SAS Partners With Caring For Eldery Family MembersWritten by Barbara Mascio
The online support group for family caregivers, hosted by Barbara Halpern, past director of Elderly Security Programs and founder of Coalition on Senior Safety, has recently been included as an additional caregiver resource from Senior Approved Free Web Community. (Elderly Security Programs was part of The NYC Department for Aging, Safe Streets Program)Barbara Mascio, founder and president of Senior Approved Services (www.seniorsapprove.com) said, “We were receiving multiple requests from our web visitors to include an online support group for adult child providing care. We were thrilled when Barbara Halpern, host of Caring for Elderly Family Members (http://groups.msn.com/CaringforElderlyFamilyMembers/home.htm) approached us with idea to work together.” Ms. Halpern, an active advocate for both senior citizens and family caregivers had been searching for additional resources to enhance services at her active members only support group forum when she came across Senior Approved Free Web Community. “Both of our services have same goals, to help senior and family caregiver. Utilizing network of Certified Senior Approved Services is an extra added bonus, my members can feel quite comfortable reaching out and contracting with these services based on their proven record of quality care and service,” affirms Ms. Halpern.
| | Elder Care Co-opWritten by Barbara Mascio
Could an elder-care-co-op work for family caregivers? It's an idea that's worked for years in small communities across United States with childcare. Thirty years ago, three of my friends, all stay-at-home moms, got together and worked out a system that worked very well. One day a week, each of us took our children to our friends’ home for a ‘play date.’ It allowed each of us to take one full day to shop, go to doctors’ appointments, get our hair done, all without our darling children in tow and all without spending money we didn’t have on child care. Sometimes, we didn’t run errands; we simply spent time alone, soaking in ‘quiet’. The amount of family caregivers across United States that could do something like this is mind-blowing. In fact, statistics most readily quoted are that on any given day, fifty million families are caring for a loved one. Most family members readily jump in to help a loved one and will put their own lives on hold. Only 46 percent expect to be caregivers longer than two years. In fact average length of time spent on caregiving is about eight years, with approximately one third of respondents providing care for 10 years or more. (Source: MetLife Juggling Act Study, Balancing Caregiving with Work and Costs of Caregiving, Met Life Mature Market Institute, November 1999.)
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