The Project goal is to raise awareness about safe medicine use among
family members, friends and/or neighbours who provide care to seniors
and children with chronic illness.
We are doing this Project because we recognize the growing role of caregivers
and their need for support. We hope you find this site helpful. Check
back often because we’ll be updating as the Project progresses.
Caregiver
A friend, family member or neighbour
who helps someone with daily living or health-related activities. There
are many ways to help, such as helping with medicine, recognizing problems
and discussing them with a health care professional, picking up prescriptions,
arranging for transportation to and from appointments. In some situations
caregivers may actually administer medicine, not just supervise or assist.
Sometimes caregivers themselves are seniors and the conditions and
challenges addressed on this site apply to them as well as the person
they are helping. Their attitudes towards and knowledge of the safe
use of medicine are very important.
Medicine
Almost anything a person takes to feel better
or become healthier. Tablets, capsules, pills, liquids, puffers (inhalers),
creams, patches, drops, needles, even vitamins, herbs, ointments, laxatives,
aspirin and antacids are all different types of medicine.
Senior
An older adult, used here to refer
to a population for whom medicine and caregiving are issues. People
react differently to medicine as they age, and older people tend to
take more medicine, which means there could be more medicine-related
problems.
