Recognize the work of caregivers

Recent statistics indicate that as many as 50 million people in the United States are providing some amount of care for a family member who is chronically ill, has a disability or is experiencing frailty associated with age. Congregations can provide needed support and respite through congregational care teams.

Develop a caregiving team in your congregation.

Some simple suggestions:

1.  If your congregation hasn’t formed a care team ministry, now is a great time.
2. Identify caregivers who might not be showing up in services regularly — because caregiving can be a 24-7 activity.
3. Make and take caregiver baskets to people in your congregation who are caretaking.  Help them know that they are important!
4. Hold a reception for caregivers, making certain to provide extra support that might be needed to allow caregivers and the family member for whom they are caring to come.  Designate someone who can relieve the caregiver at home for a while, if the person for whom she/he is caring cannot travel.
5. Even if your congregation does not have care teams, look for ways to support those who are giving care.

Who are the caregivers?

According to the National family Caregiver’s Association, here are a few caregiving facts — some of which may be surprising:

• The typical family caregiver is a 46-year-old woman caring for her widowed mother who does not live with her. She is married and employed.  Approximately 60 percent of family caregivers are women.
• 1.4 million children ages eight to 18 provide some of the care for an adult relative; 72 percent are caring for a parent or grandparent.  
• 30 percent of family caregivers caring for older adults are themselves age 65 or over; another 15 percent are between the ages of 45 to 54.
• 17 percent of family caregivers are providing 40 hours of care a week or more.
• The value of the services family caregivers provide for "free" is estimated to be $306 billion a year.  That is almost twice as much as is actually spent on homecare and nursing home services combined ($158 billion).
• The need for family caregivers will increase in the years ahead and the populations continues to age.
• Women who are family caregivers are 2.5 times more likely than non-caregivers to live in poverty and five times more likely to receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
• Caregiving families (families in which one member has a disability) have median incomes that are more than 15 percent lower than non-care-giving families.   
• Out-of-pocket medical expenses for a family that has a disabled member who needs help with activities of daily living (eating, toileting, etc.) are more than 2.5 times greater (11.2 percent of household income compared to 4.1 percent) than for a family without a disabled member.

Caregiving and Congregations

For many individuals, families and congregations, the topic of caregiving is becoming more and more of a reality.  Although caregiving is an activity often associated with older adults, it is not exclusively older adults who are involved in care-giving as many live independent lives well into their eighties and some into their nineties.  However,  many caregiving situations in congregations do involve older adults.

Individuals are living and staying healthier longer.  Better health and wellness programs, improved treatment and management of chronic disease has not only added years, but has extended quality of life far longer than even a decade ago. 

There are times, though, when caring support is needed for a short time or for an extended period in order for some to live independently.  People in the United States are aging and so is the Presbyterian Church. The fastest growing age group in the United States is people over age 85! Population projections indicate the good news that over the next few decades, the number of people who reach 85 and keep on going will more than triple!  However, while the average lifespan is increasing,  a new report from the U.S. Center for Disease Control (Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Merck Foundation, 2007), indicates that “the health status of racial and ethnic minorities lags far behind that of non-minority populations. The burden of many chronic diseases and conditions — especially high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer — varies widely by race and ethnicity.”

Another measure of the health status differences between Caucasian and African-American older adults can be measured in life expectancy.  While Caucasian women have the greatest life expectancy (81 years), African-American women’s life expectancy is five years shorter, (76 years).   Caucasian men on average live 76 years, but the life expectancy for African-American men is only 70 years, more than a decade shorter than Caucasian women.  (U.S. Mortality-Life Tables, 2008)

One important difference among older adults surfaces in the way they define their health.  The study cited above also revealed that while 40 percent of the Caucasian adults aged 65 years or older reported very good or excellent health, only 24 percent of African Americans and 29 percent of Latino(a)s gave a positive report on their health (Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Merck Foundation, 2007).