I’m sitting in Langley, British Columbia, and when I look out my hotel window, I see the skyline punctuated with the tips of pine trees. Mountains are snow-capped in the background. I’m here for the “Family Focus Conference” of the Langley Association for Community Living and I spoke this morning
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THE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Ethics of Fairness in Policymaking for Caregivers: Summing Up
When it comes to our aging population in Canada, we have a lot of reasons to be worried. Many people still assume that the government will provide care and if state funded services fail, charities will pick up the pieces. Tim Draimin, Executive Director of Toronto’s Social Innovation Generation or
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Fairness in Policymaking for Family Caregivers: Part 3
This is Part 3 of my mini-series on fairness in policymaking for our families. It’s taken from my book, The Four Walls of My Freedom. I am a Canadian who has lived in my own country, in the UK and in the United States. With the US Presidential debate this
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Fairness in Policymaking for Family Caregivers – Part 2
Continued…. this is Part 2 of a reflection on fairness in policymaking for family caregivers. So, what are the roles of families and governments in supporting society’s most vulnerable citizens? What kinds of policies can facilitate true partnership between governments and families who seek to care for someone needing
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: The Ethics of Fairness for Family Caregiver Policy, Part 1
With the United States election dominating the news, I thought it was a good time to talk about fairness in policy-making for family caregivers. In my book, The Four Walls of My Freedom, I told the story of our family journey of caring for our son, Nicholas. I used our
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Caregiving for Step-Children
Parenting healthy children is challenging, so imagine parenting a step-child with disabilities. Blended families are nearly the norm nowadays and it follows that a contemporary phenomenon will be shell shocked step-mothers or step-fathers and their children who are learning about disability for the first time in their new blended family
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Constipation, a Kidnapped Diplomat and an Enema
My husband is a retired diplomat. A colleague from the service, Bob Fowler, had the terrible misfortune of being kidnapped in Mali and wrote a book about his awful experience called “A Season in Hell”. Bob tells a story in his book (and one recounted in even more vivid detail
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Constipation Blues
“Push a Poo, push a poo, push a poo poo poo!” That’s what I used to sing to Nick when he was little. Recently, I sang the little ditty again into Nick’s ear and we both had a good belly laugh. But the laugh wasn’t enough to elicit any action
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: The Wisdom of Auntie Nellie – Stretch for Health
When our son Nicholas was diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy over 23 years ago, he was four months old and I was very frightened. I was frightened, but also determined to learn as much as I could about how to care for my baby. I was full of the kind
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Social Connectedness: An Op-Ed
One thing I know about caregiving is that it cannot be done well by one person alone. We need friends, family… we need support. And that support is really only very effective if it is coordinated. So, to that end, I have given a lot of my time and energy
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Care is Care. Let’s Stand Together for Political and Social Change
I remember a long time ago, sitting in a room full of disability activists who were much older and more experienced than me. One man, Gary McPherson, sat in his chair with the respectful, almost invisible, seamless help of his personal assistant. I hadn’t noticed the hum of his respirator
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: How Artists Talk About Caregiving
I used to be an actor… and a director. In fact, when Nicholas was born, I was working for a horse-drawn theatre called The Caravan Stage Company (the Caravan has since traded their clydesdales for a tall ship). Now, after 23 years of looking after my children, I remain fascinated
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Fathers, Sons and the In-Between Spaces of Grief
I tell our family story to anyone who will listen. I hope that our story will shift readers’ embedded thoughts and ideas about what it means to be different and to care for a loved one over time. For me, the most gratifying aspect of writing a book is that
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Listening, Loving and ESP
In April of 1975, I had a summer job at a tiny jewellery shop in Montreal. One Friday, I reluctantly left our house to open the shop – my Dad was dying in the hospital and that day, I found it hard to gather the energy to speak to strangers
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Using Sight and Smell to Sense Change
Ask a new mother how she knows the meaning of her baby’s different cries. Ask about today’s diaper rash compared to how it looked yesterday. All that detailed information is stored in a mother’s (or father’s) head, recorded by the engine of love and caring. The same goes for caregivers
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: The Caregivers’ Six Senses: Today is TOUCH
This is the first in a mini-series about how the senses are used in caregiving. Today’s subject: TOUCH One of the benefits of caregiving, I believe, is that we touch the people we love more than the average, busy working person. Young parents know the primal satisfaction of touching their
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Caring for the Cancer Patient – Today: Mesothelioma
Recently, I received an email requesting a guest blogger spot on the subject of caregiving for people suffering from Mesothelioma, a type of cancer often caused by exposure to asbestos. This got me thinking that perhaps we should do a mini-series based on caring for various cancers. Perhaps a series
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: An Idea for Justice for you and you and you….
Recently, I have been thinking a lot about the barriers to people with disability or infirmity to pursue their aspirations and achieve their potential with the support they need and the dignity they deserve. Is my son more than the embodiment of his physical disabilities? Does my mother represent something
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Is Caregiving Women’s Work?
Last week I had the pleasure and the privilege of speaking with a group of caregiver activists in a conference call hosted by WEGO Health, a terrific online information tool open to anyone wishing to advocate for health related causes. On our call was Wendy Kruse, founder of the Military Special
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: "God’s Little Joke" – A Tragic Story
I guess I am used to witnessing pain, so I do not cry easily. But this morning I read an article from “Psychology Today” that made me weep silently, my stomach in knots. Titled “The Cyclops Child” and written by a retired MD, it tells the story of this doctor
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