How to Take Care of Children With Chronic Illnesses

Taking care of children when they are sick can be challenging and difficult and requires a lot of patience, care and support-but you know that it is usually a short time before they fully recover. Taking care of children with chronic diseases, on the other hand, requires so much more from both parents and the child-and will likely require long-term support from family, friends and health care professionals. In some cases, especially with terminally-ill children, specialized care and treatment management is necessary and vitally important to maintain the well-being of the child. This article offers some tips and advice for parents who are caregivers of chronically-ill children.

Instructions

• 1

  Carry a care plan, medication list and diary log to each health care appointment in order to best communicate your child's condition.

• 2

  For parents who have a child with a chronic illness there are challenges with education and schooling. Frequently missed classes and school days can affect the child's academic performance and GPA. Find out about special school programs that may help counteract this problem. Each school has a program that will help a student maintain satisfactory academic performance. Regular parent-teacher meetings will help keep both the parent and child on track. Make a monthly plan with the teachers and establish a program to make up work for sick days.

• 3

  Find and establish a support team made up of teachers, counselors, the school nurse and learning directors, as well as medical professionals. Join local support groups and meet other parents who are facing the same challenges with caring for a chronically-ill child.

• 4

  The Internet is a great place to find additional support and research information which could help you in dealing with problems that may arise. Families with chronically-ill children sometimes struggle to keep up with the latest research, technologies and treatments associated with the condition. There are many clinical research studies that are currently being conducted on many types of diseases and medical conditions. Visit the nation's largest government-funded research institute, The National Institute of Health (NIH) to find out the latest developments and research treatments (see link in Resources below).

• 5

  Learn to recognize the changing symptoms in a chronically-ill child. Small changes may occur each day that can be an early warning sign of a bigger problem later on.

• 6

  There are financial as well as emotional challenges for parents and families with a chronically-ill child. Budgeting and putting aside a savings account for medical and health care purposes is a very good idea. Looking for better health care coverage or relocating to be closer to a hospital specializing in the child's illness can mean making certain sacrifices and can incur more cost.