Caregiving to elder family members is a growing concern in America!
Corporations have many employees who experience circumstances, just like this one each and every day:
As the alarm went off at 6:00 AM, Heidi forced herself to awaken, rouse her children, feed them breakfast, pack their lunches and get them off to school. But her day is just starting; next on her daily agenda is a trip to her husband’s parents’ house to help her 75 year old mother-in-law, who suffers from arthritis, left her aging husband, Jim, out of bed and into the shower. Due to a stroke suffered three years ago, Jim is incapable of controlling his bladder and a daily shower is a necessity.
Once she is satisfied, her in-laws are set for the day. Heidi can head off to her regular job, working in the office at a local manufacturing firm arriving several minutes late, again. Her supervisor has been more than supportive of the personal demands on her time outside of the office, but there are limits. Heidi is always in a state of constant worry, that her employer will grow weary of her tardiness and be forced to let her go.
Heidi’s commitment to her in-laws is a strain for her and the family, but it also costs her employer lost productivity. There are over 65 million family caregivers quietly caring for loved ones with Alzheimer’s or dementia, or mental, emotional and physical disabilities in the United States. The overwhelming responsibility can be very difficult and emotionally wearing on the caregiver. Without some type of support, the caregiver many end up with his or her own failing health caused by stress, guilt, anger and depression.
The Elder Care Cliff
Talk to Stella Nsong, RN, CMC, CDP, LTCP, for any amount of time and you’ll discover she is passionate about warning individuals, families and corporations about the Elder Care Cliff as well as working to create Elder Care Workplace Programs to help employees like Heidi, which has the side effect of boosting the productivity and profitability of the corporations where they work.
What is the Elder Care Cliff? Stella relates it to a few years back when there was fear and publicity about the financial cliff. The country was worried about what was going to happen. According to her, with the attention put on that, most people actually forgot that there is an Elder Care Cliff looming.
Of course, people are aware of the aging of America and the impact on social security and our health care system. However, according to Stella, we need to also look at the personal part of this crisis. There are already millions of people in similar situations to Heidi which means we’ll be facing the Elder Care Cliff sooner than the year 2030, which is when the government and general public predicts it will happen. The stress of care-giving is affecting people economically, physically, mentally and emotionally, right now.
There are only so many hours in a day and a caregiver’s time is constantly stretched to the maximum. One of the first things that suffers is the caregiver’s employer, because of tardiness, additional sick days being taken, additional cost to health insurance and simply lost productivity. The economic impact to our nation is staggering.
Warning Signs the Elder Care Cliff is Imminent
When asked the signs of a looming Elder Care Cliff, Stella told us that for individuals the signs include possibly being passed up for a promotion or having
to access potential job opportunities based on the additional burden of family caregiving. Some must dip into their 401K to pay for care for elderly family members or the family member needs care and the caregiver has no idea how to pay for it. Those are some of the signs that an individual is either at the cliff or facing it.
The impact on employers is also dramatic. They find that their retention goes down and the cost of hiring people goes up. Health insurance premiums go up, because 66% of people between 19 and 64 are involved in caregiving in some way, and they have stress, disabilities, more work-related accidents and poor health and/or depression all related to their role as a caregiver.
What Can Be Done
Stella shared with us that families should start planning today. The number one thing that employers should do is to bring in elder care workplace programs, so that these employees don’t quit, and instead they stay well, and remain happy, productive and balanced.
Who is Stella Nsong
Stella Nsong is the creator of the Assisted Living At Home System, a customizable care option for affluent retirees who want to remain in their own home or for those who refuse to be warehoused in a nursing home. She is also the CEO of the Caregiver Relief Network.
In her role as the State Director of the Ohio Elder Care Planning Council, she consults with families, employers and policy makers on how to make caregiving more affordable, more gratifying and more life enhancing. With over two decades of experience as a registered nurse, she practices as a certified professional geriatric care manager and elder care consultant.
She is a bestselling author of numerous books, including The Elder Care Cliff 2.0. She’s a speaker, trainer and health care columnist.
In 2012, she was nominated for the Platinum Award in Care Management as well as the Professional of Note in Geriatric Medicine.
In 2013, she became a syndicated columnist with her famous elder care advice column called the Elder Care Cliff Report: What baby boomers need to know about caring for their aging parents. In 2015, she was a recipient of the 23rd annual Woman of Achievement Award. That momentous occasion recognized Stella Nsong for her endeavors in and to the business and health care community.
Through her writing and lectures, she is building the bridge to transform America’s elder care cliff through education, innovation and collaborative initiatives.
A Simple First Step for Corporations
Stella is the recognized expert in elder care in America and recently has tackled the problem of assisting corporate America to help their employees care for their families and at the same time, help improve productivity by providing education, innovation and collaborative initiatives. One important aspect of this is her comprehensive online training program called the Eldercare and Caregiving Network, online self-study courses that are both free and fee based. Employees can provide their employees with access to these trainings which provides tips, tools and strategies to help them economically, physically, mentally, as well as emotionally.
The result is that these employees don’t quit, instead they remain productive and balanced. They also stay healthy, thus reducing insurance costs. Productivity and profitability both rise by taking steps to minimize the effect of the looming cliff.
Elder Care Workplace programs help both individuals and employers, making life better for everyone.
We thoroughly enjoyed our video interview with Stella Nsong. Watch it here.
You can reach Stella at stellansong.com or call her at 833-603-0022. Also, don’t forget to visit Stella’s Eldercare and Caregiving Network.
Reference: Soar to Success Feature Article, July 2018