The Kensington Reston was proud to partner with Hilarity for Charity (HFC) for their 3rd annual CareCon 2023.
In case you missed it, click here to watch the playlist of the entire event! It’s sure to educate, inspire and entertain caregivers who support loved ones with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
What is Hilarity for Charity’s CareCon?
Comedian Seth Rogen and his wife, Lauren Miller Rogen, started Hilarity for Charity in 2012 after Lauren’s mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 55.
CareCon is a totally free digital event designed to motivate, teach, and provide assistance to people who assist Alzheimer’s and dementia family members.
Money raised from HFC supports awareness campaigns, educational events, and funds research to combat Alzheimer’s disease.
Hilarity for Charity also hosts online support groups, including bereavement support groups, drop-in support groups, and new support groups in their mission to support caregivers for elderly people with Alzheimer’s.
The Scotty Caregiver Award
This year, Kensington Senior Living will present HFC’s “Scotty Award” named after Scott Miller, who was the longtime devoted caregiver of Lauren Rogen Miller’s mother, Adele.
The Scotty Award recognizes outstanding compassion and devotion from unpaid dementia and Alzheimer’s caregivers who are nominated by friends, family, or themselves.
The Kensington Reston’s nomination is Donna Courain!
Even though Donna knows her mother Elaine is well taken care of at The Kensington Reston, she still loves to visit her every single day. Elaine has come to believe that Donna is her mother, as she often says, because Donna takes such good care of her.
Donna plays along and tells Elaine she takes care of her as a mother would. Their bond is beautiful and we are in awe every day! We are honored to nominate Donna, an extraordinary caregiver, for the HFC Scotty Caregiver Award.
The panel of HFC judges will determine one winner based on these characteristics:
- The loving support they provide(d) during a challenging time
- The patience and perseverance they demonstrate(d)
- The creativity they exhibit(ed)
The winner will be announced live during CareCon on February 17th. The reward is 50 hours of in-home respite care or the cash equivalent.
Care for the caregiver: 7 tips for dealing with caregiver burnout
Elderly loved ones are blessed to have compassionate caregivers in their lives who often spend the morning, noon, and night caring for them while they deal with their own memory loss issues.
However, over time, caregivers can neglect their own health and needs, leading to caregiver burnout.
If you’re experiencing burnout or fatigue from caring for a loved one with dementia or Alzheimer’s follow the following seven steps:
- Research local memory care communities and schedule an appointment to learn about the next steps
- Take local tours of assisted living, memory care communities, and dementia care communities with your loved one to see which community they like
- Go to Alz.org to find resources, including local resources near you
- Join a local support group
- Attend a virtual caregiver support group, such as Hilarity for Charity’s CareCon 2023
- Take regular breaks and ask for a family member to help fill in for you at times
- Take care of your own health — sleep regularly, exercise, eat healthy foods
7 steps for caregivers to minimize stress and reduce tension
If you feel yourself becoming tense, frustrated, or emotionally charged while caring for a loved one with dementia or Alzheimer’s, try these seven tips to minimize stress and reduce tension:
- Take slow, deep breaths. You may not be able to control the outside world around you, but you can control and regulate your own breathing to relieve anxiety
- Listen to your favorite music or song when you get worked up
- Write down your thoughts on a piece of paper and then throw it away to mentally discard frustrating thoughts
- Take notice of your neck and shoulders. Are they tight? Stretch your arms out to your sides and shake your hands to relieve the nervous energy
- Take a warm bath after caring for your loved one
- Perform gentle stretches or yoga routines to relieve tension throughout the body and foster calmness
- Visualize calmness or a calm situation, even if you’re not currently in one
How The Kensington’s memory care communities can help support loved ones with dementia and Alzheimer’s
The Kensington Reston specializes in customized dementia and Alzheimer’s care across two memory care neighborhoods —Connections and Haven.
What makes The Kensington unique is our enhanced assisted living residence (EALR), which enables us to offer more comprehensive services than you’ll find in any other area senior living community.
Our EALR license allows us to administer more extraordinary healthcare services that most assisted living communities cannot offer, such as:
- Assistance to residents who are wheelchair bound
- Oxygen
- Hospice care
- Specialty diets
- On-site physical rehabilitation
- Full spectrum of clinical services, such as nurses on-site 24/7
- Medication administration, including diabetes injections, wound care, and catheters
- Transportation managers to schedule off-site appointments for residents
A place where seniors can age in place
At The Kensington, we are able to accommodate your loved one’s changing healthcare needs, and will never require them to leave our community to receive the care they deserve.
Our community truly is a place where your loved one can “age in place.”
Kensington Konnect: Our online hub for caregiver support
Feel free to browse through Kensington Konnect, our hub for informational, entertaining, and educational resources for caregivers and their loved ones to read.
We regularly feature upcoming classes, including cooking classes, book recommendations for caregivers, music, podcasts, and good news!
Be sure to check out our events page to register for upcoming events related to caregiving.
We also feature an ongoing educational blog series that educates caregivers on how to recognize symptoms of memory loss and other diseases that may affect seniors, so they can get help caring for their loved ones.
Contact The Kensington Reston—memory care support for caregivers
The Kensington Reston was built on the idea of creating a senior living community that we would want our own parents to live in.
At The Kensington, Our Promise is to love and care for your family as we do our own.
Are you currently caregiving for your loved one with memory loss?
If so, contact us today to schedule an appointment or to talk to our staff about our enhanced assisted living and memory care programs.