Every day, millions of Americans give care, either to an elderly family member, or as a professional caregiver. Some of these people have professional training in how to safely help someone, but most do not. A study was conducted recently on the unpaid, volunteer and family caregivers out there, and the results were very surprising to some. However, for those people that do help out an older mom or dad, the results will not be a surprise, but just their reality.
It’s estimated that 1.2 billion hours of unpaid care are administered each year. That’s the equivalent of about 30.5 million full time caregivers. These are overwhelming numbers; far too big for the mind to comprehend. Still, it’s important to remember that these are real people helping people that they love. It’s a lot easier to focus on just one example of someone spending hours and hours helping out their parent, to the point of exhaustion and then far past it. Unfortunately, although it seems easy to say that 30.5 million people are giving this care each year, it’s probably far less than this as people work more than eight hour days helping out their family. So, to go back to the one individual example, think of that person spending almost every waking second on their loved one’s health and safety. They don’t have time for a job, taking care of errands, or themselves. It’s a very dire situation when you look at it this way.
One other finding of the study was that many elderly folks are cared for by a spouse, and not necessarily an adult child. This is something that could pose a potential issue, especially if the spouse has health problems themselves. In a situation like this, an in-home caregiver can help reduce the burden on the healthier spouse by helping them to ensure that meals are taken care of and the tougher chores are accounted for without issues. This will prevent accidents and injury and keep stress levels much lower. It also gives elderly couples more time to enjoy themselves and each other. With about 20 percent of caregiving for those age 80 and over coming from people the same age, this is an important fact to keep in mind, especially if you have family members in this situation.
There are far more family caregivers than there are senior care professionals out there, The result is lost money, less social and work time, and a lot more stress than necessary. Yes, hiring a caregiver can be expensive, but the opportunity cost of not doing it is even higher. Estimates say that people lose far more money when they provide full time family caregiving than if they keep their job and hire a professional care service to help ease the burden.
In-home care can help alleviate the problems in most of these situations, thankfully. Still, many people do not take this into consideration. For those that it would help, it’s not a difficult thing to set up, and once you find a good match for your loved one, your mind will be set at ease when it comes to the worry that you face each day. If you are unsure, it’s worth taking a look at today.
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