We just returned from hosting our 36th Fearless Caregiver Conference and our second in Louisville, Kentucky.  It was quite brave of KIPDA, the Area Agency on Aging for the community to invite us back, since the first time we came to town (in 2002) we were heralded by six inches of snow, which remains a record for the earliest recorded snowfall in Kentucky history.  Their faith was rewarded this year with a gorgeous autumn morning and multi-hued leaves falling outside the conference center windows, throughout the entire day.

The conference hall was filled with caregivers who were ready, willing and quite able to interact with me, the panelists and one another.  If a caregiver had a question about the value of respite, there were five stories from other caregivers in the audience about how respite is an important aspect to their caring for their loved ones and themselves.

Some of the questions asked that morning in Louisville called into sharp focus the need for us to keep sharing our stories with one another. One caregiver, noting that we are all living longer, asked what I thought the future will look like when we will see a nation of ninety year old caregivers caring for one hundred and twenty five year old loved ones.  I said that I would hope that by then we would realize what great power a motivated interest group of fifty-four million caregivers can bring to bear on our elected officials. I continued by saying that we need to carefully examine a politician’s record on caregiving issues before casting our votes and also demand that service providers create caregiver friendly products which take our needs into account. 

Another caregiver, who is up all night with her mother, was surprised when she could not find a respite service in town with hours flexible enough for her particular needs. Although, I know that there is a good selection of dedicated adult day service providers in Louisville, I guarantee you that if enough caregivers were vocal about needing the same service, some enterprising organization in town would step up to provide it. We caregivers are a truly invisible force in the economy, providing services for our loved ones each year which total almost three hundred billion dollars. Imagine what would happen if we would all finally realize that we actually do hold the purse strings.

Power to the Caregiver.

 

Gary Barg
Editor-in-Chief
gary@caregiver.com