| February 2003 |
The New Frontier for EAPs: Responding to the Needs of an Aging Workforce Robert O’Toole, Informed Decisions Inc. Mary Lynne Pannen, Sound Options Inc. “A lot of people feel that families today don’t take care of their elders like they used to, while the truth is that families today provide far more care for their aging family members than they ever did. The problem is that elder care is a very complex issue, and one person’s elder care needs are very different from another person’s. Most people prefer to receive care at home, so you have to understand home care and how to choose an appropriate agency or provider. Then there are the facilities that you may have to consider, and these include nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, retirement communities, and small-group elder foster care programs. So there’s a whole range of options. Statistics show that in the year 2000, there were 25 million family caregivers in the United States, and over 60 percent had been providing care for more than five years. More than 80 percent of that care was provided at home. So even with the wide array of formal services available, most elder care is provided by family members. And 47 percent of caregivers are working, so they are juggling their employment responsibilities with their care-giving responsibilities. Further complicating the situation is that our system of facilities and home care programs is very fragmented and is becoming more Balkanized every day. I worked in Massachusetts’ state-funded home care system in the 1980s, and our client base grew by almost 30 percent over a six-year period. I left that system in 1990 to enter the private sector, and now, 12 years later, with an aging population that is steadily growing, the number of elders served in the Massachusetts system has dropped from 46,000 in 1990 to below 32,000 today. We have this terrible criss-cross: The larger the aging population and the greater the need, the fewer services available. So a caregiver in the workplace trying to find services for her aging parents and going to the public sector hoping to find a subsidized homemaker or a transportation service that can provide rides to the doctor is going to be her own. Essentially there are three major stressors on the individual in the workplace who’s dealing with an elder care issue. The first is time. Three-fifths of caregivers spend 40 or more hours each week providing care. The next stressor is lack of emotional support. The isolation caregivers feel is tremendous. And when we say stress, we don’t mean it’s just tiring work. Fifty-eight percent of caregivers show classic symptoms of clinical depression--not eating, not sleeping, not able to concentrate, high anxiety. The last of the three stressors, and one that is largely unexpected by caregivers, is cost. The assumption is that Medicare covers long-term care and will pick up the nursing home tab or the home health bill. And while Medicare will pay for some home health visits and some rehab days in a nursing home, it is not primarily a long-term-care financing program. With all these stressors, elder care will definitely increase employee turnover. Companies that employ a large number of women will be impacted most, because two-thirds of caregivers are women, and 47 percent of them work full-time. The annual cost to employers from lost productivity related to elder care is estimated at $30 billion. With the rise of the Internet, employees can now access a lot of information about elder care options, but work/life companies and EAPs can help by providing consultation and referral to help them get the most value for their time and money. As an EA professional, if you have access to a geriatric specialist or there is someone who provides that service for the employer, have the caregiver visit that person first. That way it’s usually free to the employee.” DISCUSSION (Member Exchange Forum) |
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© 2003 Exhange On-Line is a publication of the Employee Assistance Professionals Association, Inc. (EAPA). Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is expressly prohibited. Publication of bylined articles does not constitute endorsement of personal views of authors. Appearance of paid advertisements does not constitute endorsement by EAPA. |
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