Part Of An Invisible Workforce
updated October 7th, 2019
When a family member has a cognitive impairment and cannot manage his/her affairs, legal and/or financial planning is often needed. Areas of concern for family caregivers include future health care decisions, management of assets, public benefits planning and, in some cases, litigation.
Although caregiving is not new to American culture, its significance for the delivery of healthcare to our aging population is greater than ever before. Family caregivers have become the unacknowledged backbone of the nation’s long-term care system.
Are you helping a loved one who is struggling with the frailties of old age or chronic illness? If so, then you are a family caregiver – one of a 65-million-member unpaid workforce in the U.S. Nearly one-third of the country’s adult population are caregivers. Thus, providing an average of 20 hours of care per week – and some around the clock.
Already, it is estimated that family caregivers provide unpaid services valued at $450 billion a year.
And although these individuals are usually untrained for the tasks they perform. Family and friends now provide about 80 percent of all long-term care services in this country.
Help For Family Caregivers
Caregiving may be one of the most important roles you will take on. But it is incredibly stressful and can be very lonely and isolating. It can cause major issues with your ability to keep an appropriate balance with work and life. Making arrangements, handling financial and legal issues, and finding community resources can be time consuming, frightening, and frustrating.
Regardless of the nature of the care needed, caregivers selflessly bring comfort. As well social engagement, and stability to those they love, putting the well-being of others before their own.
Which leads to the question: Who is caring for the caregivers?
The emotional and physical effects of stress can creep up on everyone. Studies show that caregiving takes a negative physical toll on caregivers. To the extent that they often delay or forego their own routine medical care. The National Alliance for Caregiving offers the following information and tips for controlling what it terms “Chronic Caregiver Stress”:
Typical Family Caregiver Warning Signs of Stress
- Reduced attention span and concentration
- Reduced effectiveness at work or at home
- Unusual or frequent memory lapses
- Muddled thinking and information processing delays
- Constant irritability, or dulled emotions
- Physical aches and pains, irregular heartbeat, sweating, skin rashes and/or stomach problems
- Avoiding regular activities
- Sleeplessness.
If you regularly experience any of these, stress may be catching up with you. You should seek help, or be sure to have some ways of coping with the stress of caregiving. When caregivers experience stress very intensely, or over long periods of time, they may suffer from “burnout.”
Burnout – neglecting your own needs to the point where you become so fatigued, malnourished, or emotionally overburdened that you can no longer continue caregiving. It is harmful not only to yourself, but to your loved one as well.
Rosalyn Carter said it best: “There are only four kinds of people in the world – those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who will need caregivers.”
There are a variety of ways to provide some quick relief for stress. Sometimes just taking a deep breath or counting to ten will relieve the immediate stress you are experiencing. Also, it allows you to continue responding to a stressful situation more calmly and effectively. Mild exercise – a walk, swim, yoga – can also quickly reduce your stress level.
Sometimes, a personal affirmation, such as the famous Alcoholics Anonymous reminder “One day at a time,” is sufficient to reduce stress and remind yourself that you can make it through this day despite its difficulties and challenges.
Get someone to give you a break and take some time off for something you love to do – a movie; a long bath; reading; a visit to the salon.
Getting Help For Family Caregivers
If you feel that constant stress has brought you to the point of burnout, professional help may be necessary – for your sake as well as for the sake of those you love. If you suspect that caregiving is affecting your physical or mental health. see your physician or other health professional who can suggest ways to help you cope with the stress you’re experiencing.
Local caregiver support groups can also be very helpful, as well as caregiver respite programs which can relieve you of your caregiving activities for short periods of time. Whatever your method of choice for reducing stress, the most important thing to remember is that taking care of yourself is just as important as taking care of those you love.
Day in and day out, more than 65 million family caregivers in this country fulfill a vital role on the care team. And no one else is in a better position to ensure continuity of care. The experiences of today’s family caregivers and the tools they are using to adapt are very important for all Americans to learn about.
The issues surrounding family caregiving are of serious concern for policy makers, politicians at the federal, state and local levels, employers, insurers, and healthcare providers. It is a topic of discussion in faith communities and the subject of research in universities. Today, caregiving is much more than a personal family issue. It is the issue of our age, because sooner or later caregiving will affect every family in America.
At ELP, we work to protect you!
We work with people to do various types of estate planning. There is no one size fits all plan and no plan is categorically better than others. The key is to meet with your attorney (hopefully us!) to discuss your unique situation and have a plan crafted that is best for you. If you or your declining parent is not 100% sure of their beneficiary designations, please be proactive and give us a call before you (or they) lose capacity.
Without a properly flexible plan, how will you care for your declining Loved One, be there for your family, get work done, and pivot in the event of a crisis? What about cost? How will you pay for it all? If you make the Assisted Living Facility choice, how long will the money last? Together, we can craft a proactive plan! Lets get started protecting your assets!
Arkansas Newsletter
If you (or someone you know) are from Arkansas and would benefit from more information like this, click the button below to sign up for our free Arkansas Newsletter by going to https://elp.legal/arknews.
ELP YouTube Channel
Speaking of trends, subscribe to our YouTube Channel. We have a few hundred videos there for your watching enjoyment. Videos are categorized by playlist. You should easily be able to find several videos that discuss exactly what you are looking for. The best part about this is not only is this some really good content, but it is free! There’s even a video specifically addressing Revocable Living Trusts!
Just click here to go to The Elder Law Practice You Tube Channel. Please remember to subscribe! When you click the notification bell, so you will be notified of our latest video launches. If you have video ideas, please type them in the comment box. Thanks for watching!
Disclaimer
We have covered some legal topics in this edition and as always, I want to emphasize that (1) the law is different in every state, so if you live in a state other than Arkansas, just know that the law may be totally different in your state; (2) your situation is unique, so one size doesn’t fit all – meaning what we discuss herein may not be right for you; (3) we have purposely over-simplified many of the topics above (otherwise this would be many pages long and unreadable because of all of the legalize). It is imperative that you meet with your attorney (hopefully us!) and get a plan that will work for you. Don’t try to plan based on what you read in this (or any) article AND don’t try to go it alone. Please consider this, get your questions answered and take action.