Wednesday, May 3, 2006
Questioning the NFCA again
The mail just arrived. It included a money solicitation letter from the NFCA.
Why are they soliciting money from caregivers rather than from the relatives and communities of caregivers? The obvious answer is that it is an organization that bills (pun intended and appropriate) itself as providing support to caregivers by caregivers. The inobvious answer is that it is misdirecting its efforts; it's not really thinking about from where support for caregivers, monetary, intellectual spiritual and emotional support, should come.
Most professional caregivers barely make a living wage. Avocational caregivers typically are juggling their out-in-the-world jobs and/or the severely stressed pension of their care recipient with their need to hire professional services to tend to their recipient when they are at work; or, figuring that it's cheaper and safer and less worrisome to do it all on their own, they are struggling to make ends meet on the care recipient's income alone, with or without help from family and professional services. If the caregiver and recipient are receiving state financial help, at least in my state, their income level is close to if not below poverty level. If the family of the care recipient is rich, chances are the care recipient is already receiving care from professional services or institutions and family are merely visiting.
Any organization that purports to support caregivers needs to understand the following:
Later.
Why are they soliciting money from caregivers rather than from the relatives and communities of caregivers? The obvious answer is that it is an organization that bills (pun intended and appropriate) itself as providing support to caregivers by caregivers. The inobvious answer is that it is misdirecting its efforts; it's not really thinking about from where support for caregivers, monetary, intellectual spiritual and emotional support, should come.
Most professional caregivers barely make a living wage. Avocational caregivers typically are juggling their out-in-the-world jobs and/or the severely stressed pension of their care recipient with their need to hire professional services to tend to their recipient when they are at work; or, figuring that it's cheaper and safer and less worrisome to do it all on their own, they are struggling to make ends meet on the care recipient's income alone, with or without help from family and professional services. If the caregiver and recipient are receiving state financial help, at least in my state, their income level is close to if not below poverty level. If the family of the care recipient is rich, chances are the care recipient is already receiving care from professional services or institutions and family are merely visiting.
Any organization that purports to support caregivers needs to understand the following:
- Family caregivers are chosen by default. If the care recipient is receiving care within an already established family-within-a-family arm it is often the arm in which any working members are employed in positions which are not considered "careers", which usually means that arm is making the least of the family's arms. As well, everyone, including the caregiver, thinks it is appropriate that this arm bear the sacrifice because, well, everyone else's careers, family, health, whatever, is too valuable to sacrifice.
- No one wants to disturb the social "sense" that dictates that caring for the elderly and infirm is so difficult and life-changing that those within a family who are not caregiving are heaving sighs of relief that they are not on the spot.
- You can't get blood from a turnip.
- There are way too many organizations out there that are attempting to tap already overburdened, overstressed caregivers and the guilt they feel for not being able to do enough, for their charges and themselves, for yet more "caregiving". I have yet to discover an organization that is trying to tap the families and communities of caregivers for support of any kind. Even the well meant attempts to design caregiver supporting law are little more than ideological trumpets.
Later.
