Simply put, family caregiving is the act of assisting someone you care about who is chronically ill or disabled and who is no longer able to care for themselves. Family caregiving is the bedrock upon which this country's healthcare system depends. The services provided by family caregivers represent 80% of all home care services and are conservatively valued at $375 billion a year,
Caregiving in the 21st Century -
Then and Now is fundamentally different than it was in the biblical times when the commandment to Honor thy Mother and
Father was created. People died at a much younger age and often times without the benefits of medication and
the advanced medical technologies as we see today.
One thing that hasn't changed however, are the Common Bonds that tie all family caregivers together.
Family caregivers are the practitioners of family caregiving. It is hard to separate one from the other.
Caregiver Statistics will provide insights into both.
Read NFCA's President/Co-founder's story of how and why she first identified herself as a family caregiver.
In this article
Suzanne Mintz asks the universal questions of who am I, how do I define myself, how do you know me?
What is Family Caregiving as described in a poem by Rose Marie Trosper, an NFCA volunteer with the Caregiver Community Action Network (CCAN) and a family caregiver from Arkansas. This is what family caregiving means to Rose...
Caregiver’s Eyes
By Rose Marie Trosper
A caregiver’s eyes tell me everything I need to know.
Their sadness, their fatigue,
the overwhelming feelings that consume them.
How do I tell them how much I care,
how much I would do... if I could?
These precious souls with hearts of gold,
forgotten by those who should be so close,
and, yet, they are so distant.
Do they know how often I feel the burning questions,
those that haunt their every waking moment?
The ones that ask... why me,
how much longer... how much more?
I would change their world if only I could,
if only miracles were mine to give,
if only I held the power,
if only I had wings.
Don’t they know they already have their own wings,
and that they teach me so much?
More than I could ever offer to them in return.
Do they know I watch over them
as best I can with the watchful eyes
of a mother, a friend?
Or, that they are in my heart,
each one so cherished, so unique.
A caregiver’s eyes tell me everything I need to know.
But every now and again,
I see a faint smile, a knowing look
that says...... thank you, my friend.
It is in those moments that I know
I am where I should be.
And, for as long as they need me....
this is where I can be found.
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