” added Dr. Nasiya Ahmed, an assistant professor of geriatric and palliative medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Family caregiving has received a lot of attention recently, but not so much for those who have to do it at a distance.

“Here’s this whole group of people out there that no one is helping and they’re typically part of the sandwich generation, juggling their own families and careers,” said Mazanec, who is also an advance practice oncology nurse at University Hospital’s Case Medical Centers Seidman Cancer Center. “It’s just a real challenge.”

… to read the entire article, click here