Did You Know? Caregiver Statistics That Will Surprise You

In a recent Webinar from the North Carolina Retired Government Employees Association I attended, I was stunned to discover the number of caregivers in North Carolina providing family care for Alzheimer's patients.

And that’s just for Alzheimer’s patients. It doesn’t include other ill patients who require care from a family member at home.

I wondered then, what the total number of family caregivers were (those are untrained, unpaid, family members or friends caring for an ill Loved One at home) for all illnesses in the United States?

So, curious as I am, I "Googled it" as I was told to do a few years ago when I called a professional medical institution in search of a general practitioner when we moved to Pittsboro, NC for my husband's T-cell Transplant. I was having difficulty finding a family M.D. for our general medical care, and it seemed all the doctors I found were not taking new patients.
 
And Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh is a huge medical center area in North Carolina.
 
So, I persisted and eventually discovered one facility that showed two general practitioners with an opening. I immediately called, and the receptionist said, "We aren't accepting adults anymore, only children." I explained my difficulty in finding medical care, and asked where I might find a doctor in their system. She said, "Google it." And hung up the phone.

Thus, when I began researching statistics for family caregivers in the United States, I didn’t bother calling anyone, I just “Goggled it” and discovered a website, HumanCare with an extensive article about family caregivers and even more stunning statistic.
 
According to HumanCare, there are approximately 53 million caregivers in the US providing care for an ill loved one at home (I believe that was for year 2021).  

In my Google search, I also came across a Google AI Overview which agrees with the $600 billion amount of unpaid labor and their statistics claim the number of Americans providing family care is 48 million.  

You don’t even have to Google it. Here is the link: https://www.humancareny.com/blog/39-caregiver-statistics-facts-trends As a caregiver, I found it quite interesting and I think you might find it quite emboldening.

Why? 

Because we become Caregivers for our Loved Ones from our heart, wanting to provide compassionate care, and support them through an illness they never asked for. And it is a job, one that can be overwhelming. Despite the full or part time job of providing that home care, like keeping patient notes, medication management, pain management, physical aide like help with dressing, showers, transferring into and out of bed, transportation, meal prep, and other household and financial tasks, the new medical seems to have transitioned some medical procedures that used to be done by professionals in the medical facility to the Caregiver to complete at home.

We get a quick overview, a training, and a bag of tools needed for the procedure. Then they quickly shuffle us out the door and give us a number to call if we have any problems.

This can be helpful as your Loved One may be able to go home from the hospital earlier, which is safer as there is less risk at home for infections that like to live in hospitals. However, it can put a lot of stress on the Caregiver who has no formal medical training.

And it’s not just about the statistics—or getting our Loved One to appointments or providing some minor care for an ill loved one. Our hours usually don’t stop at five p.m. We’re preparing dinner for ourselves and our ill loved one at that time. Then managing night-time medications, pain issues, and maybe assisting our Loved One with getting ready for bed and into bed. And many nights our sleep is interrupted when fevers pop up or sudden pain, or the Loved One can’t sleep, or deciding if we need to call EMS or wait till morning.

We don’t have a second shift that comes in and takes over so we can sleep and have some rest. It’s a demanding job, and even more difficult for those caregivers who are employed outside the home in addition to caring for a Loved One at home. And then there are parents of young children that are also caring for their aging parent or parents. In addition to providing care for their parents during the day, they may get calls at night from the parent requiring the caregiver to go to the parent’s house to check out the issue.

As a recovering Caregiver, I am passionate about all those Family Caregivers feeling overwhelmed, under-cared for, isolated, invisible, fatigued, and searching for answers, for help.

And there aren’t any easy answers, except knowing in your heart you are doing the right thing and keeping the belief that you are a powerful person. I don’t think most non-caregivers understand just how powerful Caregivers are. We are 53 or 48 million strong (whatever year they were looking at for statistics). And we provide $600 billion dollars of free care.

My Power Mantra that helped me stay strong: I AM THE CAREGIVER