In Home Caregivers Can Make Life Easier - Eldercare Systems Atlanta

by Ellie S.
(Atlanta, GA)

I have been in home healthcare since 1978 and opened my own agency in 1988. I have found the critical difference to be the amount of care given. There are various levels of care with most agencies providing basic medical service and some cooking and cleaning. Our agency, Eldercare Systems in Atlanta set out to make a difference and go beyond basic care.

I have found the critical difference in quality of life is the caring and love that comes from the caregiver. It is almost counterintuitive to provide healthcare without caring. Most of our patients are lonely and fading in health. It is well know that love is the most powerful medicine. If our patients feel loved and cared for beyond their medication and treatments, their overall quality of life is better.

To me, that is how the future of elder care and live in home care must go.

Ellie,

I could not agree with you more. It is so important for family members to realize that in home health care is so important to successful aging in the home.  I just read an article that is very disheartening about the caregiver crisis we are facing.

In a study entitled Women and Alzheimer’s Disease: The Caregiver’s Crisis, ” 82% of current caregivers report keeping loved ones in their home or the patient’s home. Of those women, 39% feel they have no other choice; only 16% of care is provided in a nursing facility.

Although three quarters of the current caregivers feel capable of providing care, 49% feel overwhelmed, 36% report depression, and 65% have not had a vacation in the past year.

The number of caregivers who live with their patients has doubled to 40% of current caregivers from 15% of former. Both nursing home and assistant living use has declined.”

A total of 41% of caregivers are getting regular help from a nurse or aide, and more than 61% did get regular help of some sort in providing care. The study found that 58% are providing care for parents, 12% for spouses and 12% for in-laws.

Current caregivers are spending an average of 47 hours a week providing care, and 58% don’t know how long they will be needed. Caregivers report feeling a sense of isolation due to the demands of taking care of the Alzheimer’s patient: One third said they weren’t satisfied with their social life; one in four hasn’t been out to dinner or a movie in the past six months.

Thank goodness there are people like you that love what they do and provide desperately needed services to your community.