The Unresolved Problem: Our Pain
A caregiving experience is a collision of pain. That’s the problem to solve.
Every morning beginning at about 6 a.m., I review recently-published articles about caregiving and grief conveniently sent to me through my Google alerts.
The articles, plus my own conversations with those who care and those who grieve, keep me connected so that I keep my commitment to put relevant work into the world. Last week, The Washington Post featured profiles of women who care for paralyzed partners. The videos of the care provided by the women bring home the back-breaking work these family caregivers do every day. Vox featured an article on how the U.S. doesn’t take care of it family caregivers. “The US can’t afford to neglect caregivers,” writes Katherine Harmon Courage. “There is neither the budget nor the professional labor force to replace them.” Courage also shares this:
“Caregivers who didn’t have the option to stop working outside the home often carried with them additional levels of anxiety. Many, disproportionately people of color, were already in jobs that put them on the front lines of the pandemic, such as in the service sector. People of color are also more likely to be in caregiving roles in the first place.
“Add to that the fact that many communities of color were hit the hardest by the coronavirus. Which meant, for many caregivers, ‘they’re dealing with higher rates of Covid-19 within their communities, still trying to juggle and balance caregiving, and often not having access to the same resources and supports,’ said Christina Irving, the clinical services director at Family Caregiver Alliance in the Bay Area.”
Bottom line: A home health aide working for a home care agency could be living in a community hit hard by the pandemic while caring for her clients, who also die, and for her family members. She also may be managing all of this on her own, doing her best to grieve and care and earn a living.
On Friday, I read about an unexpected transaction: Honor bought Home Instead. The release announcing the transaction read:
“The acquisition brings together the largest, highest-touch home care network and the leading home care technology and operations platform to transform the professional caregiver and client experience and revolutionize care for older adults. The combined organization represents more than $2.1 billion in home care services revenue and affirms itself as the largest player in the projected $500 billion home care industry.”
and
"Nobody has been able to figure out how we deliver high-quality care at scale, until now," said Marc Andreessen, cofounder, general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and Honor Board of Directors member. "This acquisition fundamentally transforms the senior care space, flipping it from analog to digital. Technology will drive operational efficiency and personalization at scale, which is the only way to meet the skyrocketing needs of the baby-boom generation. If we increase our capacity to care, the next generation – and those after – will reap the benefits as well.”
and
“Together, Honor and Home Instead will focus on further professionalizing the role of the caregiver and use technology as a foundation to strengthen the relationship between caregiver and client. This innovation will require additional engineering and development resources, which Honor and Home Instead are currently looking to fill. Open positions are available via the Careers at Honor site.”
Since Friday, I’ve searched for the right way to write about the parallel universe of our reality and the press release about the transaction. A beautifully-written article about the personal and yet universal experience of grief that I read this morning, What Bobby McIlvaine Left Behind, led me to the words.
The articles in The Washington Post and on Vox.com speak to the pain of the caregiving experience. Home health aides, family caregivers and carees endure physical, emotional and spiritual pain during their caregiving experiences.
We have a direct care workforce shortage because we haven’t solved the pain that workforce feels. They work long hours, receive too little pay and work for employers that don’t understand their lives. They have to report to work immediately after a client’s death or else take a hit to their already low paycheck.
We have family caregivers in crisis because our systems (and lack thereof) add to the pain of an emotional, stressful, challenging experience.
Our carees feel the pain of losing their independence and their health while struggling with the pain of their diagnosis and disability.
When we don’t have systems that ease the pain of the home health aide, the family caregiver and the caree, we have a collision that creates a catastrophe. The source of the pain may differ. The expression of the pain may vary. The impact, though, spreads to the family caregiver’s financial security, the workplace, the community, our public health, the Emergency Rooms, the Medicare and Medicaid budgets, the economy.
It’s the individual and collective pain that needs resolution.
Will deploying additional engineering and development resources solve our pain? Can an organization scale a solution that decreases our pain? I suppose that’s possible. But you have to understand that’s the problem you’re solving — our pain. If you don’t get that, you have a bigger problem.
Resources
You deserve an opportunity to tell your story to another who truly believes in the value of hearing it. I’d love to be your empathetic listener. Learn more and schedule your free two sessions with me.
Please join us on August 17, 18 and 19 at 1 p.m. ET for “Reflections on Caregiving During the Pandemic.” On August 17 and 18, family caregivers will join one-hour panel discussions to share their experiences during the pandemic. On August 19, we’ll convene for an hour to talk out solutions. RSVP.
Create your Respite In Place, a space to call your own, with us on August 10 at 1 p.m. ET. RSVP.
Get our free resource, My Daily Healing Plan, to take care of your grief for your losses during and after your caregiving experience.