Caregivers

Carer (UK, NZ, Australian usage) and caregiver (US, Canadian usage) are words normally used to refer to unpaid relatives or friends who support people with disabilities. The words may be prefixed with "Family" "Spousal" or "Child" to distinguish between different care situations.

Caregivers are people who take care of other adults, often parents or spouses, or children with special medical needs. Some caregivers are family members; others are paid.

Proper home care training is more important than ever for those who work with the elderly, as increasing numbers of older Americans are staying in their own homes or moving to some sort of assisted living environment.

With an increasingly aging population in all developed societies, the role of carer has been increasingly recognized as an important one, both functionally and economically. Many organizations which provide support for persons with disabilities have developed various forms of support for carers as well.

In the United States today there are approximately 50 million people who are caring at home for family members including elderly parents, and spouses and children with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses. Without this home-care, most of these cared for loved ones would require permanent placement in institutions or health care facilities at great cost to our society.

Close to 80% of all long-term care is now provided at home by family caregivers to children and adults with serious conditions, including mental health issues, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis (MS), traumatic brain injury, cancer, paralysis, developmental and physical disabilities, cognitive impairments and Alzheimer's disease. Parents and family caregivers are the backbone of the long-term care system and save health-care insurers and governments billions of dollars annually.

According to the American National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA), more than one quarter (26.6 percent) of the adult population has provided care for a chronically ill, disabled or aging family member or friend during the past year. Based on current census data, that translates into more than 50 million people.

Around half of all carers are effectively excluded from paid employment through the heavy demands and responsibilities of caring for a vulnerable relative or friend. Their work has huge economic and social impact.

Individuals who are interested in home care training should contact their local hospital, counsel on aging or community college to inquire about home care training programs in their area. There are also some training programs offered online as well as through faith-based organizations such as churches and synagogues. Also see the Disabled World listing of available Caregiver Jobs from around the world.

Further Information Regarding Caregivers

CareRunner Caregiving Website Launched
CareRunner, an innovative website designed to provide non-professional caregivers with the online tools, information and support to more easily manage the care of loved ones, today announced that the free service has been launched and is available to the public.

Rally in Oakland Against Cuts in IHSS Program
Homecare providers and their clients from across the state will rally at the Federal Courthouse in Oakland (1301 Clay Street) today in advance of a court hearing on a lawsuit to prevent more than 100,000 low-income seniors and the disabled from losing critical in-home care services.

Australia Acknowledges Carers during Carer's Week
It is important to take the time to thank all carers for continually being there and for providing support to their loved ones. It is also important to ask how we can continue to assist them, so that they and those they care for are able to live full and happy lives.

Home Health Care Report
Home health care providers serve many chronically ill patients in the country, and a new report released today finds an upward trend in overall home care patient satisfaction. Press Ganey Associates, Inc., the leading provider of healthcare improvement solutions, has announced the results of the annual 2009 Home Care Pulse Report.

Injury and Hazards in Home Nursing
Patients continue to enter home healthcare "sicker and quicker," often with complex health problems that may require extensive nursing care. This increases the risk of needlestick injuries in home healthcare nurses.

Chronic Pain in Nursing Home Residents Underestimated
Relatives and healthcare staff find it hard to diagnose pain levels in nursing home residents accurately, especially if they are cognitively impaired with illnesses such as dementia or unable to speak, according to a study in September issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing.

Needs of Unpaid Caregivers of People with Diabetes
Caregivers reported that the physician is their top information source, followed by the Internet. However, while 73 percent of caregivers reported using the Internet to obtain diabetes information, many expressed frustration in evaluating the quality and reliability of online content.

Providing Home Assistance to Seniors
Senior citizens want to stay independent and involved with family and their community yet their health or mobility issues may make that difficult. There are ways to provide Senior assistance to help Seniors stay in their homes and keep them involved in social activities without taking away their independence.

Caregiver Coalition Commends Government for Allowance to Aid Caregivers
By providing an allowance of $400 per month to eligible family caregivers, the government of Nova Scotia is helping to relieve some of the financial toll that is incurred when families undertake to care for their loved ones in the home setting.

Doctors Opinions not Always Welcome in Life Support Decisions
Some caregivers of critical care patients prefer doctors to keep their opinions on life support decisions to themselves, according to new research that challenges long-held beliefs in the critical care community.

Certified Nursing Assistant Code of Ethics Outline
An article presenting an outline of the Certified Nursing Assistant Code of Ethics. Help preserve life, ease patient's suffering and work toward restoring health to all. Help preserve life, ease patient's suffering and work toward restoring health to all.

Alliance Joins MADIL the State's Online Elder, Disability Info Database
The Massachusetts Aging and Disability Information Locator (MADIL), an online service provided by the state's Executive Office of Health and Human Services, will now include the Home Care Alliance's online member directory to help people connect with home health services.

Family Caregivers Contribute $25 billion in Unpaid Labor to the Health Care System
The imputed economic contribution to the Canadian healthcare system of middle-aged and older unpaid caregivers providing care to the elderly provides astounding information as to the costs of unpaid care provided by Canadians to elderly family members and friends with long-term health problems.

Find a Qualified Reliable Caregiver
Finding a qualified and reliable caregiver you can trust to provide additional care to your loved ones at home, or in a facility, is not an easy task. Each year millions of seniors, people with health conditions, and/or disabilities start requiring some sort of assistance to carry out their routine daily activities.

Caregivers not Receiving Help They Need
Caregivers of children with special health care needs often do not get the respite care they need. Researchers found that families with private insurance have more unmet respite care needs than those with public coverage. They also found that families or caregivers who need respite care the most, those caring for children with the most severe functional limitations and unstable conditions, often do not get it.

Choosing a Home Health Care Service
Today's home health care services can provide everything from help with errands and chores like cooking and cleaning, to skilled medical care from nurses and therapists. But with so many new home health care agencies popping up, how do you know which one to choose?

Medication and Care for Alzheimer Patients
To prevent behavioral problems, having a serene, quiet and peaceful environment may help. An Alzheimer patient may suffer from anxiety more when they are exposed to noise, or larger number of people. When that happens, the degradation process will only hasten.

Abuse to People with Dementia by Family Carers Common
Half of family carers of people with dementia report some abusive behaviour towards the person they are caring for and one third report 'significant' levels of abuse, according to new research from UCL (University College London) published today in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

Family Caregiving
The academicians and policy makers refer to paid or professional caregivers as formal caregivers to distinguish them from us but to also somehow show that we are linked together by the fact that we all give some sort of care. I always laugh when I hear the term formal caregivers because an image of doctors operating in black tie, and nurses aids in evening gowns, immediately comes to mind.

Home Care Training for Caregivers
Proper home care training is more important than ever
for those who work with the elderly, as increasing numbers of older
Americans are staying in their own homes or moving to some sort of
assisted living environment. And today's training isn't just for
practical care nurses or those who work in nursing homes.

Caregivers that Provide End of Life Care Need Support
The daily demands of caregiving for a loved one who is nearing the end of their life can be emotionally and physically draining. The Hospice Foundation of America estimates that almost half a million people, 68 percent being age 65 or older, received hospice care in 2006. For most, that care involved a family caregiver.

Safety Tips For Caregivers
As a family caregiver, it is important to safe-proof your home. Falls are the seventh leading cause of death in persons over the age of 65. There are a variety of reasons for falls, such as falls from ladders or scaffolding, falls from slipping, tumbling or tripping.

Hiring Caregivers for Parents
The day came when my siblings and I felt we had to
take our parents' care into our own hands. It is a difficult
realization. Our parents who took care of us now needed to be taken
care of by strangers.