Caregiving

Pride Month: Caregiving in LGBT Communities

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It is estimated that 10,000 adults turn 65 and older everyday. Amidst an aging population and shrinking healthcare workforce, caregivers play a crucial role in the long-term care of older adults, accounting for more than 85% of all elder care in the US. According to a 2015 study by AARP, it was estimated that there are 34.2 million Americans are providing care to another person who is over the age 50.

The number of caregivers in the United States is expected to grow alongside the older adult population. Caregivers provide physical, psychological, and emotional care for another person who may be a family member, friend, or a partner. The act of providing care can be very fulfilling, but as a.... Read More

             

For the First Time, National Report Examines Potential Role of Caregivers in Medical Product Development

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For the first time, a newly-released report, resulting from a one-day summit, “Paving the Path for Family-Centered Design: A National Report on Family Caregiver Roles in Medical Product Development,” explores the vital roles that family caregivers can play in shaping biomedical research and development, regulatory decision-making and healthcare delivery. Specifically, the report begins a dialogue on how to incorporate the critical knowledge of caregivers in developing pharmaceutical products, biotechnology therapies, and medical devices. It presents recommendations for leveraging the enormous – and largely untapped – a reservoir of information and observations of caregivers about the conditions their care.... Read More

             

Despite connectivity, social isolation is not declining—especially among diverse older adults

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This article originally appeared in Aging Today, the bimonthly newspaper of the American Society on Aging.

When asked by staff of the Diverse Elders Coalition about the aging services available in her area, Elva, an American Indian elder from New Mexico, relayed how important her local Elder Center was to her and her peers’ well-being: “We as elders need a place to come to, [where we] have meals, do activities and visit with friends and relatives.”

Elva noted that the Elder Center was a place where she could get information about benefits and other available resources. “Many times, as a Native elder, we feel that we don’t exist,” she said.

In our increasingly digitally connected world, there.... Read More

             

Blue Zones, Part 1: How the World’s Oldest People Make Their Money Last

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by Richard Eisenberg. This article originally appeared on Next Avenue.

(In 2008, National Geographic writer Dan Buettner published his bestselling book, The Blue Zones: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest, about the five “longevity pockets” around the world: The Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica; Ikaria, Greece; Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan and Loma Linda, Calif. For this weekly series, Next Avenue Money and Work & Purpose editor Richard Eisenberg, a Gerontological Society of America Journalists in Aging Fellow, takes a different kind of look at the Blue Zones. Rather than focusing on their diets, he reports on how the people in the Blue Zones make their money last their.... Read More

             

States Need Pragmatic Policy Solutions to Better Support Family Caregivers

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by Rani Snyder, Program Director, The John A. Hartford Foundation. This blog originally appeared on The John A. Hartford Foundation website.

Dear Colleagues—

At JAHF we want to know how we can better support family caregivers—the nearly 18 million family members in the United States who provide care to older people who need assistance. They are often invisible members of our health care system who receive little preparation, training, or support. They make it possible for older adults to live in their homes, rather than an institutional setting, for as long as possible—which is what 87%.... Read More

             

HRC and SAGE Announce Partnership on First-Ever Assessment of Care Facilities Serving Older LGBTQ People

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This press release originally appeared on the SAGE website.

Yesterday, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization, and SAGE, the world’s largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBTQ older adults, announced a historic partnership to fundamentally improve the experiences of LGBTQ older adults as they seek long-term care and services.

A centerpiece of the effort will be the Long-Term Care Equality Index (LEI), the first-ever nationwide assessment of how long-term care facilities are treating.... Read More

             

NICOA Joins 2019 Aging in America Conference

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by Kayla Sawyer

The National Indian Council on Aging, Inc. (NICOA) will travel to New Orleans for the 2019 Aging in America conference on April 15-18 to learn best practices and gain insights from leaders in the field about the current state of aging in America. Join nearly 3,000 professionals to discuss a multitude of issues affecting older adults as well as the latest policies and trends.

According to the American Society on Aging, the conference will have “a strong focus on critical and emergent topics facing the field of aging, as well as cutting-edge and responsive programmatic, research, policy and advocacy efforts.” Topics will include social isolation, emergency and disaster readiness, housing.... Read More

             

Grandfamilies Cut Across Class and Ethnic Groups, Particularly Prevalent Among African Americans

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Caregiving provided by grandparents serves as a safety net for children in need of parenting regardless of race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Approximately 2.9 million grandparents make breakfast, organize their grandchildren’s activities, arrange doctor’s appointments, help with homework, and worry about how they are going to afford college coupled with their everyday household expenses.

Since the 1970s, the number of grandparents raising grandchildren in the United States has rapidly increased. Sometimes grandparent caregiving is a formal arrangement, including foster care or adoption. Many times, grandparent caregiving is an informal arrangement that might occur in a multi-generational home or take place outside of the family home due to social conditions such as addiction, incarceration, child abuse, neglect, and even the death.... Read More

             

Come see “Toilet Talks,” a play about eldercare, in Indianapolis next week!

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In November of 2017, we met Betty (she/her/hers) and liz thomson (they/them/theirs) through the interview on November 20, 2017. They had just moved in together that fall and were adjusting to their new apartment in Greenwood, Indiana. Liz, who is an adoptee and identifies as bi/queer and gender non-conforming, interviewed Mom to get her thoughts on how the new situation was going. In September of 2018, Mom passed away and left liz with the logistics that follow a death, but also a deeply unexpected void in their life. Trying to cope in a healthy way, liz wrote Toilet Talks, a semi-fictional play about their elder care experience. Toilet Talks will be a.... Read More

             
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