We Need to Count on More than Faith
Family caregivers need to be able to call on more than their faith for help.
On Friday, The New York Times shared insights into the toll of the pandemic on family caregivers.
The article author, Paula Span, profiled Mary Ann Boor, who cares for her husband. The article ends with these two paragraphs:
“The Boors have been able to resume some family visits, but Ms. Boor is still managing her husband’s care virtually alone. She copes with stress by knitting and talking to her daughter by phone.
“And she prays. ‘I ask God for some help, and he’s always there for me,’ she said.”
Five years ago, I wrote a blog post with the headline, “Why can’t family caregivers count on more than their faith?” In five years, it’s devastating to know that many family caregivers still rely solely on their faith. We need to provide solutions to family caregivers so they have God AND help and support from their community.
We know that faith brings comfort to family caregivers. In my informal survey on compassion fatigue, I ask, “What gives you hope?” 55% of respondents selected faith as a source of hope.
“My faith will always give me hope,” wrote one respondent. “Even when I feel at my lowest faith keeps me strong in the end.”
I have been wondering about the millions of family caregivers doing God’s work in their homes making it through every day with prayer. When will we know the true cost on their physical, mental and emotional well-being?
We can’t let another year, much less another day, go by without having a way to reach and support family caregivers. I continue to work on the Library Project and will release free resources that libraries can use to reach family caregivers in their communities. We also continue to host our free monthly virtual meeting which help family caregivers put a Family Emergency Plan in place. Please join us when you can; we meet on the fourth Friday of every month at 1 p.m. ET.
My goal is to train library staff to meet with family caregivers in their community annually to help them complete a Family Emergency Plan. When staff members meet with family caregivers, they also can capture contact information in order to keep in touch with these family caregivers. Family caregivers won’t be alone; they’ll be part of the community.
When family caregivers know that others care for them and about them, they can continue to view their faith as an empowering resource, an effective coping strategy. Otherwise, they can lose faith.
Consider this response from a respondent to that same compassion fatigue survey:
“(What gives me hope) changes day to day, sometimes minute by minute. It's very dependent on the circumstance at hand. I will say my faith has suffered greatly and what once was my saving grace (literally and figuratively) has now waned.”
When we support and help family caregivers, they can continue to keep the faith.
Family caregivers count. Why can’t they count on us?
(Image by Martin Schnetzer from Pixabay)
Invitations
Tell me about your compassion fatigue and your caregiving stress.
Join us on Fridays at 2:30 p.m. ET for a 15-minute caregiving break.
Add your voice to our advocacy efforts. We’re reaching out to states to encourage them to use enhanced federal funding to support family caregivers. We want to change how we use existing fund to better help family caregivers.
I love your idea of using librarians for this purpose, Denise! It's brilliant. I've been turning over similar questions to yours this morning. Here are my thoughts about the dangers of long-term one-way caregiving https://www.donnathomson.com/2021/05/shifting-from-you-to-us-in-caregiving.html.