Jerry and I are in a caregiving phase of our lives.  Prior to our recent move, we asked his 92 year-old mother to move and live with us.  She agreed with no hesitation.  We are now in the midst of learning how to be caregivers, with the assistance of Hospice of the Valley, and their excellent team of medical, volunteer and social work personnel.  This is some of what we are learning:

• There are over 65 million reported caregivers in the United States alone;
• According to a new report “Valuing the Invaluable: The Growing Contributions and Costs of Family Caregiving, 2011 Update”, the equivalent of $450 BILLION was provided by unpaid family caregivers in 2009;
• One-third of family caregivers are men;
• Female family caregivers are more likely than men to do hands-on things like bathing;
• After age 65, one-third of all seniors fall every year–some more often than others.

Caregiving Resources

In addition to the Hospice program that is providing assistance for us, there are a variety of resources online that we have found invaluable.  Here is the list with links to online websites:

1. Family Caregiver Alliance, National Center on Caregiving
2. Caregiving.com
3. National Alliance for Caregiving
4. Caregiving.org
5. Caregiver.com
6. Caregiver.org

The Internet is chock-full of great information and resources for those millions of us who choose to care for our elderly loved ones.  We don’t have to do it alone.  If you want to do your own search, enter something like ‘caregiving’ or ‘caregivers’ in your favorite search engine and millions of resources will pop up.   The support of people and information makes all the difference.