Posted in Advocacy & Legal on February 2nd, 2010

Family Caregiver Advocacy

Caregiver poverty is real:  Faced with the reality of becoming homeless, living in poverty and isolation, we live in fear each day.

Caregiver poverty can happen to anyone. Caregivers fear becoming homeless when the money runs out or for those who have spent years caring for a loved one at home and have lost out on wages and pension contributions.

Caring for a loved one can leave you isolated from society, which means society hardly knows about our reality and the world we live in.

Some Family Caregivers face poverty, isolation, abandonment, and even homelessness after devoting their time caring for a loved one in need.  Many of these individuals are lost in the system through shear exhaustion and are unable to stand up and be counted, or become ill themselves to pass away or even commit suicide.

It is time to advocate for change to help Family Caregivers, some of whom are too ashamed to even talk about their hardships; feeling they are at fault for finding themselves living in isolated poverty – even homeless with drug and alcohol addictions.

When someone is living in such a state of exhaustion from caring for a loved one, life can get out of hand, resulting in losing everything.  These caregivers are not irresponsible for their loses – life just erodes away.  They became caught up in a very desperate, depressing, exhausting situation that caused on going emotional trauma and chaos in their lives that they had no control over.  If anyone is at fault, it is society for not providing Family Caregivers help with skills and education, financial assistance, and a support network to fall back on.

We must advocate federal governments to create Caregiver  Resource Centers and government funded financial benefit programs for Family Caregivers.

SUMMARY:

HOMELESS – Once a Family Caregiver’s loved one passes away, some caregivers are unable to return back to work due to ill health.  The threat of becoming homeless is a reality especially when faced with medical bankruptcy.

ISOLATION – No one wants to share the hash reality of caregiving with friends and family.  Many family and friends have difficulty relating to the hardships of caregiving resulting in Family Caregivers becoming isolated.

POVERTY – Careing for a loved one at home can cost the caregiver up to 36.00 per day for medical related expenses.  After a while the cash flow runs out resulting in poverty.

CAREGIVER FEAR – Many caregivers live with fear, an on going condition of anxiety, resulting from on going trauma and overwhelming responsibility.  Add in the fear of homelessness, and poverty, many caregivers live with shame that their lives have spiraled out of control.

CAREGIVER POVERTY – Many caregivers find themselves living in poverty, having used up their life saving and the result of lost wages and pension contributions caring for a loved one.

CAREGIVER ADVOCACY – Anyone who is a caregiver must become an advocate to speak out about the hardships of family caregiving.

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