If you are a baby boomer in the in the “Sandwich Generation” How are you coping? Please share some of your coping strategies as a comment. Also, share this question on your own blogs. The answers can help someone else. Let’s try to make it go viral.
According to a recent article by Robert Stock, there will be super help for caregivers with the advent of the new Health Reform Bill. Take a few minutes to read his explanation. I for one, welcome all and any help I can get that will assist my mom for now and hubby and I in the future.
As a childless couple we do not have the foundation of children to depend upon for assistance. Yet, sadly, we know many who have children and do not have the needed support they need during their illness.
Read this insightful article below.
Health Care Reform Will Impact Long-Term Care
Robert W. Stock Contributor
AOL News
(March 26) — As health care reform became the law of the land this week, a huge bloc of Americans with a unique interest in the outcome sat watching on the sidelines.
The 49 million people who care for older family members were hidden in plain sight, as usual, quietly shouldering a burden that so often takes a heavy toll on their finances and their physical and emotional well-being. Many of them — I know a few — are opposed to the new health care law, even though it includes one of the most important steps ever taken to improve caregivers’ lot, especially those of the middle-class persuasion. Of course, hardly any of them are aware of that.
The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act, otherwise known as CLASS, provides for a national insurance program to help cover the cost of long-term care — something 70 percent of people over 65 will need at some point along the way. The premiums will be much lower than those for private plans, and you won’t get screened out because you’ve already had some health problems. Once vested after five years, enrollees unable to care for themselves will be able to claim cash benefits for as long as needed.
A health aide helps a patient at his home in Miami. The new health care reform law could “transform long-term care” and make it possible for more patients to stay at home, said the chief of the National Council on Aging.
If you’re rich, you don’t require much financial help with long-term care. If you’re poor and can no longer fend for yourself, Medicaid pays the bills, often at a nursing home. For the rest of us, long-term care — at home or in an institution — now requires that we, or our caregivers, choose from among some unpleasant options.
We can spend down our retirement savings until we’re eligible for Medicaid funds. We can protect our savings by taking out expensive long-term care insurance — it costs my wife and me more than $5,000 a year. Or, depending on how dependent we are, we can throw ourselves, or be thrown, on the mercy of our families.
My friend — I’ll call him Frank — was a retired lawyer and in great shape until four years ago. He had just turned 90 when emergency surgery laid him low for months on end. Then his sight and hearing began to go. “I’m one of the lucky ones,” his wife, Helen, told me. “His mind is fine. But he can’t get around on his own — he falls, even with a walker. He can’t make a cup of tea or shower by himself.”
For now, Helen can afford to hire an aide for a few hours a day to help with Frank and allow her to get out of the apartment. “James gives me a life,” she said. The future looks darker.
Surveys show that 90 percent of Americans want to age at home. Frank is no exception, but he never signed up for long-term care insurance. “If I couldn’t keep taking care of him, I don’t what I’d do,” Helen said. “If he went into assisted living, it would use up all our money. It’s very scary.”
CLASS, one of the legacies of the late Ted Kennedy, offers caregivers and care recipients another option. “If it’s successful, if a large enough number of people sign up, it will transform long-term care,” says James Firman, president and CEO of the National Council on Aging. “It will create a market-based economy for keeping aging people at home.”
That’s an important “if,” since the program, by law, must be self-sustaining. Premiums will generally be collected as part of workers’ payroll deductions unless they opt out. The younger the worker, the smaller the premium.
There is a vicious circle built into the current arrangements. Many caregivers must hold down a job and maintain their own separate family household while also watching over an aging parent. That kind of pressure can have consequences.
In recent studies, workers 18 to 39 years of age who were caring for an older relative had significantly higher rates of hypertension, depression and heart disease than non-caregivers of the same age. Overall, caregivers cost their companies an extra 8 percent a year in health care charges and many more unplanned days off.
In other words, the strains of family caregiving can hasten the caregiver’s need to be the recipient of care.
CLASS bids to crack if not break that vicious circle. Its benefits would make it much simpler and less expensive for families to make sure Mom gets the support she needs to be able to spend life’s endgame where she wants — in her own home. Good news for Mom, and good news for the future health of her caregivers.
In the last few days, I’ve conducted a poll of a dozen friends who have been closely following the health care reform debate. I wanted to find out how much they knew about CLASS.
Not one among them had even heard of it. It somehow seemed fitting that this major program, just like the caregivers themselves, was hidden in plain sight.
Ok, this baby boomer now has a serious goal, live long life and keep going strong. Of course this is rather unusual so yes, I am glad to live what ever life God grants me and live it to the fullest.
I just read this story about a woman who is 107 years old in Newark, NJ. She is from Georgia, just like my mom. So, of course before I posted this I spoke to my 82 year old mom and shared the highlights. We all need encouraging.
I also hope that her senior housing complex has a full time social worker. They have been missing on a full time basis in Newark Housing complexes for a while now. Caregiving families need the advice and support when trying to keep their loved one OUT OF a nursing home for as long as they can.
This woman does have good support with her grandchildren. And it is a good reminder to us all to talk with our families to share in the support needed in caregiving. Of course I read it wishing I had had children to help me in providing support for my mom. But God has been good and when I have strength and a great homemaker life can rock.
This video is aimed at hospital based infections. They are commonly called, HAI(Hospital Associated Infections.
Now, some folks do not want to ask health care providers or visitors to wash their hands. But mental discomfort now can mean physical discomfort later.
Sometimes people are picking up infections, from pneumonia to antibiotic-resistant staph (MRSA), while under treatment for other health problems, or even while just in the hospital having a baby. That’s a situation that could, and should, be completely avoidable.
Kimberly-Clark Health Care is on the forefront of protecting patients from Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) and has put together a site dedicated to that prevention called HAI Watch: Not on My Watch. The site has information for both healthcare professionals and healthcare consumers.
Do Home Health Care Agencies provide free flu shots for their Home Health Aides? I wondered about this question because many many Home Health Aides are underpaid but extensively needed to provide home care. If they are sick their options for sick days are few. Some agencies just do not have the resources to provide paid sick days.
Yet, if they are sick and go to work anyway it is silmilar to the wattress or kitchen helper who may be sick but works anyway because they just cannot afford days off. The result can be a spread of infection to those they serve,
I firmly believe the the Home Health Aide should get as many perks as possible. So, if you know of a Home Health Care Agency in the US that gives perks like free flu shots or sick days please post a comment. They should be applauded and recognized.
In addition, many baby boomers are transiting to other careers. Many are looking into home health care as an option. It would be good to know where the good agencies are residing. When you think about it an agency that cares for it’s people will probably go out of the way to care for your loved one.
I just read a powerful article about a nursing home patient that was only 29 years old. The fact is she was a medical student part of a special geriatric training program. It is a powerful program that I feel should be nation wide.
She learned several things that will open the eyes of many that have loved ones in a nursing home but seldom visit.
What does the nursing home patient that does not have memory issues think about? How do they feel when a staff member uses a tone of voice that treats them like a child instead of an adult? So many questions.
I do wish that the program really did not inform all the staff that the resident was a student. It would be a good test of client service. It could also serve as a way to reward workers that are making a difference.
It also reinforces the need for care giver support programs and resources. Many do not want to place a loved one in a nursing home but do not have the resources and support from family to care for them at home. It places a real burden on the caregiver-an unhealthy burden.
My name is Mariah Kissel and I love my mother. She has always been there for me. I was never a sweet little girly girl , and as teenage daughters go, lets just say my parents had there hands full. My mom and dad where constantly fixing my mistakes and covering my butt. When I was in the sixth grade, my class was going to put on a show for the PTA. It was a medley of songs from the Sound of Music. Everyone in our class got to be in the show but only a few were selected to be a Von Trapp child. My teacher was picking the last Von Trap girl and it was between myself and one other student. She told us to bring in a costume on Thursday and she would pick the girl with the best one. Well, of course I waited to tell my mother the costume part until Wednesday night. “If I dont get this part I will die.” Yes I was a mellow dramatic child. I think I cried myself to sleep that night because my mother didn’t rush out to find the perfect dress for me. The next morning I woke up and there it was. The perfect dress hanging on my bedroom door. My mother had stayed up all night sewing together this amazing costume out of scrap fabrics she had laying around her craft room. I got the part in that show because of her talents, not mine.
My mother was always doing things like that for my sister and I. I cannot think of one major event in my life that she wasn’t a part of . When I wanted to move to California she helped me find an apartment and helped pay the bills for said apartment. A year later when I called, begging her to come get me because I couldn’t take LA anymore, she drove four hours in a U-Haul with my dad, packed me up and moved me back to Las Vegas and back into her house. That was just the first of many, many, many times that I would move back in with dear old mom and dad. She was there when I got married and when I got divorced. This amazing woman was even in the delivery room when I had both my children. Katelin in 94 and Jacob in 96. she was the best grandmother. I never had to buy a Halloween costume for my children. Whatever they wanted to be she would make it happen. They were her pride and joy. Even when I told her I was once again getting married, she helped plan the most exquisite wedding. I guess you could say she was as perfect a mom as you can get. She was my best friend.
I Never thought in a million years that all of that care, love, happiness and friendship could be gone in an instant. So when I got that call, that devastating call. The one that said my mother was sick, confused and alone. The call that said she would need 24 hour care for the rest of her life, I can honestly say that there was no hesitation in making my decision. A decision that would change both her life and mine. My mother spent 35 years taking care of me and it was time for me to return the favor. I became my mother’s caregiver right then and there. Caring for a sick aging parent is the hardest thing I will probably ever have to do, but no matter how hard it can get I wouldn’t change my decision to take care of the woman who always took care of me.
In my blog, you will get a glimpse of what it is like to be Judy’s caregiver and daughter. The good, the bad, the funny…The not so funny. I’m not here to give great advice, all though I might try from time to time. I’m just here to let the hundreds of thousands of sons and daughters taking care of their parents know that they are not alone.
Cargiving can be dark at times but we must keep looking at the light in the sky.
Our guest post for today is from our friend James Armstrong. This article is a repost from last year. The first part of the article was also posted last year. You can review the article Becoming a Caregiver.
Following is part two of an interview with Phyllis Slater, owner of Slater Solutions LLC. Ms. Slater has devoted years to providing coaching and concierge services to the working caregiver and aging parent. Visit Phyllis Slater’s website simply by Googling the name Phyllis Slater.
Q. Is caregiving a rewarding career?
A. Yes, I have a creative personality and passion to find solutions. Working for others did not provide that freedom, which was a trade-off for security. Eight years ago I started my own business helping seniors to downsize their home, pack and unpack for relocation, and organize the home for ease of movement. This process is more than just packing and unpacking. Now the family can learn how to properly do these tasks for themselves by hiring me for coaching sessions over the telephone.
As time went on, I created friendships with other senior care providers. It became clear that there was a gap with respect to information, resources and the caregiver. Unfortunately, aging is not a pleasant thought and people wait for the last minute to think about it.
Q. Could we have an overview of caregiving?
A. There are two types of caregivers. There are both family and professional caregivers.
Q. What does it mean to be a family caregiver?
A. Family caregivers are on call 24/7 should a loved one’s health and care change. Today a loved one may be independent but a fall tonight could mean hospitalization, rehabilitation and care when they return home. That is if they return home.
Q. Describe a day in the life of a family caregiver.
A. From rising in the morning, responsibilities start with making sure a loved one takes meals and medications; is bathed and dressed; you cook, clean, shop and provide transportation. Don’t forget the importance of social interaction with the loved one.
Family and professional caregivers must work as a team. A perfect scenario of how to be a great caregiver includes planning ahead for any contingency, which includes a list of products, services and resources within reach. However, this is not reality since most caregivers wait until a crisis to think about these things. There are unknowns, such as being independent until illness places them into a nursing home. Years ago there wasn’t any in-between stage. Now we have options such as Assisted Living and Continuing Care Facilities.
Q. What kinds of people are most in need of caregiver services?
A. Caregiver services should be available to someone who has physical, mental or age related challenges.
Q. What do these people need the most?
A. Support and services in a clean, caring and affordable environment. Aging is a process. Preparing for reality of aging is as important as preparing for retirement.
Q. What kinds of challenges does a family caregiver face?
A. When a loved one can no longer be fully independent, many families have no idea of the emotional and physical stress it puts on them. The key is to avoid “burnout” by taking time out for a quiet walk, lunch with friends or bringing a massage therapist and hair stylist to the home.
Q. What kinds of advice do you give to a Boomer who is considering getting a caregiver for his or her parent?
A. Plan ahead by asking friends for referral services they have used. Keep a record of this for future reference. Doctors and organizations provide referrals, but that does not mean they have ever used them or know someone who has.
If a professional caregiver is required, interview their company as closely as they will interview you.
* Is the company and staff bonded?
* Will one person be the primary caregiver?
* Does the personality of your loved one work with the personality of the caregiver?
* What is the pricing?
* Perform company background checks.
Q. What are some of the disadvantages of being a caregiver?
A. Burnout is a big concern if there is no personal respite time allowed. Sometimes a spouse feels guilty about taking time away from the ailing spouse. What happens is that the healthy spouse dies first.
James O. Armstrong, who serves as Editor and President of NowWhatJobs.net, http://www.nowwhatjobs.net, which is The Resource for Job Transitions over 40, also wrote “Now What: Discovering Your New Life and Career after 50.” In addition, he is the Cofounder with his wife of Armstrong Solutions Inc., http://www.armstrongsolutions.net, which is a Counseling, Coaching and Career Management Practice with a reduced fee schedule to expand their services to a larger group of men and women with needs. Armstrong also serves as President of James Armstrong & Associates, Inc., which is a national and international media representation firm serving Central US and Canada out of his Suburban Chicago base.
I want to feature caregiver blogs for a few days. Why? Because not only am I a care giver but many, sooo many baby boomers are providing care for a loved one. Many are doing inhome care, site visits, or doing what they can long distance.
It can provide a strain, both emotionally and physically on the care giver.Although there are support groups out there many of us just don’t have that quality time to attend. Some of us get great therapy, hope and information from blogging.
So, if you have services or just plain support to save sanity regarding caregivers please share. Now if you want to be a guest blogger please email me, rosiehorner(at)gmail.com, with your blog post. Please I don’t want just ads but added value information that can help all that read this site.
