Marta A.: This NARIC’s Spotlight Podcast and I am Marta Arnold, NARIC’s Spanish Reviewer. In today’s episode, I am joined by Marta Garcia, NARIC’s Bilingual Information and Media Specialist. Did you know that approximately 1 in 5 Americans are caregivers, providing unpaid care to a loved one with a disability? Join me as Marta and I discuss caregiving – including defining caregiving, the different types of caregivers and much more!
Marta A.: How would you define caregiving, Marta?
Marta G.: Caregiving is a person attending to the needs of a person with a short or long-term disability due to illness or disability. As former First Lady, Rosalyn Carter, stated – There are four kinds of people in this world: Those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers. Caregiving is universal. According to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC), there are over 53 million Americans, nearly 1 in 5, who are providing unpaid care to an adult with heath or functional needs.
Marta A.: As we both know, there are several types of caregivers. What are those different types of caregivers?
Marta G.: There are two types of caregivers. The first are the formal caregivers, who are registered nurses, home health aides, nursing assistance, and licensed skilled nurses, among others. In other words, formal caregivers are the people whom we would expect to see in a skilled nursing setting, in the hospital, or in your home – depending on the circumstances. Formal caregivers are paid to do this work. The second type of caregivers are the informal ones. The informal caregivers are anyone who volunteers from the community. This could mean friends, neighbors, people from your congregation, or others from the community.
Marta A.: You mentioned family caregivers, Marta. Please tell us more about them.
Marta G.: Family caregivers, which are a type of informal caregiver, could be anyone in your family – a spouse, parent, child, sibling, aunt, uncle, or cousins. Statistically speaking, family caregivers are more likely to be women compared to men. Although it could go either way. It does lean more towards women and either these caregivers are working full time or part time outside of the home – in addition to being a caregiver to their loved one.
Marta A.: Family caregiving may lead to burn out. Community and supports may help alleviate burn out. What can family caregivers do to prevent burn out?
Marta G.: There can be a lot of challenges to being a caregiver. This may include isolation, only leaving the house to go to work or to take care of all the needs of the household, and burn out and fatigue, among others. To help prevent burnout, caregivers may want to join support groups, find a relative that can cover caregiving duties while the principal caregiver takes time for themselves, and lots of selfcare.
Marta A.: Where can family caregivers go to find information, support, advocacy, empowerment, care, and balance?
Marta G.: Of course, NARIC is happy to help! We can help you find the resources that you need to alleviate burnout. This could include helping you find support groups in your area online or in person, finding home health aide or respite services, and other resources.
Marta A.: Thank you, Marta! This was very informative!
Marta G.: Thank you, Marta, for having me on today’s episode!
Marta A.: This is Marta Arnold, and I would like to thank you for listening to today’s episode. I would also like to thank Marta Garcia for joining me in this conversation about caregiving. I hope you found this discussion as informative as we did! If you would like to learn more about caregiving or are looking for caregiver support, please contact NARIC’s information specialists by calling our toll-free number 800/346-2742, emailing us at narcinfo@heitechservices.com, or by using our free chat service on our website, naric.com. All of the resources that we mentioned in today’s discussion are available in the description for this episode. Transcripts of this episode are available on our website.