BackFamily Caregiving
Article submitted by Seniors Resource Guide staff.
Families, not social service agencies, nursing homes, or government programs, are the mainstay underpinning long-term care for older persons in the United States. More than 22.4 million persons are informal caregivers, providing unpaid help to older persons who live in the community and have at least one limitation on their activities of daily living. These caregivers include spouses, adult children, and other relatives and friends.
The degree of caregiver involvement has remained fairly constant for more than a decade, bearing witness to the remarkable resilience of the American family in taking care if its older persons. This is despite increased geographic separation, greater numbers of women in the workforce, and other changes in family life. Thus, family care giving has been a blessing in many respects.
It has been a budget-saver to governments faced annually with the challenge of covering the health and long-term care expenses of persons who are ill and have chronic disabilities. The economic value of our nation's family and informal caregivers has been estimated at $257 billion annually.