Politics Br.Mike Magee Addressing The Challenges Of Long-Distance Caregiving @ (NAPSA)—Taking care of an elderly loved one can be fulfilling. It isn’t always easy, however. Having to do it from anothercity or state can make the challenges seem even more complex. Out of the 34 million Americans whoprovide care to older r= family members, 15 percent live an hour or more away from their relative. Out of these, nearly 80 percent work full- or i part-time. How do Magee, they manage? It takes organization, determination and a supportive employer. Long-distance caregivers provide a wide array of services at great cost to themselves. Accord- ing to a survey by the National Alliance for Caregiving, long-distance caregivers spend an average of $392 per month on travel and out-of-pocket expenses. The expenditure in time is no less than the expenditure in dollars. Out of the more than 1,100 long-distance caregivers contacted by the National Alliance for Care- giving, half of them said they spend nearly 14 hours a month arranging care services and half said they spend another 16 hours a month checking on their care recipient or monitoring the care being received. Nearly three-quarters of these long-distance caregivers provide help with instrumentalactivities of daily living CADL) such as transportation, shopping, cooking, cleaning, managing finances and medications—for an average of 22 hours per month. Considering that so many longdistance caregivers are employed, they often have to makesignificant adjustments to their work schedules to allow for their caregiving responsibilities. Twentyfive percent of the surveyed longdistance caregivers had shortened their workday while they were caregiving and 36 percent reported missing full days of work. Twelve percent had taken a leave of absence. The forces that have created today’s long-distance caregiverrealities, including an aging population, families separated by dis- tance, more women entering the workforce, and global competitiveness among companies, are unlikely to reverse themselves in the near future. Rather, the challenges and work-balance issuesare likely to accelerate. Clearly, long-distance caregiving already impacts retention and productivity. What can an employer do? Certainly, sensitizing line managers to the issue is a reasonable starting point. Adjusting policies to allow job sharing and short-timerelief, as well as providing information and help in coordinating eldercare, are definitely worthwhile investments, compared to the cost of attrition and lost productivity. And, since long-distance caregivers have financial burdens as well as time conflicts, programs that offer help with these are beneficial. For example, voluntary pooling of frequent flyer miles for employees who need to travel on family emergencies is an idea worth considering. Tangible expressions of support, such as these, address the issue head-on while reinforcing shared values and joint commitment. For more information on topics such as long-distance caregiving or to receive a free weekly health report from Dr. Magee,visit the Web site at www.HealthPolitics.com. Mike Magee, MD, is a Senior Fellow in the Humanities to the World Medical Association, director of the Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative and host of the weekly Web cast “Health Politics with Dr. Mike Magee.”
