Being an Alzheimer's caregiver is hard work that requires a lot of knowledge and many skills for getting along and for connecting with the person. Here are some tips to help you out on your caregiving journey.

WASHINGTON — We're in denial: Americans underestimate their chances of needing long-term care as they get older – and are taking few steps...

Caregivers are an invaluable volunteer army drafted into service to help loved ones remain at home rather than in facilities and institutions.

SPECIAL FROM Next Avenue By Suzanne Gerber It’s a delicate balance between being overbearing and dangerously disconnected Last week we ran ...

As America tunes in for another season of TV's "Mad Men," I thought about the workplace changes being played out on the series. If Matt Weiner could flash forward to today's work environment, I hope he'd show the biggest issue facing America's workers today: caregiving.

Let's face it. Caring for a person with Alzheimer's is hard work. You may have to deal with personality changes and difficult behaviors. What I want to achieve in this article is to offer some ideas about five things Alzheimer's caregivers should never do.

This grassroots movement is only getting started. With your help, we can increase momentum in the fight to end Alzheimer's.

For years, research has shown that caring for an aging family member may put a caregiver's health at risk. Now, a National Institutes of Health study suggests that your "personality type" can possibly help predict just how risky caregiving might be for you.

I thought I was getting Alzheimer's. I really did. And how ironic would that be? I blog on the Huffington Post and Alzheimer's Reading Room about my experiences as an Alzheimer's caregiver for my Romanian life partner, Edward Theodoru.

For an aging person, the move to a skilled nursing facility is a costly one. Nationwide, the average annual cost of a semi-private room in a skilled nursing facility (nursing home) in 2011 was $78,110. And the cost is clearly rising.

Watching a loved one grow old is filled with emotional upheaval, and when you compound that with other stresses -- rush-hour traffic, deadlines, sick children, dirty laundry -- caregivers are often left holding the bag.

In the classic children's story from the Brothers Grimm, a beautiful princess sleeps her way to an enchanting life with a handsome prince. If it were only that easy. For many of the nation's 65 million family caregivers, sleep is an elusive luxury and a true fairy tale.

Ed, my beloved Romanian soul mate of 30 years, was continuing to decline slowly and was becoming ever more difficult to get along with. I was at the end of my rope. I really was.

Who hasn't fantasized about retirement? No more time clocks to punch, early-morning alarm clocks to set, rush hour traffic to fight, or uncomfortable heels or cranky early morning kids to deal with. Nothing but leisurely days to travel, enjoy your family or do whatever you wish.

Critical Care encourages us to consider what brings us the most joy, then go out there and grab it: Make the career change, ask the cutie out, write the book or go on the impulsive trip.

I wrote Come Back Early Today: A Memoir of Love, Alzheimer's and Joy as a love story. It's about the powerful 30-year relationship I had with Edward Theodoru, a delightfully colorful, wickedly eccentric Romanian gentleman and scholar.