About Caregiving With Purpose . . .

Welcome to the award-winning CaregivingWithPurpose.com.

Whether you are a family caregiver, a professional caregiver or both, the journey of caregiving affects you and your family. The Call to caregiving often comes abruptly and unexpectedly, catching you off guard. CaregivingWithPurpose.com is here to help you to more than surviving ~ thriving in caregiving.

Not everyone is called or accepts The Call.  Only one who will sacrifice time, energy and money for another has The Caregiver’s Heart. 

The site map for CaregivingWithPurpose.com is in the shape of hearts and follows the caregiver’s journey and heart.

• It starts at the beginning, with Beginning Caregiving or Caregiving 101. This category is an introduction to caregiving and includes resources especially for new caregivers.
• After the introduction to caregiving comes Giving Care. This is for caregivers who have been giving care and are moving into more intensive caregiving. This includes both long distance and nearby caregivers. Whether you accept your care recipient into your own home or manage their care from a distance, this category is for you.
• Caring for the Caregiver is an important part of caregiving.
  If you do not care for yourself, who will? And you need to be in top shape for more than surviving ~ thriving in caregiving. Caregiver stress is one of the main topics of this category – how to prevent and reduce it.
• Crafts for Caregiving is a combination category. It is about how crafts can reduce caregiver stress and help the caregiver. It is also about crafts that you can do with your care recipient – and how crafts can help them too.
• End of Life Care is the category devoted to hospice care and issues surrounding the final journey Home.
• Living Beyond Caregiving focuses on helping you continue your life after the caregiving ends, or changes.

Alzheimer’s is the first category for caregiving dedicated to a disease or condition. It is about Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias that affect so many elderly.

And in the center of the categories is A HEART PLAN. This is an acronym for helping caregivers more than survive caregiving ~ to thrive. It includes the steps that I found helpful along my journey, and frankly wish I’d known about earlier. It’s your road map to help you find your way to more than surviving ~ thriving in caregiving.

About “The Knitting Dr.” . . .

Hi!  I’m Ina Gilmore and for many years I defined myself as “Dr. Gilmore.”

After college I went straight to medical school, earning my doctor of medicine from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. I went on to complete a residency in Internal Medicine, and practiced primary care adult medicine for several years.

While working in a multispecialty group, I developed a passion for Infectious Diseases. So, I went back to train as an Infectious Diseases specialist. After completing my Infectious Diseases fellowship, I became an Assistant Professor of Medicine at an inner city medical school’s HIV Clinic.

After three years I left to assume more care of my ailing elderly parent—and to take a much-needed break from inner city subspecialty medicine.  Initially I combined Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases in a rural practice, later moving to a suburban Infectious Diseases practice.

After 9-11, I realized the full impact and stress of combining a demanding career with primary caregiving.

Especially noticeable was the isolation of caring alone for an elderly parent while working odd hours, with the nearest family four hours by car . It affected my life profoundly—both professionally and personally.

Taking charge, I made some changes including leaving active medical practice.  I moved closer to family.

There I found solace in knitting and other crafts. I realized most of my life has been spent as a caregiver—both informally for family and professionally as a physician. Finding myself without losing myself to the burdens of caregiving became my mission.

In the depths of the darkness of caring for a dying loved one with a seemingly unconcerned health care system I found my voice. My family and I realized without my medical expertise we could not have navigated that time. In the dawn of realization and recovery from this experience I found my life mission:

Helping others more than surviving ~ thriving in caregiving!

Yes, you can find joy and personal growth in assuming a sometimes thankless — but increasingly necessary — responsibility for acute or chronic care of your loved one. If life is a journey, this is one leg of it.

While you may feel like you’ve been traveling without a map or a compass, you can change that starting now.

The first step is often recognizing and managing caregiver stress. 

About the logo . . .

You’ll notice on the right side of the header a logo.  This logo is for this site and its sister site, TheKnittingYarn.com.

The open hands express the desire I have to help you find yourself in caregiving and crafts.

The stethoscope represents my medical background.

The yarn and needles represent knitting and all crafts.  Crafts can help you get through the stresses of life.

The multicolored yarn is a reminder that caregiving and crafts are multicultural, and include all people.  It also symbolizes the community of caregivers.

You may be wondering about the white needles.  They show up best on the blue background, and have no other significance.  However if you can think of one, be sure to let me know. 

The heart is knit of red yarn with a crocheted border.  This signifies the passion and love you must have to be a caregiver.  Combining the crocheted edging with the knitting is a reminder that crocheting and knitting can coexist beautifully together. 

No matter what your favorite craft–knitting, crocheting, tatting or something else–you are welcome here.  Crafts can be an important part of you more than surviving ~ thriving in caregiving.  And if you don’t yet have a favorite craft, you’re still welcome.  There is no craft better than another, and no reason why you cannoty enjoy more than one… even in the same project!

Dr. Ina

Ina Gilmore M.D. (ret.)

“The Knitting Dr.”

Ambassador of Elder Care, HowToLiveOnPurpose.com

Founder, CaregivingWithPurpose.com and TheKnittingYarn.com

Disclosure

Disclaimer:

The information on this website is for educational purposes only.  It does not replace information or recommendations from your own physician or other health care provider.  This site does not advocate medical or other health-related self-care, and encourages you to obtain advice from your own personal physician or other health care provider.

This web site is not intended to replace medical, financial, legal, or any other professional advice.  Please use your own good judgment and consult with your own professionals before applying any ideas found within this website.