Caregiving

The demand for home health care aids will become more urgent in coming years. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the first baby boomers turned 60 in 2006. Furthermore, they predict "the 65 and older population will grow from one in eight Americans today to one in six by 2020." Here we’ll discuss how health care aides meet this demand as well as what services they provide, the cost for those services and how someone might pay for them.

There are only four kinds of people in the world—those who have been caregivers, those who currently are caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who need caregivers." – former First Lady Rosalynn Carter

Caring for an aging parent can be one of the most rewarding experiences, but the more care your aging parent needs, the more support you are going to need. Since it's likely that you are not only caring for parents, but also raising children or grandchildren and working part or full time, your plate is more than full, it's overflowing. Organizing a care circle for your aging parents can help prevent you from suffering from caregiver burnout, a common occurrence among adult caregivers.

Roberta Temes, PhD, is a noted psychotherapist who has taught classes in death, dying and bereavement at schools such as Downstate Medical School and CUNY. She is the author of several books, including the award-winning Living with an Empty Chair: A Guide Through Grief and The Tapping Cure.

There are few things more difficult than saying goodbye to a dying parent. In between talking to doctors and family members, not to mention trying to cope emotionally, what affairs do you need to get in order?