Champions – Family caregivers play an important role in the health of older adults and can help them recover after illness or hospitalization. For example, they can help ensure your loved one takes proper medications, rests after surgery, and takes care of other needs. Mina Raj, Assistant Professor of Health and Kinesiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
“Caregivers often have a lot of observations and information about their relative’s daily needs and activities,” Raj says. “These are things that clinicians can’t really understand without directly observing them. So caregivers can fill in those information gaps.”
But communication between the health care system and caregivers is often lacking, she says.
“Older relatives may be given medication or recommended, but it’s not always translated or communicated to their caregivers,” Raj says.
Raj studies caregiving, its challenges, and demographic changes. she Caregivers are described as third parties who often do not have access to information, even though they really need it.
Lack of communication and coordination between caregivers and health care providers can place additional burden on caregivers and strain family relationships.
As the number of older Americans in need of care continues to grow, it is important to consider the emergence of caregivers, who are often aging, he said.
There is a lot of discussion in the policy world about how to better support carers within the health system. Some key initiatives include providing caregivers with access to information, support and services tailored to their needs; For example, “mental health services, respite services designed to help caregivers better care by providing them with respite and self-care.” ourselves,” Raj said.
The state of Illinois recently created a task force specifically to help seniors, she said. States have not taken the lead in passing legislation to increase support for caregivers. like pennsylvaniaBut Raj said the new task force is promising because of the changes it could bring.
