CareSquare musings for families and caregivers

The Wounded Warrior Project Family Caregiver Act of 2009 goes to the house

Rep. Michael Michaud (D-ME) has sponsored H.R. 2342: Wounded Warrior Project Family Caregiver Act of 2009. This bill establishes a family caregiver program to furnish support services to family members certified as family caregivers who provide personal care services for certain disabled veterans, and for other purposes. This bill was introduced on May 11, 2009 and has been referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. 

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Are Baby Boomers Killing Facebook and Twitter?

It may seem like Facebook and Twitter widen the gaps between Boomers, Gen X-ers, and members of Generation Y, but online social networks may bring us all closer.

Robert Strohmeyer, PC World

May 19, 2009 7:00 pm

The story is as old as the Web: A social network born among twenty-something college kids and young wired professionals sprouts up, apparently out of nowhere, and grows into a cultural phenomenon. Eventually, it reaches critical mass and explodes, its mushroom cloud drawing the attention of millions of Baby Boomers, leading to a huge influx of new users, which in turn triggers complaints from the youngsters who started it all. The invasion of the Boomers spurs some members of younger generations to flee the carnage (and the fallout) in search of fresher territory.

We've seen this scenario play out on MySpace and Facebook, and now it is starting to happen on Twitter. When the Baby Boomers--traditionally defined as anyone born in the United States between 1946 and 1964--arrive, they tend to do so en masse. And when they set up camp, they invariably change the dynamic of the social network itself. Whether due to their distinctive social habits or the sheer vastness of their demographic, a mass migration of 50-and-over folk brings in its train everything from increased political activity to a proliferation of spam.

That Boomers dramatically alter the social networks they adopt should come as no surprise, according to Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, a think tank that studies Americans' online habits. "Boomers are the mainstream of the country now," says Rainie. "When you attract a mainstream audience, you're going to attract a lot more commercial interests. Boomers validate that this is a big market, and that this is a place where commercial interests can make money."

End of Innocence

The twin processes of mainstreaming and commercialization mark an end of innocence on a social network, as younger users lose what was once their private playground or--even worse--have to share it with their parents.

"Younger folks don't want their parents there," Rainie says. "But does that mean they'll all flock to different places?"

Not yet, according to data collected by Rainie and his colleagues at the Pew Research Center. Though a few early adopters may jump ship as a social network that was once on the electronic frontier gets swallowed up by digital suburbs, most stick around--at least until a major new network arrives to supplant the old one, as Facebook has done with MySpace.

Still, there's no shortage of anecdotal evidence that sharing the online world can be a source of intergenerational strife. Take Will Smith (no, not the actor), for example. When this 33-year-old tech professional received a Facebook friend request from his father in March, he was floored. Not because he didn't want to connect with his dad, but because doing so on the same network that he shared with so many peers and colleagues raised a host of complex concerns.

"My father, who I dearly love, has a tendency to forward e-mails that are off pretty off-color," says Smith. "It's probably nothing that would get me fired, but stuff that could earn me a trip to HR, if I ever opened them [at work]. My concern was that he would post that type of message on my Wall or in another public venue on Facebook without realizing it was a public venue. Since everyone from my immediate supervisor to the president of my company is in my friend list, there's potential for bad things to happen. I don't think anything actually would, but there was strong potential for embarrassment."

To reduce the likelihood of a career-damaging dust-up, Smith sent his dad an e-mail in which he laid out what he considered reasonable limits for their online father-son bonding. Off-limits: "Politics, sex, jokes, things you find funny but offend me, comments about family members, any combination of the aforementioned items, and pretty much every e-mail you've ever sent me."

Ultimately, Smith's worst-case scenario never came to pass and--perhaps because that e-mail--his father never logged back into Facebook. But according to data from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, people of the same age as Smith's father are logging onto Facebook in droves, and Baby Boomers are now the fastest growing population on the social network.

A growing need but low wages, few perks for home-care aides

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Published Monday    May 11, 2009
BY PAULA SPAN
THE WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON - The country will need hundreds of thousands more home-care aides if it's going to keep today's elderly, followed by their far more numerous baby boomer children, out of institutions. Already, the occupational category called "personal and home-care aides" is the nation's second-fastest-growing, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. It projects a more than 50 percent increase in such jobs by 2016, second only to the demand for "network systems and data communications analysts."

It's not hard to see what's fueling the need. Americans survive far longer than they used to: A man who reaches age 65 can now expect to reach 82, and a woman 85, the National Center for Health Statistics reports. But most spend those extended lives contending with chronic illnesses and disabilities, including climbing rates of Alzheimer's, that can make it risky and difficult to maintain an independent household.

When that happens, when elders need long-term care - and health policy analysts say more than two-thirds of them will - they can be highly vocal about where they want to get it. A typically horrified reaction, from Marilyn Daniel's Washington client Willie Alston: "Oh, no, I don't want no nursing home - that's the last place I want to be." Fairly or not, nursing homes are seen as grim thresholds to the grave, and years of hearings and headlines about deplorable conditions in some facilities have made senior citizens and their families willing to go to extraordinary lengths to avoid them.

"You have to look at the quality of life," says Marla Lahat, executive director of Home Care Partners, Daniel's employer. She mentions a 95-year-old client, fiercely lucid but very frail, requiring a squadron of daily and overnight helpers, both agency workers and privately hired aides. "If she knew she could stay one more month in her home or live three more years in a nursing home, I think I know what she'd say."

Home care is generally less expensive, too, though hardly cheap. So perhaps it isn't surprising that the nursing home population has been shrinking in recent years and the once-dramatic growth in assisted living has leveled off. Most older Americans who need help aren't in any facility; they're at home.

But finding reliable, compassionate caregivers to help keep senior citizens in their homes isn't easy, even in these miserable economic times. That's in large part because these demanding jobs are so poorly compensated. Benefits, particularly health insurance, are rare, and wages can be so low that many aides are eligible for food stamps.

Home-care aides make an annual appearance on Forbes magazine's list of the 25 worst-paying jobs in America. (The aides' mean annual wages put them ahead of shampooers and waiters, but behind parking lot attendants.) Once hired, they leave in droves; turnover rates run 40 to 60 percent a year, says labor economist Dorie Seavey of PHI, a nonprofit that aims to improve direct-care work.

"Who's going to want this job, even if you enjoy caring for people, when you know you'll barely make minimum wage, you're not going to have health insurance, you're doing a job that's backbreaking?" asks Leonila Vega of the nonprofit Direct Care Alliance, recently formed to push for better pay and conditions for caregivers. "You can be a home-care worker for 20 or 30 years and never receive a meaningful wage increase, never get a promotion. You could become an expert in working with people with physical disabilities or Alzheimer's; yet you never receive any recognition for your increased learning and experience."

Aides who do hands-on work with the elderly also suffer some of the highest workplace injury rates of any occupational group. When clients can't walk or shift from a wheelchair to a toilet seat, their aides do a lot of lifting and maneuvering that can cause orthopedic damage. And patients sometimes hurt aides; those suffering from dementia, in particular, can lash out, hit or spit. Daniel has been bitten several times when a woman with Alzheimer's clamped down during toothbrushing.

When it comes to wages and benefits, Daniel does better than many of her colleagues. Because it's a nonprofit funded primarily by the D.C. Office on Aging and because Washington has a living wage law, Home Care Partners pays more than most agencies - an average $12.40 an hour.

The Alzheimer's Project on HBO

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The Alzheimer’s Project

Background On the Series

On May 10th, 2009, HBO will premiere The Alzheimer’s Project, a groundbreaking four part documentary series about Alzheimer’s disease. The films are presented in association with the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Association, and are executive produced by Maria Shriver, the First Lady of California, whose father is currently battling Alzheimer’s. 

While there is no cure for the disease, The Alzheimer’s Project shows there is now genuine reason to be optimistic about the future.  Created by the award-winning team behind HBO’s acclaimed “Addiction” project, this multi-platform series takes a close look at the pioneering discoveries made by the country’s leading scientists, as well as the effects of this debilitating and fatal disease both on those with Alzheimer’s and on their families.  Segments include:

• The Memory Loss Tapes - an intimate look into the lives of seven individuals living with Alzheimer’s, each in an advancing state of dementia across the full spectrum of the progression of the disease. 

• Grandpa, Do You Know Who I Am? - a film for children narrated by and featuring Maria Shriver that introduces viewers to seven children learning to understand and cope with their grandparent’s illness. 

• Caregivers - Seen through the lens of five individuals caring for family members suffering from the disease, this film conveys the sacrifices and successes of people who experience their loved ones’ gradual descent into dementia.

• Momentum in Science - This film uncovers the groundbreaking research of 25 leading scientists and offers a hopeful, optimistic portrait of the search for a cure.

Background On the Alzheimer’s Coalition

One of the most devastating forms of memory loss is Alzheimer’s disease, an irreversible and progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory as well as cognitive and motor skills.  Today, Alzheimer’s is the second most-feared illness in America, following cancer, and may affect as many as five million Americans.  As the baby-boom generation reaches retirement, that number could soar to more than 11 million by 2040 and have a huge economic impact on America’s already fragile healthcare system.  Regardless of age, race, ethnicity or sex, Alzheimer’s is an issue that touches us all.  This spring, HBO is launching a national, grassroots initiative to raise awareness for the disease, and spur further understanding, discussion and action in communities across America. 

To accomplish this goal, HBO will offer select national organizations and their and local chapters a FREE “screening-in-a-box” kit, with resources and tools to help host a screening of The Alzheimer’s Project.  In an effort to inform the public, spur conversation, and excite individuals to participate in the search for a cure, HBO will make DVDs of their groundbreaking, four-part documentary series, The Alzheimer’s Project, available at no charge to national and local organizations that screen the film(s) for their constituents and host a discussion panel between April 27^th and May 10^th. Beginning on April 1st, interested organizations can log onto www.hbo.com/alzheimers/screenings to request a kit and register to take part in this national discussion.  Organizations can choose to order one segment or the entire library of DVD’s.

For more information about the initiative, ore to pre-order a kit, please contact Kevin Koenig at Civic Entertainment Group, Kevin.Koenig@cegny.com or 212.426.7006. 

 

Looking for job stability?

In-home caregivers one of a few recession-proof professions

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By Lee Ann Sides Garrett

news@salisburypost.com

Charles and Doris Barrier have been married for 60 years. Despite continuing health problems, they still live in their home on Leonard Road. Chemotherapy from ovarian cancer five years ago left Doris with neuropathy in her feet and weaker than before.

"When she had cancer," Charles said. "I looked after her."

But things have changed. Charles, 82, says he has had 10 strokes in a year's time. Some of them were mini-strokes and others were very hard on him. In December 2007, a stroke left him paralyzed on his left side.

"Chemo left me with no energy," Doris, 80, says. "And I can't help him the way he helped me."

Caregivers now do housework and many of the things Doris can't do. Beverly Sloan, a caregiver with HomeInstead Senior Care, comes in twice a day. In addition to cooking meals, Sloan says she does whatever needs to be done.

"I'm here for both of them," she says.

She refills the bird feeder for Doris — who loves to sit and watch the birds — folds clothes, sweeps, does the dishes, puts lotion on Charles, helps him change into pajamas and puts him to bed. Another caregiver does housework in the morning.

"We are at home," says Doris. "And it's cheaper than being in a nursing home."

At-home care is becoming increasingly popular as a less costly and more comfortable alternative to nursing homes.

Colleen Tiexeira Moffat, an economist with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, says rising health-care costs are responsible for an increasing demand for home health care.

"It's a lot more cost-effective to leave a hospital sooner when all a senior might need is assistance with daily activities," Moffat says. "A visiting nurse, home health aide, and personal and home care aide all will be cheaper than a stay in a residential care facility."

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says the demand for caregivers will increase. With American seniors living longer because of better medical care and the oldest of the baby boomers reaching retirement age in the next few years, the demand for caregivers is projected to increase 51 percent by 2016.

"This could become a national crisis issue," says Jena Hare, co-owner of the Home Instead Senior Care office serving Rowan and Cabarrus counties. "At our company alone — the largest of its kind, but one of many throughout our country — the number of caregivers is about 60,000. To keep pace with this projected demand, our company will have to double its care force in just three years, according to our research."

Doris says having caregivers also keeps her and her husband from being a burden on their three children. They have two daughters, one living in Rowan County and one in Maiden, and a son who lives in Michigan.

"My children have their lives to live and work to do," she says. "When we're being taken care of, it makes things easier for them."

Despite the economic downturn, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook for 2008-09 says the outlook for home health professions is excellent.

In addition to being the second fastest-growing job category nationally, CareerBuilder.com has listed personal and home care aides as one of the top ten best part-time jobs as well as part of one of the top five recession-proof industries.

That's good news for Sloan, who says she loves her job.

"It's the people, the conversations. I learn a lot," she says. "I enjoy hearing about their lives and being there for them whenever they need me. I hope when I leave, I've made their day a little brighter and better."

Charles, who is now recovering from getting a pacemaker, loves the caregivers despite the fact they fuss with him sometimes.

"He already tries to play Speedy Gonzales and uses only one hand on his walker," Sloan says laughing. "The pacemaker will only speed him up."

"My grandkids think it's funny," Charles grins. "They threaten to put me in time-out."

Caresquare.com has a Facebook page!

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We've decided to give this Facebook thing a try ;-) - Caresquare.com now has a Facebook page, and we would LOVE for you to become a fan. Check out our new Facebook page here!!