health
Take Time to Care
for the Caregiver
P
rior generations often shared
wonderful memories of active
and healthy grandparents — typ-
ically because seniors didn’t live far
past their prime years. In the last cen-
tury, with life expectancy having
increased by an average of 30 years,
the “golden ages” are much more
encumbered by health care concerns,
which may make older loved ones
unable to live alone or care for them-
selves. In the recently published Ever-
care(R) Study of Hispanic Caregiving
in the U.S. conducted by the National
Alliance for Caregiving and Evercare,
part of UnitedHealthcare, there are cur-
rently an estimated eight million peo-
ple providing care for an older loved
one. That equates to one in every three
Hispanic households, and the numbers
will increase dramatically as our senior
population and Hispanic population
grow in the next 20 years.
According to the study, almost all
Latino caregivers keep their loved ones
company or provide emotional sup-
port. The first ever look at Hispanic
caregiving in the U.S. shows one in
four Hispanic caregivers feel it would
be very difficult to find someone to
take on their responsibilities if they
needed a break. They average 37 care-
giving hours per week and as a result,
41 percent have left or changed their
jobs. But, they are not complaining —
among Latinos, there is a great sense of
family unity.
“Taking care of them is like giving
back our love,” said one Latino care-
giver. “They were the first to give us
love and attention, so we have a moral
obligation to respond. So it’s a way to
42 Celebrating over 15 Years of Embracing Diversity WWW.HNMAGAZINE.COM
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