• 6/21/2008
  • web-based article
  • staff
  • www.wqad.com

Clinical trials are generally for a patient, not the people taking care of the patient. But a new study focuses on the caregiver and how support can help everyone involved.

More than 50 million Americans are caregivers.

Their help saves the health care system more than three-hundred billion dollars a year. That’s why a new clinical trial focuses on educating the caregiver.

Study manager Darlene Johnson is passionate about this research because she is a tongue cancer survivor.

Her husband was her caregiver.

“I went home and told him about the study, and he said, ‘ah, man. I wish I had something like that when you were going through this,’ because he felt very insecure himself.”

For the study, caregivers will have one-on-one time with a nurse and receive this home care guide book.

Some of the advice:

Take time to rest — devote at least 30 minutes a day to yourself.

Be open in your conversations with the patient — talk about life and death.

Watch for signs of depression, and let the sick person make as many decisions as possible.

“I think this training will be invaluable.”

The study at Moffitt Cancer Center is open to patients and their caregivers for the next year. To qualify for the trial, patients must be older than 70 years of age and have a diagnosis of colon cancer or non-Hodgkin lymphoma.