HC Caregiver 2016-digital.pdf

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- Rosalynn Carter
ROSALYNN CARTER INSTITUTE FOR CAREGIVING
The aging population in Howard County is growing by leaps
and bounds; by 2035 those persons 50 and older will increase by
60.7 percent, and by 2035 the number of persons over 75 years
of age will comprise 11 percent of the population. Addressing
the needs of caregivers has become a targeted goal of the Howard
County Department of Community Resources and Services
and the Office on Aging and Independence. In our Creating an
Age-Friendly Community Report, which was published in 2015,
caregiving was one of six major priorities in achieving a preferred
future. Our charge is to “promote the physical, emotional and
financial well-being of caregivers, as well as those for whom they
care”. (Howard County, Age Friendly Community Report, 2015)
The words love, duty, honor, and reciprocity all are used to
describe reasons family members care for one another. We as
a nation and as a county must ensure that family caregivers are
supported by quality targeted services that recognize them as care
partners, by providing resources and help accessing tools to better
navigate their caregiving efforts.
Caregiving today takes place in a different kind of world that
our grandparents lived in. Family structures are different and
more complex, with an evolution from a rural to an increasingly
urban and suburban environment. Not to mention families often
are spread across the country leaving few if no family members
to look out for or care for one another. Caregivers often don’t
know where to turn for help or how to pay for needed services and
supports. They may live apart from their loved one, have a job, a
family and are expected to provide complex technical care which
10 years ago would have been considered skilled nursing care.
The caregiver support program is committed
to our focus areas as outlined in our
“CREATING AN AGE-FRIENDLY COMMUNITY” report.
• Develop an expanded, coordinated network of
resources and supports for caregivers to include needs
assessment, care management and respite care.
• Expand training opportunities for caregivers that
can be available in multiple formats to best suit the
individual caregiver.
• Develop strategies to enhance the recruitment,
education and retention of direct care workers,
including options for housing and transportation.
“There are only four kinds
of people in the world -
those who have been
caregivers, those who
are currently caregivers,
those who will be
caregivers and those who
will need caregivers.”
Valuable resources used in writing this article:
www.howardcountymd.gov/aging
6 H OWA R D C O U N T Y C A R E G I V E R G U I D E