Listen to a Family Album Radio Podcast for more tips on caregiving.
Written by: Donna Davis
Reviewed by: Suzanna Smith

As the U.S. population continues to age, many families are starting to ask, “Who’s going to take care of mom… or dad?” Typically, caregiving continues to be provided by friends or family members assisting another adult who is disabled, ill or needs help in some way. This may be a neighbor who checks in on an older friend, a daughter who is living with an ailing parent, or a husband tending to his sick wife. Experts estimate that more than 22 million caregivers work full or part-time. Seven million of them care for someone who lives at least one hour away and the National Council on Aging predicts that number will more than double over the next 15 years.

This has created a circumstance similar to the childcare debate that occurs in many homes when working takes time away from caregiving. This creates stress on the caregiver who may worry that he or she is not giving enough time to the person they’re caring for. Likewise, caregiving takes time away from working and may affect job performance. As a result, many caregivers leave their jobs in order to take care of family members at home… a cause for concern for employers who will be addressing the impact of caregiving on employee leave and productivity… just one of many questions raised by this growing phenomenon.

Listening, learning and living together, it’s the science of life. “Family Album” is a co-production of University of Florida IFAS Extension, the Department of Family,
Youth and Community Sciences and of WUFT-FM. If you’d like to learn more,
please visit our website at familyalbumradio.org.

Resources

Living Day to Day Administration on Aging

caregiving, aging, seniors, FAR