GOLDEN, COLORADO, UNITED STATES, April 24, 2019 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The role of the caregiver is not easy. Physical and emotional exhaustion are common. Uncertainty leads to sleepless nights. Constant worry about a ringing phone and the next emergency makes caregivers hypersensitive. As a result, caregivers can become sicker than the people they care for because of all the stress and anxiety, and those health problems can continue for years.

Pamela D. Wilson is a caregiving expert and elder care advocate dedicated to supporting caregivers of aging parents, spouses, and other family members.

“Caregivers need help and support, but they're afraid to ask,” says Wilson. “By learning the right questions to ask and how to work with healthcare professionals, the care of loved ones will improve.”

Pamela has rare experience that lends to supporting caregivers and aging adults through situations that may seem impossible.

“My mother was the family caregiver when I was young. She passed away when I was 35. My dad passed away when I was 39. My brother passed away about a year later,” recalls Wilson. “I wondered why I didn't become a caregiver, so 20 years ago I switched careers.”

In those 20 years Wilson has run two caregiving organizations: in one, she served as a court-appointed guardian, financial and medical power of attorney, personal representative, trustee, and care manager for hundreds of people, legally responsible for all of their money, medical care, posthumous wishes and estates.

“Sometimes parents expect too much of their children,” says Wilson. “They expect them to drop everything to come change a light bulb, but some of these children were attorneys or professionals who couldn't just drop everything to go take care of mom. So I was that person for people: ‘If mom needs something, you just go take care of it.’

“So I was on call 24/7 for 20 years,” recalls Wilson. “Twenty years of my phone ringing at 3am; Twenty years of going to a movie and having to leave because somebody went to the hospital; Twenty years of being interrupted on vacation. Imagine: most people have one set of parents, I had 100. So it's a lot of good experience.”

All of Wilson’s support groups, courses, education are online because it is difficult for caregivers to physically go to groups when they care for someone who may be awake all night.

“Most people have access to the Internet, so this is an easy way for caregivers looking for support to access reliable information,” says Wilson. “People can be anywhere and find caregiving information and support.”

“Quite often, caregivers don't know what they're supposed to do. If they're appointed power of attorney for instance, they don't realize what that means or what the level of responsibility is medically or financially. Or if they're appointed guardian or conservator, they don't know what that is. So I educate them about this.

Caregiving can be very personal and fraught with many difficult emotions, foremost among them guilt, but Wilson says it's OK to be upset about the fact that you're a caregiver, and it's OK to say on any given day, "Man, I hate my mom."

“Caregivers have to be able to talk about this, because if they can't, they go crazy,” says Wilson. “Some people will shame them: ‘You shouldn't say things like that about your mother,’ but if somebody was in their shoes 24/7, they'd be saying the same thing. You just have to be able to laugh about the crazy stuff, and caregiving is crazy.”

CUTV News Radio will feature Pamela D. Wilson in an interview with Doug Llewelyn on April 26th at 12pm EDT and with Jim Masters on May 3rd and May 17th at 12pm EDT.

Listen to the show on BlogTalkRadio

If you have a question for our guest, call (347) 996-3389.

For more information on Pamela D. Wilson, visit www.pameladwilson.com

Lou Ceparano
CUTV News
(631) 850-3314
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