If you are reading this at 2 a.m., that is information. Caregiver exhaustion is not a character flaw, and in Greater Cleveland there is more free support than most families ever find.
Short answer
Respite, adult day care, and the free Cleveland-area support most families never hear about.
What to do, in order
- Take the exhaustion seriously as a clinical fact. Caregiver strain predicts poor outcomes for both people. This is not a motivation problem and willpower is not the missing input.
- Use respite before you are desperate. Adult day health care runs an Ohio median around $83 a day against $6,103 a month for assisted living. PASSPORT can help cover it for Medicaid-eligible seniors.
- Take the free support that exists here. Caregiver support programs, equipment lending and options counseling are available through Western Reserve AAA or Direction Home Akron Canton, depending on your county.
- Get a second opinion on the plan. Your county's Area Agency on Aging will review options at no cost. Families often discover they qualify for help they assumed was out of reach.
- Name the thing you are avoiding. Most caregivers know what the next step is months before they take it. What usually delays it is guilt, not information.
