My sister and I recently found ourselves taking a crash course in Alzheimer’s as our 75-year-old mother’s forgetfulness escalated to a more clinical level. The wake-up call came from the California Highway Patrol, which found our mother parked by the side of the highway in Santa Rosa, 200 miles north of her home. She had no idea where she was.

Like millions of others, we were suddenly thrown into a complicated caregiving challenge, and needed  lots of information, fast. Fortunately, online resources about Alzheimer’s and dementia are extensive, including some excellent blogs. Here are ten worth checking out:

•    Alzheimer’s Notes provides great educational information and caregiving advice, all well-categorized.

•    The Alzheimer’s Association has wide-ranging message boards, including a popular Caregivers Forum that covers the full range—from personal stories to advice. As someone said recently on the forum, you have to have a sense of humor to care for someone with dementia.

•    The Tangled Neuron gathers wide-ranging research reports and articles on memory issues and decodes them for caregivers and other non-medical readers. Excellent links to other sites.

•    The Dementia Caregiver’s Toolbox is the real deal—plenty of great, real-world advice, and focused almost exclusively on professional and family caregiving. For example, a recent post provided tips on dealing  with “dementia elopement” (great phrase) or wandering.

•    The Caregiver’s Beacon is a very popular blog that provides a lot of great resources for Alzheimer’s and dementia caregivers—plus extensive links to other blogs. A bit cluttered, but a good place to start your search for information.

•    Dementia Blues is a sporadic but very well-written, highly personal blog from writer Paula Martinac. Its subtitle—“Funny/Sad Ruminations by a Baby Boomer On Having Two Parents with Dementia” pretty much says it all.

•    HealthTalk’s Caregiver Notes offers a personal take on caregiving, with good information, and intra-site content from within HealthTalk.

•    Minding Our Elders says that its mission is “to shine a light on the isolation often felt by caregivers and seniors and to give them a voice.” Clear posts from well-informed author Carol Bradley Bursack and lots of links to other resources (including various associations and publications) make this a great blog for caregivers.

•    Spiritual Caregiving adds a spiritual perspective to the challenges of family caregiving for loved ones with incurable memory loss and dementia. 

•    At OurAlzheimers.com—part of Health Central—you’ll find shared posts from caregivers and people living with Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia.

As always, one blog tends to lead to another, then another. After some exploring, you’ll have a wide-ranging collection of resources—some informational, others more personal. Caregiving for a dementia-afflicted parent, spouse, or other relative is difficult and sometimes downright bizarre. Reading about the experiences of others puts it in perspective and provides helpful advice.

Stona Fitch
carespace.com

Comments

[Sue Lanza]

Dear Stona: Thanks for including my Dementia Caregiver's Toolbox in your top ten list! I am in some great company with so many new blog choices for caregivers out there. We need more voices so please bloggers, keep talking!

Would love to have more people join the discussion at the Dementia Caregiver's Toolbox and share your stories.

Thanks again for the honor! I enjoy your site as well.

Sue

[Linda Schlenker]

What a great list of resources! Thank you for putting this together.

One more online resource for people to consider - www.parents-care.com. This is a great program where, for very little money, people get all the senior assistant services in their loved one's area. They have every area around the country covered. This company comes up with things I haven't heard of in my area and I have worked in senior home health for almost 15 years. It is priceless information and saves caregivers hours of research time. Thought I would share it in case people haven't heard of it....

Linda Schlenker
Occupational Therapist and Caregiver
Author of Aging in America: One Healthcare Worker's Perspective and Fall Prevention for Seniors: How To Stay Safe and Independent in Your Own Home
www.safeandindependent.com