Caregiver Videos

NH Caregiver: Being a Caregiver Times 2

Transcript of video:

my caregiver's journey has been long 14

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long years so far and hopefully i have

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many more to go but

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with

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dennis got hurt on the job

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he became a paraplegic

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and he came home that was in august and

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he came home in october

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my son was having problems with his

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children and couldn't care for them

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so we wound up taking in my 18 year old

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18 month old grandson and my

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three-year-old granddaughter so i had

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the two kids i had my husband

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and i also have my mother-in-law in the

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in-law apartment the service link

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program has helped me out immensely it

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has been there for financial support

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it's been there for

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the support group it's been there for

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the classes that they offer at first i

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took it selfishly because that was my

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night out you know and i got a break and

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i got to get away

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and then it got to the point where it's

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like i was really looking forward to

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going you know i bonded with the people

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and

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we had you know we had a good time but

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because i had the grandchildren through

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the support group i found out that i was

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able to get money towards clothing

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grants

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and it's it's such a help it is

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especially when i had i mean i have a 14

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year old that's growing like a weed you

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know every time everybody sees them

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they're like are you kidding me that's

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the little one and i'm like

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yeah that's the little one

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if i were to speak to another caregiver

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and let them know

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they've gotta you gotta tell them that

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there is help out there um

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point them in a direction

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don't be afraid to ask

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don't be afraid to ask the the people

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that you're asking for is there anybody

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else i can turn to

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just just keep opening doors it's there

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you have to ask for it you have to ask

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for it you know it's not it's not

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belittling it it's not belittling that's

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what they're doing you know that's what

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they're there for you know they're there

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to help you and it's the health is there

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you need to take it

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the respite care helped more than

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anybody could ever imagine so basically

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what it came down to is you gotta take

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care of yourself if you don't take care

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of yourself you're not gonna be able to

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take care of anybody else and it's true

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you know you feel selfish taking time to

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yourself but you have to

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[Music]

Overview of Caregiver Program

Transcript of video:

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[Music]

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the service link program has helped me

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out immensely it has been there for

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financial support it's been there for

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the support group it's been there for

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the classes that they offer at first i

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took it selfishly because that was my

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night out you know and i got a break and

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i got to get away

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and then it got to the point where it's

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like i was really looking forward to

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going you know i bonded with the people

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the service link organization has been

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as i call them my hub

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and they're my hub for anything that i

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have going on

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so i've reached out to them

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many times and

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they've been great

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but this program

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was literally

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the answers to many prayers

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that were sent by many people

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and uh

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you know at a point where

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i could no longer be of assistance

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you know the caregiver thing is huge

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yeah i can't even say i can't tell you

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how how appreciative i am of having

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that opportunity

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to you know have a little bit of my life

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back

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help that i got from

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the grants and stuff

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i think

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is

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what helped me maintain my sanity that

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was when

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service link became a major help

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and grace she came in

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and she'd sit there and she'd play a

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guitar and she'd sing and

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my wife

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[Music]

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you

English (auto-generated)

Asking for Help

Transcript of video:

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[Music]

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want to come out while i make breakfast

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and get you some coffee so my mom moved

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in about four and a half years ago

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from florida big change in new hampshire

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and

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probably a year and a half ago

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she had developed the uti

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and c diff right after that

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it was very difficult at that time

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and we had

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she was in the hospital and came home

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and we had um occupational therapists

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the rns come here the physical therapist

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and then all of a sudden

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i had a social worker come

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and joan

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and i'm like joan i really don't

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understand why you're here and she goes

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well i'm here for you

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okay i'll throw it in the fridge

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i never knew i needed help from a

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support perspective until joan had came

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by and never had asked for help because

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i didn't know it was

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you know it was

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our responsibility my responsibility so

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i didn't even think about asking for

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help

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and once i had known that help was out

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there it was just like oh wow it was a

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godsend literally behind it and

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so

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you know we're not looking to have mom

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go anywhere

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and she was telling me about the grant

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and so forth and she's like it's a break

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for you

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so i had asked my neighbor

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to see if she could

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you know partake she went through all

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the paperwork and she's in the system

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now and it's great it's fantastic i

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haven't solicited anybody else yet but

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the process to do that is pretty simple

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it's just like when you apply for a job

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you have the same thing

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you're welcome

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and i work

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so it's difficult sometimes these

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doctor's appointments are during the day

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to my she went to the guide doctor

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yesterday two and a half hours jenny

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took her it was fantastic i mean it's

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just huge

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she loves to shop simple walgreens it

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doesn't matter where she goes she's out

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of the house

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jenny would also take her to the senior

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center

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cooking dinner she's out here

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you know just chatting which is nice

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versus you know well i've got to do the

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bedding while i cook dinner and you know

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and it gives me more time to spend with

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mom

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to

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help her stay here

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happier

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really i think has assisted us because

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she has that avenue and she knows she's

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not putting that additional work on

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myself

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so she knows that

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oh no no i've i've got this you don't

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have to worry about that i'm just going

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to have jenny help me with this and that

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it's supportive

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and that's really the key is the grant

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is very supporting behind it

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um the people i've talked to amber's

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fantastic joan's been fantastic i mean

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just to expose us so

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you know i've mentioned it to other

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people to have

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see if we can have

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i'm sure there's other people out there

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like myself that have no idea that the

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grant was available

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[Music]

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you