In those early hours, she arranges her mother’s medicines, changes soiled sheets, cleans and bathes her mother and takes her to a day center.

By the time she arrives at work, she’s already exhausted.

Eight hours later, she rushes to pick up her parent to spend the night caring for her yet again. On a good workweek, she won’t have to take off time for emergencies concerning her mother’s care.

For a staggering number of Oklahomans, this is a lifestyle. The number of unpaid family members and friends who serve as primary caregivers to an aging family member is growing; and the trend isn’t going to decrease any time soon.

The AARP predicts employees of all ages eventually will become such a caregiver.

right, Lance Robertson, director of the state Department of Health’s Aging Services Division, participates in a caregiver support lunch.

While the role of a caregiver can affect individual health, studies show it’s making a titanic impact on businesses, too.

HIDDEN COSTS
One report estimates the national economic value of informal caregiving was $196 billion in 1997.

“Caregiving is huge in our state, and a lot of employees are currently working full time and caring for a family member full time,” says Lance Robertson, director of the state Department of Health’s Aging Services Division. “There are some respite programs available; for instance, we offer $400 in vouchers that caregivers can use over three months if they need an emergency person to watch a family member. That doesn’t go far, but it is something.”

According to him, every workplace in Oklahoma has employees who are caregivers, but most companies fail to address that issue.

“Not many companies are doing much of anything geared to help caregivers,” he says. “It’s difficult to understand how an employee is affected if the company leadership hasn’t gone through it themselves.”

Recent studies suggest companies already are being affected by caregiving, especially in health care costs.

A 2010 MetLife study claims that caregiving employees have an 8% higher rate in health costs. Those additional costs for U.S. companies add up to a whopping $13.4 billion per year. Absenteeism adds another $33.6 billion a year.

The study surveyed 17,097 employees, finding that almost 12% who reported they care for an older person also complained of poor health and more disease than non-caregiving employees.

The study also found that employees with eldercare responsibilities had a higher number of missed days. For employees ages 18 to 39, 10% of caregivers missed at least one day of work in a twoweek period because of their health, as opposed to 9% of non-caregivers.

FACING THE FUTURE
“The more common idea to help employees who are caregivers is to schedule a regular brown-bag luncheon that brings a speaker in to help those employees deal with their issues,” Robertson says. “Employees come to work and want to give 100%, but they only have 75% to give, due to caring for their parents.”

Share time, flex time and leave pools also may allow elder-care employees to keep working while addressing their responsibilities.

“Education, however, is what people most often need,” Robertson says. “That and encouragement from others. Just showing support can go a long way.”

Melissa Mahaffey, executive director of Cypress Springs Alzheimer’s and Memory Support Residence in Oklahoma City, sees daily what primary caregivers go through.

“Stress is huge on caregivers, and you hear countless stories of caregivers not taking care of themselves because they are too busy taking care of others,” she says. “Some of the issues we see are stress, heart issues, weight problems, lack of sleep and diseases that go undetected because the caregiver doesn’t go for tests.

“I do know that our residents’ family members miss more work than those who don’t have these responsibilities, but they don’t miss as much as those who care for family members at home.”

According to Mahaffey, approximately 75,000 Oklahomans suffer with Alzheimer’s. While many are cared for in a community home, others are live with family members who serve as the primary caregiver.

“You see the caregiver who is underemployed or halted in their career because they have to care for a family member full-time,” she says. “You see a lot who are forced to retire sooner in order to care for someone.”

Many employees are also in the “sandwich generation,” she added, in which an employee is caring for both an aging parent and a son or daughter.

“This issue is not about to go away,” Robertson says, “and I think businesses are going to have to start putting policies in place now to deal with it.”

• 14.9 million Americans provide unpaid care for a person with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.

• 80% of care provided at home is by family caregivers.

• Fewer than 10% of older adults receive all of their care from paid workers.

• In 2010, family and friends provided 17 billion hours of unpaid care, valued at more than $202 billion.

• Family caregivers provide an average of 21.9 hours of care per week, or 1,139 hours of care per year.

• Although 44% of caregivers reported being employed full- or part-time, many caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s or dementia reported making major changes to their work schedules because of their caregiving responsibilities: 61% of women and 70% of men said they had to go in late, leave early or take time off, and 21% of women and 18% of men had to take a leave of absence.

Photo by Mark Hancock