Helping Caregivers Reduce Their Stress

Do you awaken at night to help your husband to the bathroom? Do you arrange your schedule to fit your mother's doctors' appointments? You are not alone. According to the 1997 National Alliance for Caregiving/AARP National Caregiver Survey, at least 22 million adults provide the care that is so critical in helping older people remain in their homes and other community settings. It is estimated that 80 percent of all care received by older Americans is provided by family members—spouses, children, grandchildren and other relatives—people just like you.

This statement is on the website of the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC), a non-profit joint venture, created in 1996 to support family caregivers of the elderly and the professionals who serve them.

As they note, the "value of family caregiving to society is estimated conservatively to represent nearly $200 billion per year. Yet these caregivers often feel isolated and experience stress from the burden of caregiving itself and from balancing caregiving, work, and other family responsibilities."

We hope our articles and the resource links we will soon provide can help you and others be caregivers find the support you deserve.