Yes, help caregivers

During the last year and a half I have visited Alzheimer’s caregivers throughout the state of Wisconsin and beyond, so it was with gratitude that I read AARP state advocacy director Helen Marks Dicks’ op-ed in the Oct. 15 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (“Let’s help family caregivers,” Crossroads).

She and AARP members throughout the country work to educate and advocate for individuals 50 years old and older. As baby boomers continue to age and need services, we find resource agencies struggling to keep pace.

As Dicks wrote, Wisconsin’s family caregivers provide about 538 million hours of care worth about $7 billion, many while holding down regular jobs. These caregivers, whom I along with Dicks, describe as heroes, deserve the tax credits being proposed locally, as well as the help that would be afforded by the long-overdue passage of a federal program like the Credit for Caring Act.

I am fortunate to be able to provide my wife, Elaine, with the best health care without worries about how to get her to appointments or find appropriate doctors and care programs. However, a person could have all the money in the world, yet be so stressed with their responsibilities in and outside the home that they wouldn’t know where to turn to learn how to be an effective caregiver.

The programs proposed by AARP would allow caregivers to worry less about how they will live and pay their bills, to seek support and in turn, provide better care for their loved ones.

AARP’s primary demographic continues to grow, which means the work it does takes on importance for more of our citizens. I implore our elected officials to recognize these needs and give our heroes a chance to live while they give of themselves.

Martin J. Schreiber former Wisconsin governor