An Insight About Those Who Help You

PHI, an organization which works to strengthen the U.S.’s long-term care direct-care workforce, released an analysis (pdf) of the direct-care workforce. The direct-care workforce are those individuals who help you provide care to your care, in your home, in your caree’s home or in the nursing home. They are the home health aides you hire to provide and the certified nursing assistants the nursing home...

Can You Get Sleep?

The National Sleep Foundation suggests that most adults need 7–9 hours of sleep per night. The Centers for Disease Control decided to see how well we do with getting enough sleep. The agency released data yesterday that determined 35.3% of survey respondents reported having less than seven hours of sleep on average during a 24-hour period. Lack of sleep is often equated with having young children, having a...

Powerful Story Shines Light on Elder Abuse

Yesterday, 90-year-old actor Mickey Rooney testified before Congress that he had been abused and neglected by family members. You can listen to Mickey’s story, featured this morning on NBC’s Today Show, at the bottom of this post. Two statistics, mentioned in the Today show story, stood out for me: 3.5 million cases of elder abuse take place every year; 14% of elderly who live with family members...

Survey Results: 44% Know of Someone with Alzheimer’s

MetLife Foundation released survey results today that reveal Americans’ fear of Alzheimer’s is second only to cancer.  “What America Thinks: The MetLife Foundation Alzheimer’s Survey,” a report conducted by Harris Interactive, found that most people are not preparing for the strong possibility that they or their family members will develop Alzheimer’s, despite significant fear...

National Kidney Foundation Needs Family Caregivers for a Survey

The National Kidney Foundation is conducting an online survey to understand the needs of patients with certain serious kidney ailments and their caregivers. The survey is being conducted by Harris Interactive, a market research firm known for The Harris Poll.  The foundation is in need of  family caregivers (parents, siblings, friends, and other family members) or paid home caregivers (nurses or aides) of these...

What’s Your Question for Diane?

During a special week-long series, “Families on the Brink: What to do About Mom & Dad,” Diane Sawyer and several ABC News correspondents will take an in-depth look at the sensitive and serious issues caregivers face. Reports begin airing on “World News with Diane Sawyer” last night. Here’s what’s on tap: THE CONVERSATION:  Diane Sawyer sits down for a discussion with four leading voices...

VA Launches Hotline for Caregivers of Veterans

Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) opened a toll-free National Caregiver Support Line housed at the Canandaigua VA Medical Center campus in Canandaigua, New York. The support line will serve as a primary resource/referral center to assist family caregivers, Veterans and others seeking information to help care of our Nation’s Veterans. VA employees who are licensed clinical social workers will take the...

Call for Participants: Writing and Your Stress

Does writing promote health? A University of Iowa web-based research study will look to answer that question. The study, which is for family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s Disease or other type of dementia, will examine the effects writing may have on health and how well a web-based writing intervention helps to manage caregiving stress. Study participants will write about their thoughts and feelings...

Family Caregivers Want Help from Web-Based and Mobile Technologies

A new survey reveals that the technology advances that have transformed how Americans work, play and interact have potential to alleviate the growing financial and emotional burdens on family caregivers. The e-Connected Family Caregiver: Bringing Caregiving into the 21st Century study, released January 8, 2011 by the National Alliance for Caregiving and UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) company,...

When Caregiving Goes Front Page

Thanks to G-J for sharing a front-page article from today’s The Orange County Register (Can Dementia Turn Mercy Into Killing?). The story profiles family caregivers of persons with dementia and Alzheimer’s because of two recent events in the Orange County community: “The Nov. 21 fatal shooting of an 86-year-old Seal Beach woman, Cara Laird, with late-stage dementia, allegedly at the hands of her ...

Ask Congress to Include Family Caregiver Respite and Support in FY 2011 Funding

Jill Kagan, Chair, National Respite Coalition, provided an update on federal funding for programs that help family caregivers this morning. She’s asking everyone to contact their representatives to request that the highest level of funding for Lifespan Respite and the National Family Caregiver Support Program in Fiscal Year 2001. Per Jill, here’s what’s going on: Congress is currently considering...

On Veteran’s Day, a Closer Look at Veterans’ Family Caregivers

A report released yesterday by The United Health Foundation in collaboration with the National Alliance for Caregiving, takes a closer look at the family caregivers of our nation’s veterans. The study, Caregivers of Veterans – Serving on the Homefront, surveyed family caregivers of veterans, including those veterans who served in WWII  as well as during the most recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Key...

New Annual Wellness Visits for Medicare Beneficiaries to Include Detection of Cognitive Impairment

Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued final regulations for implementation of an important provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which will include for the first time an annual wellness benefit for all Medicare beneficiaries beginning January 2011. This Medicare preventive service benefit is significant for the growing number of baby boomers who will soon be...

Caregiving Tips from the Trenches: Family Caregivers Tell What Works for Them

According to recent research from the National Alliance for Caregiving, 29% of the U.S. adult population, or 65.7 million people, are family caregivers. While the numbers would seem to indicate family caregivers are in good company, the rub of caregiving is that it can often feel that you are the only one. The caregiving experience can feel lonely, exhausting and exasperating. To help lessen the frustration and...

President Obama Declares November National Family Caregivers Month

NATIONAL FAMILY CAREGIVERS MONTH, 2010 - – - – - – - BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION Every day, family members, friends, neighbors, and concerned individuals across America provide essential attention and assistance to their loved ones. Many individuals in need of care — including children, elders, and persons with disabilities — would have difficulty...

64% of Working Sandwich Generation Say They Live Paycheck to Paycheck

Being a member of the working sandwich generation—those who are holding down a full-time job while raising children and simultaneously serving as a caregiver for older relatives—comes with a steep price tag. New findings released last week from MetLife’s 8th Annual Employee Benefits Trends Study help quantify some of the pressures and costs and increasingly point to the workplace as a potential...

Costs of Long-Term Care Continue to Rise

Nursing home and assisted living rates rose significantly from 2009 to 2010, according to the Market Survey of Long-Term Care Costs compiled by MetLife Mature Market Institute. Private room nursing home rates rose 4.6% to $229 per day or $83,585 per year, while assisted living rose 5.2% on average to $3,293 per month, or $39,516 per year. These increases come on top of increases from 2008 to 2009 when both nursing...

Battling Alzheimer’s With Stats and a Personal Story

Well, it seems we’ve called a war on Alzheimer’s. This past month has seem more battle cries to stop the disease than ever before. Consider USAgainstAlzheimer’s and its goal to eradicate Alzheimer’s by 2020. Now, Maria Shriver has issued The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Takes on Alzheimer’s. Her mother, Eunice, cared for Maria’s father until her death last year. (Read...

Adult Day Service Centers Increase in Number But Waiting Lists Indicate The Need for More

According to “The MetLife National Study of Adult Day Services: Providing Support to Individuals and Their Family Caregivers,” more than 4,600 Adult Day Services (ADS) centers are available nationwide, a 35% increase since 2002. The study, produced in collaboration with the National Adult Day Services Association (NADSA) and The Ohio State University College of Social Work, reports that these centers...

USAgainst Alzheimer’s Campaign Rolls Out Today

(Editor’s Note: USAgainstAlzheimer’s launched its official campaign to end Alzheimer’s by 2020 today. I’m sharing the press release about the campaign and this morning’s press conference, below. Look for more about the campaign from me tomorrow.) USAgainstAlzheimer’s (www.USAgainstAlzheimers.org ), a new campaign to mobilize Americans to stop Alzheimer’s by 2020, released the...

Knowing, So You Know What To Do

Caring.com released interesting stats today from research it recently completed with 1,100 family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease. The most interesting to me: About half of the surveyed family caregivers don’t know or aren’t sure which stage of Alzheimer’s disease their caree is in. Oh, my! Knowing is a good part of the battle. Knowing makes it easier to find acceptance, solutions...

Your Observations Are the Best Detector of Early Alzheimer’s

A recent study found that family members and close friends are more sensitive to early signs of Alzheimer’s dementia than traditional screening tests, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Researchers at the Knight Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, including first author James Galvin, MD, now at New York University, developed a tool shown to be as...