LIFE GETS EASIER WITH CONNECTION TO A CIRCLE OF CARE
This week, I was honoured to contribute an article to The Home Care Technology Report, a publication of Rowan Consulting Associates. Tim Rowan is a consultant and information broker on…
Donna Thomson
A Caregiving Story: The Fonseca Family
Q: Tell us about yourself and your family. We are the Fonseca family – Dad is Joe, Mom is Christine, and our son is Ethan. We are high school teachers…
Helping Family Caregivers Face the Future
November is National Caregiving Month, so I could think of no better reason than to tell you about two new trends in caregiving. And they’re both good news for families.…
November 11, 2014. Lest We Forget
Today is Remembrance Day in Canada, Veteran’s Day in the United States. Today I remember my father, James Edward Thomson, who fought in Europe with the Royal Montreal Regiment and…
The Psyche of the Caregiver: A Story of Eldercare Devotion
This is the second in our National Caregiving Month series of blog posts from YOU, our readers and fellow caregivers! Judy Fox and Andrea Hurley are the co-authors of one…
I Bloom Where I am Planted: A Story of Family Caregiving
November is National Family Caregiver Month. Here in the Caregivers’ Living Room, we are celebrating by publishing your stories. If you have a story to share, please send it to…
Searching for Reasons: The Aftermath of Tragic Events in Canada
I live in a quiet suburb of Ottawa, Canada. The tragic and shocking events in our nation’s capital this week shook all Canadians to the core and there’s almost no…
Superfoods for Super-Seniors and Their Caregivers
By Felicity Dryer Being a caregiver is usually not easy. You have to be emotionally, mentally and physically strong so that you can support those who require your care. Your…
Identity and Belonging by Robert Lepage: The Personal is Universal
Identity and belonging are subjects that caregivers grapple with everyday. When we become caregivers, do we lose our ‘other’ selves? When our beloved charge passes away, who are we then?…
Managing Chaos: Lessons for Caregivers From Military Special Forces
The world of illness, disability and caregiving is peppered with terminology from the battleground. We ‘battle’ cancer. We ‘fight’ to get our loved ones the services they need. We don’t…
Thanksgiving 2014
On Thursday, October 9th, Natalie arrived home from university to spend Thanksgiving Weekend in Canada with us. We drove to my husband’s family cottage on a lake north of Montreal,…
Anger
Anger Anger that my son has pain. Anger that my husband is away on business. Anger that the caregiver didn’t show up for my Mom. Anger that the milk is…
My Guest Post on LOVE THAT MAX: 5 Secrets of Special Needs Parent Happiness
This is my guest post on the wonderful blog “LOVE THAT MAX” the inspiring and informative blog by Ellen Seidman. I am so grateful to Ellen for hosting my family…
The Worth of Vulnerability
Marilynne Robinson is a great American novelist and essayist who mines contemporary society for meaning. Her themes are expansive and biblical in their proportions. This what she said in a…
A Dream Come True: How One Community is Supporting its Citizens with Disabilities from Cradle to Grave
Until very recently, I have never met a parent of a child with disabilities who didn’t worry about the future. “What will happen to my child after I die? Where…
How Can Yoga Help Dementia Patients (and Their Caregivers)?
How Can Yoga Help Dementia Patients? by Camille Leavold Yoga is a popular form of exercise that has a variety of health benefits, which have gained attention from the general…
After Caregiving: A Tribute to A Dear Friend
Today I hugged one of my oldest and dearest friends. I hugged her for a long time, because this was the day of her husband’s funeral. Kathleen Campbell Jordan married…
Why We Shouldn’t Read (Sometimes)
The other day, a newspaper headline caught my eye: “The Joyof Not Reading”, it read. It was an opinion piece about a man whose immigrant parents had told real bedtime…
Great News Today!
The new paperback edition of my book, “The Four Walls of My Freedom: Lessons I’ve Learned From a Life of Caregiving” (The House of Anansi Press, 2014) is available as…