Paula Span from the New York Times wrote a very good blog post today describing "Caregiving in the USA 2009", a new report from the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP. She writes:
"Every few years, the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP team up to survey the nation’s family caregivers and produce a massive, highly detailed study funded by Metlife. The first of these reports appeared in 1997, the next in 2004. The latest, released this week, provides an interesting picture of what’s changed in five years and what hasn’t."
Some interesting facts:
- Elder care remains primarily women’s work
- Most caregivers continue to juggle unpaid caregiving and paid work.
- In 2004, the proportion of elders over age 75 was 55 percent; now it’s 63 percent.
- Caregivers’ average age rose from 48 to 50.
- A higher proportion are caring for seniors with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
- The proportion whose older relatives had aides, housekeepers or other paid workers dropped to 41 percent from 46 percent; the use of paid help also declined among all caregivers.
- Unpaid caregiving supplied by other family and friends has risen.
The percentage of caregivers who choose to care for their elders in their own homes is on the rise, too. I have to admire people who make this difficult and loving decision to set much of their own lives aside to care for aging parents and relatives.
I was not able to care for my mother at home because of her physical condition and her medical needs. I am sorry for that. But I am grateful that we found a nursing home where she felt appreciated and was well cared for.
My mother cared for her mother in our home until grandma's dementia made it unsafe and her advanced age and condition required more care than mom could give her.
I don't think anyone finds the decision to place their loved one in a nursing home an easy one to make. Yet there are times when it is the best decision for everyone.
Posted by: Judi | November 28, 2010 at 12:35 PM