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Forgotten
heroes:
Family caregivers
By Carol Levine
Tuesday, November 12, 2002
New York Daily News
Left
out are the most common health-care providers in the nation: more than
27 million unpaid, untrained family
members. What would a want ad look like if their labor
of love were
recognized for what it is - a stressful,
tough, complicated job?
Seeking: Individual to provide medical
care and emotional support for
family member with serious medical
condition. Hours: Variable, but may be up
to 2-4/7, 365 days a year.
Salary: None. Candidates should have other
source of income and
discretionary funds for out-of-pocket
expenses.
Benefits: No time off, no health-care
insurance, no Social Security
credits and no pension. Candidates
should be satisfied with possibility of
intangible rewards.
Training: None. Candidates must learn on
their own.
Duties: May include operating complicated
medical equipment,
administering complex medication regimens,
performing personal tasks such as changing
soiled bed linens, bathing,
feeding and dressing patient,
responding to patient's emotional needs,
filing insurance claims,
refiling insurance claims, re-re-filing
insurance claims.
Thinking of family caregiving as a job may seem
inappropriate. After all,
this is what families are supposed to
do and, in most cases, want to do. But family
caregivers should not be
forced into poverty, martyrdom or
serious illness.
Modest efforts are underway to provide some help
through the national
family caregiver support program, but
much more is needed. Legislatively, passage of the
Lifetime Respite Care
Act of 2002, introduced by Sen.
Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) with bipartisan support, would
provide essential
time off for worn-out caregivers.
Paying caregivers at least part of their wages when
they take leave under
the Family Medical Leave Act would
provide valuable financial support. In California, a
bill setting up a
state insurance plan to do just that was
recently signed into law by Gov. Gray Davis.
More flexibility in Medicare home care, better coverage
of prescription
drugs and durable medical equipment
also would help ease caregivers' burdens.
But until family caregivers themselves - as well as
health-care
professionals and policy makers - look beyond
family relationships and see caregiving as an essential
service to the
health-care system and the country,
meaningful assistance will be a long time in coming.
Levine is director of the Families and Health Care
Project at the United Hospital Fund.
Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging
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