Caregiver Burnout and How to Prevent it

It seems to happen to all of us sooner or later—the need for us to take care of an older adult or someone with a physical impairment. Becoming a caregiver is no easy task and can come with a lot of challenges.

Who are caregivers?

While some people receive care from paid caregivers, most rely on unpaid assistance from families, friends and neighbors. However, most caregivers are unaware of the mental, physical and financial costs of taking on this role.

With the dramatic aging of the population, people will be relying even more on families to provide care for their aging parents, relatives and friends for months and years at a time. And the enormous pressures and risks of family caregiving—burnout, compromised health, depression and depletion of financial resources—are a reality of daily life for millions of American families. These pressures and risks put great strain on family caregivers, many of whom are struggling to balance work and family responsibilities.

Caregivers manage a wide range of responsibilities. In your family, for example, are you the person who:

• Buys groceries, cooks, cleans house or does laundry for someone who needs special help doing these things?
• Helps a family member get dressed, take a shower and take medicine?
• Helps with transferring someone in and out of bed, helps with physical therapy, injections, feeding tubes or other medical procedures?
• Makes medical appointments and drives to the doctor and drugstore?

In small doses, these jobs are manageable. But having to juggle competing caregiving demands with the demands of your own life can be quite a challenge.

A look into the future of caregiving

With the 65+ age group expected to double to 70 million people by 2030, family caregivers will increasingly provide care for aging parents, siblings and friends, most of whom have one or more chronic conditions. Others belong to the “sandwich generation,” so they care for their children and parents at the same time.

About 44 million Americans provide 37 billion hours of unpaid, “informal” care each year for adult family members and friends with chronic illness or conditions that prevent them from handling daily activities on their own. If you feel that you have become a caregiver and would like more information and resources at your disposal, seek assistance from Riverview Health or other community or faith-based outreach programs.

Has it been a while since your last check-up, or do you need a new physician? Call us at 317.565.0535 to request an appointment.

Source: Caregiver.org