A day to care about caregivers
Though not as publicized as other designated days dotting the calendar, National Caregivers Day, observed this Friday, honors those individuals who selflessly provide both physical and emotional support to those who need it most.
Caregivers comprise several categories, and aren’t just limited to the health- care sector. They include family caregiver, professional caregiver, independent caregiver, privateduty caregiver, and informal caregiver.
Caregivers perform essential duties, from medical aid to personal grooming. They range from unpaid volunteers to those whose wages remain on the lower rung of the health sector’s pay ladder.
For this reason, the Providers Association for Home Health & Hospice Agencies, PAHHHA, established the third Friday in February as National Caregivers Day in 2015. Its aim is to dedicate a day annually to recognize and appreciate caregivers everywhere.
According to a report by the Gallup-healthways Well-being Index, caregivers’ duties involve six days in a month grooming, feeding, dressing, bathing, and walking, 13 days a month commuting, cleaning, doing the laundry, monitoring medication, shopping, and cooking special meals. Beyond that, 13 hours a month are spent coordinating visits with physicians, researching symptoms and diseases, and managing finances.
The low wages of these truly compassionate individuals who care for our vulnerable loved ones have created critical worker shortages in the Massachusetts nursing-home industry.
Nursing homes report that staff vacancies remain at “historic highs,” as senior- care facilities struggle to find and retain people qualified to care for the state’s most needy residents.
Massachusetts Senior Care Association reported last November that its most recent quarterly survey, taken over the summer, showed that
6,900 registered nurse, licensed practical nurse and certified nurse assistant positions were open at nursing facilities.
And of those, more than half — 3,900 — of the unfilled jobs are CNA, or caregiver, positions.
Of the facilities that responded to the survey, 62% reported that they have recently limited admissions due to staffing shortages.
The MSCA indicated that one-time government appropriations have helped raise senior- care facility nursing wages by nearly 20% over the last two years. It’s raised the median starting wage for CNAS to $18 per hour, a median LPN wage to $30 an hour, and a median RN wage to $35 an hour.
In the case of CNAS, that still means that half of those caregivers barely earn more than the state’s current $15 wage minimum, putting them in the category of the working poor if they don’t have other means of earning a living.
To increase interest in these entry-level positions, 89% of nursing homes indicated they would like to participate in a CAN-TO-LPN initiative, and the association is exploring funding options to launch such an effort.
Besides low wages, the National Alliance for Caregiving and the American Association of Retired Persons, AARP, reported that in 2020, an estimated 53 million caregivers in the U.S. received no compensation.
While most caregivers tend to one adult, approximately 15% look after two adults, and 3% care for three or more adults. The Institute on Aging reports that over 75% of caregivers are females who spend 50% more time providing essential services than males.
And who will care for the caregivers? What’s surprising is that many caregivers are elders themselves. The average age of caregivers looking after a person 65 years or older is
63, with many of them in poor health themselves.
That’s why on National Caregivers Day, we should be there for them, just as they are for those we entrust in their care.
We can show our appreciation in several ways, including the following:
• Take time to thank a caregiver for their dedication and care of our loved ones.
• Give them a card of thanks — a heartfelt gesture that will mean a lot.
• Recognize that person with a kind word of encouragement.
• Tell their supervisor how much you appreciate their services.
• Employers can provide a special appreciation luncheon.
• Use #NationalcaregiversDay to post on social media.
Caregivers do the vital work of keeping our elderly or infirmed loved ones safe. This Friday, let them know how much we’re in their debt.