Managing Long-term Care for Loved Ones

Current trends show that roughly one-third of families will be faced with the prospect of managing long-term care for a loved one:

• Due to age--almost 13% of the U.S. population (31,754,000) is age 65 or older.  This group accounts for almost a third of all health spending; they fill 40% of all hospital beds and consume twice as much prescription medication as all other groups combined. 
• Due to physical incapacity--13% of children, according to the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs, have a chronic condition that requires special health care needs.  Many of these children are medically fragile and are technology dependent with long-term, intensive health care needs.
• Due to mental illness--over 8% of adults (17.5 million) are estimated to experience a serious mental illness that would require long-term care. 

More often than not, care-giving begins in crisis.  Illness strikes, a hospital stay ensues, and the doctor delivers the bad news.  Families are forced to re-organize, to support the family member in need and to provide emotional support  to the family member shouldering the responsibility for keeping loved ones at home and comfortable.  Those with primary responsibility for the care of loved ones are at risk of “giving too much” causing them to neglect their own needs and spiral into a cycle of guilt, depression and physical illness.  Isolation is another concern regarding the well-being of long-term care-givers.  Access to social supports, including respite care is crucial to maintaining strength and perspective allowing them to continue to provide high quality care. 

Long-term care-givers can best manage their responsibilities by establishing healthy boundaries with the family member they are caring for.  This avoids unnecessary dependence and further protects the well-being of the person providing support.  Care-giver support groups provide the needed comfort of spending time with others who understand the challenges that they experience. 

Keeping a loved one in the home with the proper care also provides unique benefits to those who care for them.  There is value to a mindset that “lacks resistance to what is” helping the care-giver move toward a sense of balance and harmony.  Care-givers report a connection to spirituality, their community and other family members as key elements that bolster their strength and endurance.  With positive family communication, they can review life with their family member in a way that resolves and uncovers the deeper meanings that underlie past events, thus providing a sense of harmony and balance available due to their efforts.  

Contact JMB Family Counseling for more information.  JMBFamily.net; jmbfamilycounseling@gmail.com or 917.414.1371.