Hawken Miller, who lives in Newport Beach, California, was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy at age 5 in 2002. He shares why caregivers should support, rather than take over, when helping someone follow a treatment plan, and why building independence can help patients develop confidence in managing their own care.
Transcript
I think some of the mistakes that caregivers make when helping someone follow a treatment plan is trying to do everything for the patient.
And I think the patient really won’t learn how to do it on their own if everything is done for them. So that would be my biggest advice, is to maybe let them make that mistake, rather than them not knowing what they’re doing or kind of doing it for them.
Because I can tell you, if someone is expecting for it to be done all the time, then they’re going to forget on their own when that person isn’t there, which you don’t want. So you want it to come from the actual patient making the decision.
You can be there supporting. Like, feel free to remind them of it. But to do something for someone, I think it builds a habit of just letting someone else do it and not putting the power in the hands of the patient.
