Caregiver Shortage or a Caregiver Crisis?

We have written several posts about the need for caregivers, so this article in the Washington Post is particularly relevant to our classes. I needed to find care for my elderly aunt. What I found was an eldercare crisis ran on March 22, 2013.  The article opens wit h a story about an elder relative who had fallen, again, not a too unfamiliar a story, unfortunately.

It’s true that aging isn’t exactly what it used to be. Thanks to Botox and Viagra and other medical innovations, anyone with some money can look and act 30 at 50 or 50 at 70. Many boomers are working past 65. Mick Jagger is still strutting around. Age is just a number!

But this approach to aging, however empowering, is a lie. Most of us won’t keep going strong until we’re felled by a painless heart attack in our sleep. Life is seldom so kind.

The story continues, the relative was sent home but needing assistance with multiple ADLs, struggled, and ultimately fell again.  “[W]hat happened after showed me how difficult it is for the elderly and their families to navigate health care in this country. Once she got home, [the relative] struggled with everything from eating to dressing to washing. Four days later, I got another call: She’d fallen again, trying to get out of the armchair she was sleeping in because lying flat in bed was too uncomfortable.” The author discusses the options explored, but to no avail-no Medicare rehab coverage, LTC insurance wouldn’t yet kick in, and no option of living with relatives.  Finding the right home health agency required effort and research to find the right fit of agency that provided the right level of services the relative needed.

The author then learned some reasons why caregivers may be hard to find: “[d]espite the critical need for eldercare, getting the workers to do it is not easy. Sharona Hoffman, author of “Aging with a plan: How a Little Thought Today Can Vastly Improve Your Tomorrow,” (note-we had previously blogged about Professor Hoffman’s work)  explained … that the tedious work of caring for people at home carries risks, such as back injuries from lifting a patient after a bath or dealing with a patient who gets violent or handsy due to dementia. The pay isn’t great; the night caregiver we found for [the relative] confided in her that her take-home pay was about $10 an hour, or minimum wage in California. (We paid the agency who oversaw her $16 an hour.) Unsurprisingly, turnover among these workers is as high as 60 percent.”

The article turns to the issue of workers’ rights, noting some efforts in California.  There is a balancing act occurring here-workers’ rights and affordable care. An Hawaiian state senator has introduced a bill for “universal home care” and some of the presidential candidates have at least acknowledged the issue.

The author’s relative has improved and the author acknowledges she’s learned some lessons along the way. The relative “no longer needs night care, though we have a plan in place when she does.Even with all the problems that have plagued her in the last 18 months, she remains the woman I hope to be should I make it, mostly unscathed, into my 90s. I may even buy a hat or two. And I’ll definitely have a number of home care agencies on speed dial.”

Thanks to my colleague Professor Bauer for sending me the article.