National Family Caregivers Month is a time to recognize and focus attention on the more than 65 million family caregivers -29% of the U.S. adult population- who provide the vast majority majority of our nation’s long term care services. Family caregivers provide over $450 billion annually in “free caregiver services” to their loved ones, and those services literally hold our healthcare system together.
Who are family caregivers? The “typical” caregiver is a 48-year-old woman caring for her widowed mother who does not live with her. Approximately 66% of caregivers are women, but at least 14 million men also provide care for older family members.
Family caregivers provide a vast array of emotional, financial, nursing, social, and homemaking services and support on a daily or intermittent basis. Caregiver Action Network (the founder of National Family Caregivers Month) describes what they do in this way: “Caregiving is hard work. Caregiving is pain. Caregiving is loving, giving, and sharing. Caregiving is accepting and learning new things. Caregiving is the ability to go on and on and on. Caregiving consists of lots of questions and very few answers. Caregiving is being out of the mainstream. Caregiving is all these things and a whole lot more.”
During this special month, we honor and celebrate the many people in our community who care for older loved ones, and others. But we know their hard work goes on day in and day out throughout the entire year. If you are one of those caregivers, thank you. If you know a family caregiver, please tell them how much you appreciate the loving work they do.
~ Emily Cooper is Informaiton and Referral Specialist for Caregiver Programs with Boulder County Area Agency on Aging, a Division of Community Services. For more information on BCAAA caregiver services, call 303-678-6116 or email InfoCaregiver@bouldercounty.org/.