About 25% of Americans are family caregivers and spend an average of 24 hours per week providing care. There are many costs to caregiving. These include direct costs such as costs from paying for care or loss of work, emotional costs from stress, personal costs from relationship strain, and more. If you are a family caregiver for a loved one, please know you are not alone! There are many resources, federal and local, that can offer you support, education, and other assistance. The National Institute on Aging provides numerous free resources, articles, and workbooks to help you learn more about caregiving: https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/caregiving. The American Association of Retired People (AARP) also has resources for family caregivers at https://www.aarp.org/caregiving/.

Every county in the U.S. receives funding to provide supportive services to family caregivers! Oregon’s Aging and Disability Resource Connection (ADRC) helps people of all ages, incomes and disabilities learn about long-term support options in their communities. The ADRC helps individuals, families and professionals find resources to address current or future long-term needs. To contact a local ADRC, call 855-ORE-ADRC (855-673-2372) or click here to go to Oregon’s ADRC website.

Ask your congregation’s faith community nurse for more information!