“There is a phenomenon, which in the world of dementia is dramatically known, and has remained almost unaddressed up to now: it is the ‘caregiver burnout‘. The criticalities of assistance to people with these pathologies are of various types: first of all these are always situations that require large investment of time from the earliest stages of the disease, when the symptoms are less strong but there is already a great stress on the part of the family. Until then the progressive loss of autonomy, the entrapment and then the death of a loved one. These are all phases in which the caregiver is involved in a dramatic way and is not always able to respond easily, also because assistance requires a lot of physical and psychological effort“. To draw the picture is Marco Trabucchi, scientific director of the Brescia Geriatric Research Group and president of the Italian Association of Psychogeriatrics.
Today on the occasion of a meeting on these issues, promoted by Careapt, a startup of the Zambon group dedicated to the development of digital health solutions for people with chronic diseases, on the occasion of the launch of DemedyaCare, a tele-assistance and tele-rehabilitation program designed to support the caregivers of people with dementia in everyday life by enabling them through an ‘occupational coaching’ program, the expert also talks about the loneliness of those who assist a sufferer of dementia. “The caregiver does not know where to turn, many times he has no one to ask, in the crisis of the family doctor and other natural supports. The reality today is still that of the ‘silent telephone’ “.
For Trabucchi “the family doctor should be more present. In some areas it is, in others less. A more homogeneous criterion at the national level of function and presence should be adopted. The family doctor must therefore do his job and give hope to the future “, not just” communicate that 10 years remain, then 9, 8 7, to finally let these people be struck by infinite pain at the moment of death. of their loved ones. Part of the answer may be technology. What hasn’t worked so far? We have never been able to mediate with these tools, “she concludes.
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