New AARP research finds caregivers now top 53 million in U.S.
by Deborah
Schoch, AARP,
May 14, 2020
More than 1 in 5 adults — a total of 53
million adult Americans — are now unpaid family caregivers, according to
a new report from AARP and the National Alliance for
Caregiving (NAC).
The number of caregivers has climbed from 18
percent of adults in 2015 to more than 21 percent in 2020, an increase of 9.5
million adults who provide assistance on everything from grocery shopping to
wound care to medication management. The biggest boost came among those caring
for adults 50 and older, which accounted for just over 14 percent of caregivers
in 2015 and nearly 17 percent this year. Many receiving care were boomers, who
are now ages 55 to 75, according to the report.
In fact, boomers are pivoting from taking care
of friends and loved ones to needing care. Now their children and grandchildren
are stepping up.
AARP
"We always talk about the average
caregiver. I really pushed hard to talk about the many different aspects of
caregivers,” said Susan C. Reinhard, AARP senior vice president and director of
the AARP Public Policy Institute, who played a key role in the new report.
Reinhard said her interest in family
caregivers dates to her days as a visiting nurse, when “they were the ones who
opened the door."
The report, “Caregiving in the U.S. 2020,”
is the latest in a series of reports dating to 1997. It is based on online
surveys conducted in 2019 of 1,392 caregivers age 18 and older.
"Do you want to fight?"
Bethany Robertson, a millennial who now lives
in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was only 27 when she shouldered the responsibility
of caring for her beloved grandmother, Maria Viviano, who had suffered a serious
stroke in New Jersey.
Only at the hospital did Robertson learn that
her grandmother had given her both medical and legal powers of attorney. And amid bleak medical
prognoses at the New Jersey hospital, she sought her guidance.
"I asked, ‘Do you want to fight?’ She
looked at me and nodded her head very emphatically, ‘Yes.’ “
After hovering near death, Viviano recovered,
but with restricted speech and movement. Yet when Robertson inquired if her
grandmother would prefer a nursing home, she was met with tears.
Robertson realized that caring for her at home was her only
option. She moved her to the condominium in Charleston, S.C., that she shared
with her husband. She struggled to find reliable certified nursing assistants
to help her.
But as hard as it was, “We shared many awesome
moments."
Viviano stayed at Robertson's home, where she
died peacefully after nearly two years, surrounded by family.
Lost in the neighborhood
Jeanne Wintz of Seattle is the main caregiver
for her husband, Jim, a role that began when he first showed early signs of dementia. He had worked for
decades as a psychiatric social worker. Now she grew uncomfortable leaving him
home alone.
"I realized he couldn't find his way
around the neighborhood where we had lived for 40 years,” Wintz said. She is
now 72, in good health, and her husband is 89. For his sake, they moved to an
independent living complex, where he attends a regular “memory fitness” class
that he thoroughly enjoys, she said.
Wintz uses spreadsheets to keep track of her
husband's appointments and their locations.
After all, she formerly worked as a top
executive at a major research company.
But she is the exception. More than 1 in 4
caregivers said they find it difficult to synchronize such care, up from 19
percent in 2015.
"The care coordination should not be so
hard,” said AARP's Reinhard, who believes caregivers should be part of the
official caregiving team.
Racial disparities
Hispanic and African American caregivers
devote more hours to caregiving, and they also help with more medical and nursing tasks, the report found.
In some cases, they may find it hard to find long-term
care facilities where they feel comfortable, or that are affordable and located
in their communities, said María P. Aranda, associate professor and executive
director of the Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging at the University of
Southern California in Los Angeles.
The increased prevalence in caregiving shown
by the report may have several causes, said Aranda, who served on the report's
advisory panel.
It may reflect that care recipients are living
longer, with a variety of disabilities, she said.
And it may also show that people are embracing
the label of caregiver, as it becomes more acceptable in society, she said.
"Caregiving is part of the family life
cycle,” Aranda said. “The lion's share of people do it because they want to do
it, and they want to provide the best care for their loved ones."
More Information for Family Caregivers
No comments:
Post a Comment