Resources
Care For The Family Caregiver: A Place To Start
Caregiving presents considerable challenges-physical, emotional and economic. There is no reason to suffer in silence. If you take away one thing from this booklet, remember, it's always OK to seek and ask for help. Getting help can enable you to become a better caregiver. This booklet is designed to give you an overview of the basic aspects and issues involved with caregiving.
It addresses the following important topics:
- The caregiving journey, told through family caregiver stories
- The basics of family caregiving
- Caregiving tips
- Caregiver training
- Caring for yourself
- Legal and financial issues to consider
- Where to turn for help
New Podcast: Caring for a Depressed Elderly Parent
It can be lonely, all consuming work being a family caregiver to an elderly parent with depression. Depression rates are high among the elderly and caring for an depressed elderly parent takes a toll on the family. In fact, caregivers are at risk of depression themselves. Learn how it affects you and how to ease the burden of caregiving.
Become aware of the issues around caring for a depressed elder and learn about support available.
- Caring for a Depressed Elderly Parent podcast
- Helping an Older Adult Who is Depressed tip sheet
- Article about the Caring for a Depressed Elderly Parent podcast
Do you awaken at night to help your husband to the bathroom? Do you arrange your schedule to fit your mother's doctors' appointments? You are not alone. According to the 2003 National Alliance for Caregiving/AARP National Caregiver Survey, at least 44.4 million adults provide the care that is so critical in helping friends and loved ones with debilitating illnesses remain in their homes and other community settings. It is estimated that 80 percent of all care received by older Americans is provided by family members - spouses, children, grandchildren and other relatives - people just like you.
Taking on the Challenges of Caregiving
To help caregivers find the information they need to take care of themselves
and their loved ones, the Alliance has partnered with the National Family
Caregivers Association to create Family
Caregiving 101, an online resource loaded with quality information on
how to deal with the challenges of caregiving. You can visit this resource
at www.familycaregiving101.org.
CMS Tip Sheet for Providers: Caregiving Education
Medicare will pay for certain types of caregiver education when it's provided as part of a patient's medically necessary face-to-face visit. Caregiver education is not separately payable in Medicare Part B; however, it can be billed as part of the counseling and coordination of care services you provide during a patient visit as long as it directly involves the patient and is medically necessary. Medicaid coverage policies for these services vary by state, so check with your Medicaid state agency for guidance. A visit for counseling based on time may be billed according to a specific CPT code level. To view the different CPT code options, for billing on Caregiver Education and to view the entire Tip Sheet, click here.
CMS Tip Sheet: Planning for Your Discharge
During a patient stay in a hospital, nursing home, or other health care setting, the staff will work with you to plan for the patient discharge. The patient and their caregiver are important members of the planning team. This is a checklist of important things you should know to plan for a safe discharge. To view the checklist, click here.
The National Alliance for Caregiving has partnered with Lotsa Helping Hands to expand resources available to family caregivers. Through the National Alliance for Caregiving's Lotsa Helping Hands website, visitors may create their own caregiving site to coordinate support needed for the caregiver and care recipient. Lotsa Helping Hands is a free caregiving coordination web service that provides a private, group calendar where tasks for which a caregiver needs assistance can be posted. Family and friends may visit the site and sign up online for a task. The website generates a summary report showing who has volunteered for which tasks and which tasks remain unassigned. The site tracks each task and notification and reminder emails are sent to the appropriate parties.
To sign up for a free Lotsa Helping Hands account or to learn more, please visit the National Alliance for Caregiving's Lotsa Helping Hands website.
For Family Caregiver Advocates There is a new resource for those working with or advocating for family caregivers: The Surgeon General's Prescription for Caregivers. You can print it out and distribute as many as you like. Johnson & Johnson created the "Prescription," but it is unbranded, and they are encouraging doctors and other health care professionals, administrators of support groups and other caregiver programs--anyone working with caregivers--to use it.
More Resources We also encourage you to take a look at the booklets the Alliance has created for caregivers in the publications section of this site. And we are also proud to bring you the Family Care Resource Connection, where you can find reviews and ratings on over 1,000 books, videos, Web sites, and other materials on caregiving.