How to Help Someone Who’s Caring for a Sick Loved One
They’re tending to others while trying to stay healthy themselves. Here are the best ways to show your support.
Tina Caamano and her 83-year-old diabetic father developed fever, difficulty breathing, and cough at the same time. At the advice of her dad’s doctor, she called 911 — and the two shared an ambulance to the hospital emergency room, while Caamano’s 82-year-old mother stayed home by the phone. After nearly an entire night in the ER, during which time her dad got a room but Caamano was parked in the hallway, the two were tested (tests for both came back positive) and sent back home. Caamano, who also has asthma, sequestered herself on the second floor, while her mother and father kept to the first floor.
For Caamano, who considers herself the caregiver of the household, her incapacitation was a shock. “Before we got sick, I had made sure my freezer had everything we needed,” she said. “We had paper towels, toilet paper, Tylenol, I had all my parents’ medications delivered early.” But nothing could prepare her for being stuck upstairs, weak, for 15 days while her mom managed her dad’s care all by herself. If ever Tina Caamano and her parents needed help from friends and family, this was it.
