Rosemary Rawlins feels a deep sense of gratitude for what she learned from her aging parents while providing them with help and comfort. Her father had dementia and her mother suffered with COPD. “My parents brought me into the world,” Rawlins recalls, “but also taught me how to leave it with dignity.” She is a family caregiver.
Being a caregiver can be deeply rewarding, but it can also require significant, even heroic, sacrifices. In Rosemary’s case, there was the hasty, chaotic relocation of her parents from New York to her community in Virginia after her father’s aneurysm. The ongoing advocacy with his assisted living facility when his behavior became erratic and violent. The middle-of-the-night visits to the emergency room.
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