Sage advice about health system, but 20 years late
The lengthy opinion expressed by two health-care experts in The Herald of Aug. 22 merits a response. The authors observe that the demographics for seniors have changed for those wishing to live at home. In consequence, prime caregivers find themselves under stress, underappreciated, unrecognized and “unremunerated,” with less time for greater needs.
Indeed, the community view is now largely restricted to the narrowest notion of personal caregiving, i.e. morning or evening care. This only scratches the surface of the real needs of caregiving as it discounts time spent on “minutia” such as appointments, shopping and a myriad of other items which consume the day. The end product of this for the prime caregiver is a sense of being underappreciated in general by both system and community, and on occasion family. Thus we need to adapt and support caregivers, a message wellknown to health authorities.
Having worked in community care, I would say the authors’ research is self-evident, accurate in many respects. After many years hands on in the front line of community care, I would go as far as to say this type of work at any age is both physically and mentally draining, a fact lost to health systems and the community at large. To be succinct, caregiving is damn hard work done by the many, suited to the few.
However, I regret that the opinions cited by its authors with their astute observations and sage recommendations are about 20 years late. All these concerns and recommendations were being voiced long and loudly two decades ago by the many caregivers coming into the field of community care. Frankly, I found nothing of consequence in this article beyond the irony of both researchers being overwhelmed by the world of real parents in need of care.
It is the non-expert opinion of this writer that the problems highlighted by the experts of The Herald guest column of Aug. 22 are better understood, addressed and navigated by those community caregivers on the front line.
Gerald Morton
Lethbridge