How to get ready to be a caregiver

Most people aren’t ready to become a caregiver. Many find themselves in a caregiving role overnight, marking an instant massive life change. In the blink of an eye, you may find yourself supporting a loved one financially, emotionally, and physically, while balancing this with all your typical responsibilities.

With this in mind, it’s no wonder that more than half of all family caregivers report feeling overwhelmed. Finding 19 extra hours a week (the average amount of time caregiving requires) can be a lot to handle. While many of us aren’t ready to be a caregiver now, there’s a good chance you will either become one or need care at some point in your life. Planning ahead can make the transition easier.

What are the challenges you could potentially face?

To help you prepare, our Navigating Family Caregiving In Canada resource outlines many issues to consider, such as:

Caregiver Identification

Although 75% of care in Canada is provided by family caregivers (that is, family or friends who are not financially compensated for their care), many don’t describe themselves as a caregiver. This is due to a variety of factors, such as cultural norms, associating the term with paid workers, or because it’s something they’ve always done. Regardless, this misidentification can have a variety of impacts on a caregiver, ranging from a feeling of isolation to lack of access to resources.

Lack Of Training

For many family caregivers, a sudden change sets them on their caregiving journey, while others enter gradually. Regardless, family caregivers rarely have access to hands-on training and support for complex medical and personal care tasks. This can be anything from home dialysis, respiratory monitoring, injections, and more that are typically only performed by regulated healthcare professionals. Even personal care, such as helping a loved one bathe or get into bed, can pose a risk to both the caregiver and the care recipient if not done properly. As the medical needs of loved ones become more complex, this lack of training and support is a major barrier for caregivers.

Care Coordination

Booking appointments and treatments, navigating disorganized health and social systems, and negotiating on behalf of the care recipient are tasks that often fall to a family caregiver. In addition, language barriers, access to information, and potentially confusing eligibility criteria for programs make care coordination a challenging endeavor. These can create barriers to accessing services, resulting in caregivers and care recipients not receiving the services they need.

Lack of Information

Lack of access to family caregiver-specific information is a major concern for Canadian family caregivers. Often this stems from a hyper-focus on the care recipient, especially if they’re in great distress. Additionally, information is often decentralized or difficult to access. Being able to access information is critical to the wellbeing of caregivers, and is an important part of their ability to provide the care their loved ones need.

Physical & Emotional Wellbeing

Caregiving can be very stressful. Research shows that family caregivers have poorer physical and mental health than non-caregivers, leading some to say the negative consequences are a public health issue. Many caregivers don’t seek care for themselves and are less likely to engage in preventive health care, often citing the overwhelming nature of caregiving.

Finances

Financial support is identified as the greatest barrier to family caregivers accessing support systems, with one third of Canadian caregivers facing financial hardships as a result of their responsibilities. Additionally, 15% of caregivers reduce their work hours, while 40% miss days of work entirely. 6% opt to exit the labour force entirely. Out-of-pocket expenditures like transport, medical supplies, and professional services add up, resulting in a significant financial impact that is often not discussed.

What can you do to prepare?

There are a number of things you can do to prepare yourself for a future caregiving role. Some to keep in mind are:

• Being Proactive: Often, people don’t try to find caregiving resources until the care is urgent. Taking a proactive approach to caregiving can have a variety of benefits, including increased use of supports, protection against burnout, reduced social isolation, and more.
• Become an Advocate: Part of the problem with family caregiving in Canada is a lack of awareness. Becoming an advocate means giving a voice to the nearly 8 million undervalued caregivers across the country. This can come in a variety of forms, whether it’s participating in social media advocacy, discussing the issue with your peers, or setting up your own CareMakers Foundation fundraiser.
• Discuss Caregiving With Your Family in Advance. Before care becomes urgent, discuss how to equitably share in caregiving roles. When caregiving is unexpected, it’s still important to sit down with everyone and create a plan that is fair to the primary caregiver.
• Get Access to Resources and Learn: There are amazing support organizations across the country that provide support for caregivers, with important resources like training modules that can help alleviate the challenge of a lack of training.
• Donate to Help Caregivers in Need: Financial constraints are often the biggest issue caregivers face, whether that’s through missing workdays or paying for caregiving expenses. Providing a donation will go to organizations that help caregivers across the country.
  
  

Conclusion

Our foundation’s mission is to support family caregivers across the country as they try to navigate the often sudden world of caregiving. Chances are that we will become caregivers ourselves in the future, and we owe it to our loved ones to be prepared in every way possible when that moment comes.