Our business is helping families with the challenging issues of aging. Sometimes it is getting siblings to agree on a decision of what is best for mom. Other times it is helping a family get the diagnosis they need so they can plan for the future or take control from someone who is impaired cognitively and at risk for self-abuse or exploitation.
All of a sudden, as an employer, I looked in the mirror and found that out of 43 professional and support staff, I had 8 (almost 20%) of our employees in the depths of “eldercare” experiencing all those dilemmas that our clients families deal with every day. I myself have an 88-year old mother that lives alone and at any juncture, I could be in the same place as my staff. Actually, when the phone rings late at night, I always hold my breath thinking it could be Mom in a health care crisis.
When I realized this and looked at the time these individuals were putting into the caregiving role, I decided we needed to do something. I asked one of our licensed social workers/geriatric care managers to lead a brown bag lunch support group – at least once a month. How easy it is to offer this support to employees, as any employer could hire a professional geriatric care manager to lead these groups at very little cost to the company – but great relief to the stressed employee who sometimes doesn’t know where to turn.
When you realize you are not alone, when you realize creativity is needed in caregiving and when you know how to advocate for your loved one, you are in a better place to care for yourself.
Ask your employer to secure a support group at work because, I bet, most places of employment have 12-15% of their staff in elder caregiving roles that could be affecting their employer’s productivity.