COMMUNITY RESOURCES AND SERVICES
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COMMUNITY RESOURCES AND SERVICES
Are You One in If you’re a Caregiver, you’re one a Million? of the 1.8 million Caregivers in Alabama.
One in four Baby Boomers (ages 57-75) are caregivers, providing regular assistance to friends or family who have a disability or health problem. The burden of caring for a loved one can be time-consuming, expensive and can cause Caregivers to become depressed and feel guilty about their decisions. “Caring for the Caregiver” is Relatively New Until the late 70’s, Caregivers were an unseen, unheard and unrecognized part of the healthcare team. These families and friends were caring – primarily at home - for loved ones with cognitive disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, strokes and other age-related diseases. The first national caregiving organization was founded in 1977 – the National Caregiving Alliance – to raise awareness. This was followed by a 2016 reauthorization of the Older American Act of 1965 to assist Caregivers, the RAISE Family Caregivers Act of 2018 and the National Family Caregivers Support Act in 2000. Recently, the national
26 ALABAMA GULF COAST – SPRING–SUMMER 2022
CARES Act (Coronavirus legislation) also includes caregiving support provisions. I Can’t Take Care of You, If I Don’t Take Care of Me Both the Caregivers and the cared for can experience similar emotions. As days, weeks and months continue with mounting responsibilities, Caregivers can become overwhelmed physically, emotionally, spiritually and develop significant health problems. They worry their compassion is faltering (compassion fatigue) and experience guilt (Caregiver Guilt Syndrome) they are not doing enough for their loved one. Caregiver assessments reports that 20% of family caregivers suffer from depression, twice the rate of the general population. Meanwhile, those in their charge also can experience anxiety, frustration and depression. Options for Caregivers and Their Charges As many Caregivers need to work or be away from home for most of
