Face it. Caregiving is hard work no matter how much you love the person you are caring for. It's long nights and often thankless days. 

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Caregiver Bingo is created to help you to smile and maybe even chuckle at yourself. Unlike other apps or games designed to stimulate memories of our loved ones, Caregiver Bingo is designed for caregivers to help them stay on the lighter side of life.

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The inspiration for this game came from watching my husband's family care for my mother-in-law. Her repeated questions and increasing needs often frayed the nerves of the best-intentioned person. I wrote a short story called "Dementia Bingo," published by the Writers' Workout, that told how a simple game helped us to navigate grief. The story was also one of many used by the Caregivers' Project sponsored by the New London Barn Playhouse to help people navigate and retain their humanity and humor in what can be very trying times.

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How do you play? It's simple! The first step is to create your own personal bingo card with 24 questions or tasks that relate directly to your experience. Samples are provided for you to select, and since each person and caregiving environment is different, you can personalize your card by entering one or more tasks or questions.

 

And those repeated questions? You can set the box to be filled only after a number of repetitions have been reached. Rather than groaning at answering what day it is, you can now cheer you've reached a goal!

 

You can even add family members to play along with the same card!

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​This is a rough draft, but please take a minute to provide your very important feedback!

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I found this article to be very helpful and informative about talking to someone with dementia.