Mary Jo Bellner Swartzberg
She was a slightly built lady whom I saw sitting in a CVS store near the photo department. Her walker was beside her. She had a smartphone and was scrolling through it to find photos. Also beside her was a young, pretty, dark-haired woman home health care aide who was wearing an identifying smock from a local home health care organization.
The diminutive lady, who looked to be in her late 80s, was visibly frail, and she had dark blotches on her forearms, which led me to believe that she was on a blood thinner medication. My heart ached for her. She seemed confused and distracted.
The home health care worker looked disinterested, aloof, and detached. She seemed to lack empathy—in her demeanor and in her scant conversation with her charge. Was the young woman bored? If so, it showed. Did the young woman lack empathy? I would say yes.
Of course, I viewed this picture as a snapshot of a moment in time, and as I witnessed this scenario as it played out in front of me, I began to ruminate that there might come a time when I could be in that situation and, further, I pondered who will be my caregiver in the future.
I decided to do some research about caregiving in the United States. These statistics and information on the subject had me really concerned, which made me think of family members who care for their loved ones.
According to the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP’s Caregiving in the U.S. 2020 Update (from 2015) provides a look at unpaid family caregivers. Here are some statistics:
In 2020 more than one in five Americans (21.3 percent) were caregivers, having provided care to an adult or child with special needs at some time in the past 12 months. This totals an estimated 53 million adults in the United States, up from the estimated 43.5 million caregivers in 2015. Some key findings in the report included:
• More Americans (24%) are caring for more than one person, up from 18% in 2015.
• More family caregivers (26%) have difficulty coordinating care, up from 19% in 2015.
• More Americans (26%) are caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, up from 22% in 2015.
• More Americans (23%) say caregiving has made their own health worse, up from 17% in 2015.
• Family caregiving spans across all generations, including Boomers, Gen-X, Gen-Z, Millennials, and Silent.
According to a new report in Health Affairs by University of Pennsylvania Leonard Davis Institute (LDI) Associate Fellow Amanda Kreider, a Health Economist at Penn, and LDI Executive Director Rachel M. Werner, the health care industry is having many problems now and will continue to do so. Here are some facts from the report:
• Between 2013 and 2019, the number of home health care workers per 100 Medicare Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) participants declined by 11.6%, and it looks as if the decline continued into 2020, reports Kreider.
• There is a shortage of home health care aides and personal care aides.
• Employee turnover is significant.
• There is workforce attrition due to schedule volatility.
My observations of the little lady in the CVS provided a glimpse of home health care in 2024. But what about within the next decade? Should I be concerned? Yes, I think that we all should be concerned.
Sources:
www.aarp.org/ppi/info-2020/caregiving-in-the-united-states.html