Thursday (4/2)

Today at the CARE Center, I spent the day working on designs for the early-stage care guide. Today, I felt that I needed some inspiration for how to organize the information, so I found some other caregiver guides online to compare organization and structure of the pages. This was very helpful for giving me ideas about where to place words, blocks, headers, and graphics.

After this, it was time for the caregiver support group. I think today was the greatest number of people I have ever seen at a meeting. Today’s meeting consisted of learning about a new bill being passed in Georgia for stricter standards informing people and senior care centers about who is getting commissioned to refer patients to certain places and how this payout is in effect. This is an important step in the process of finding a loved one a home for care, and it is best that everyone stays informed on the entire process. The rest of the support group, caregivers shared their current frustrations and concerns, and we even got on the topic of stress and how to stay grounded.

Many of the caregivers find that each day brings a new set of challenges that almost never get better. This causes them stress and worry that they feel often consumes their time, so we discussed ways in which being present, meditating, and just taking a moment can help to relieve stress.

I found this to be helpful to learn about when designing and writing in the early-stage care guide because it is easy for the information to become overwhelming or stressful on top of an already stress journey with a loved one with dementia. I will keep this in mind for designing so that the care guide can be used as a stress reliever rather than another added stressor.