Eldercare is family affair for McQuade

Daniel McQuade doesn’t mind all the extra errands he does each month for his mother.

“It’s not a burden,” said the ITS camera operator for UNMC. “It’s a privilege.”

Kathryn McQuade

Several times a month McQuade takes his 83-year-old mother, Kathryn McQuade, to doctor appointments, shop, and out for dinner or errands. Kathryn McQuade gave up driving 11 years ago and lives in an apartment at the Masonic Manor.

“She’s really quite independent and self-reliant,” McQuade said.

Until a year ago, McQuade said his mother, a retired nurse, was a volunteer delivering mail at The Nebraska Medical Center.

In fact, McQuade said his mother is sometimes so busy that he and his siblings had to buy her an answering machine just to keep in touch.

Learn more on Dec. 7 UNMC employees can learn more about caring for elderly parents, relatives and friends and the coordinated services available at UNMC, University Medical Associates and The Nebraska Medical Center at an eldercare event on Tuesday, Dec. 7 in the Eppley Science Hall. The “Accessing Eldercare Services and Information” event will feature four presentations in the Eppley Science Hall Amphitheater from 10:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m., and exhibits in the UNMC Center for Continuing Education Atrium (inside the Eppley Science Hall) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be free sack lunches to the first 100 employees who attend.

McQuade, who is the sixth of Kathryn’s eight children, said he does not bear the responsibility alone. “We are a very close family,” he said.

While he might take his mom to her ophthalmologist appointment at UNMC, his sister-in-law will take her to the grocery store. “We take care of each other,” McQuade said. “It lessens the burden when everyone helps out.”

McQuade said he feels fortunate to be able to run errands for his mom and take her to appointments. “I try to share as much time with my family while I can, because you never know how much time you have together,” he said, noting the death of his youngest brother 11 years ago from cancer.

McQuade also noted the exceptional care his mother has received since becoming a patient in the geriatrics department at UNMC about six years ago.

“The geriatrics department is impressive,” he said. “I tell everyone I know.”