ONLINE RESOURCES
AARP provides a free online Caregiving Resource Center at aarp.org/home-family/caregiving.
Topics and information run the gamut from step-by-step guides for those just beginning the caregiving journey, to legal advice from experts and support and encouragement for those who feel stressed or burned out.
In addition, a separate website has been set up for caregivers to tell their stories and post photos: act.aarp.org/iheartcaregivers/.
TOP CAREGIVING CHALLENGES
- Time management: Caregivers have less time for themselves and other family members.
- Competing demands: Caregivers must balance their own work and family obligations with tasks such as calling doctors, scheduling appointments and arranging services.
- Financial: According to the National Alliance for Caregiving, out-of-pocket costs for caregivers are about $5,500 per year, with expenses that include food, travel, transportation, medical insurance copays and medications. Estimated expenses for long-distance caregivers are about $8,700 per year.
- Physical and mental stress: For those providing long-term care, the physical and mental tolls can be heavy.
Source: aarp.org
AARP calls them a silent army of unsung heroes.
They are unpaid caregivers, and their numbers are growing.
Nearly 62 million Americans provide some type of informal care for an adult family member or a friend who cannot care for themselves due to illness, disability or frailty because of aging, according to the AARP Public Policy Institute.
The economic value of their work is a staggering $450 billion by the organization’s latest estimates.
That figure includes how much it would cost to pay for services done free of charge by loved ones, including something as simple as picking up prescription medications, or as intense as providing long-term, 24-hour care.
In Georgia, there are 2 million unpaid caregivers with an economic value at $13 billion, according to AARP estimates. Of these, 1.3 million Georgians are providing the care consistently, giving at least 18 hours a week to these tasks.
Caregivers “are a segment of the population that will continue to grow,” predicts Melissa Sinden, associate state director-advocacy, AARP Georgia.
As such, AARP Georgia wants to gain a better understanding of the financial costs of caregiving.
Trying to grasp the breadth of these costs was the goal of a recent caregiving symposium sponsored by the state organization. While AARP Georgia often holds events and seminars for unpaid caregivers statewide, this was the first time the organization planned a discussion on the financial implications.
“We’ve never had a caregiving session that just focused on the cost of caregiving,” said Sinden, speaking prior to the event. “It goes beyond financial. There’s the emotional cost and legal cost. There’s the impact it has on the rest of the family.”
According to AARP, the average caregiver is a 49-year-old female who works outside the home in either a part-time or full-time job, is still caring for her own children and gives at least 20 hours a week of unpaid care for her mother.
Loss of income and other work-related benefits factors into the overall cost of caregiving.
Caregivers often lose income because of reduced work hours, according to research by the Rand Corp., a nonprofit policy think tank. Time off is needed to take loved ones to doctor appointments and arrange for other care needs. The income deficit accounts for the largest portion of the cost of caregiving, said the study published last fall in Health Services Research journal.
AARP Georgia is backing state legislation that would allow employees to use some of their earned sick leave to care for immediate family members. The Family Care Act (HB 92/SB 242) remains in committee in both the House and the Senate.
Meanwhile, AARP wants to be the go-to resource for family caregivers looking after elderly loved ones.
A free online site — aarp.org/home-family/caregiving/ — provides resources for all levels of care. For those thrown into the process because of a crisis situation, there are step-by-step instructions on how to get started and a lot of virtual hand-holding. And there's help, too, for the long-term caregiver coping with stress and burnout.
“This is an issue, that if it doesn’t impact someone right now, it will at some point,” Sinden said.
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