Headline News
Recognize the Warning Signs of Caregiver Burnout

In honor of November's designation as National Family Caregivers Month and National Alzheimer's Disease Month, LifeCare is helping millions of unpaid family caregivers across the country recognize the warning signs of an all-too-common peril—caregiver burnout. These warning signs include:

	Withdrawal from other family members and close friends; refusing invitations to dinner, parties, a night out, etc.; staying home much of the time.
	Giving up favorite pastimes and hobbies.

	Feeling irritable, helpless or depressed; crying suddenly and/or for no apparent reason.
	Getting angry or frustrated more easily/quickly; taking out frustrations on others.
	Gaining or losing a significant amount of weight.
	Trouble sleeping; feeling exhausted even after a good night's sleep.
	Getting ill more often than usual.
	Suffering from chronic health issues (headaches, digestive problems, etc.).

“It's imperative that caregivers continually evaluate their own health status and needs, so we invite our readers to share the list above with their members and employees,” says LifeCare co-founder and CEO, Peter G. Burki. “If caregivers find they're experiencing one or more of these warning signs, they should seek professional help immediately from their physician or employer support programs, such as a work/life or EAP program.”

More and more employers, health plans, insurance programs and other membership organizations are recognizing how many of their constituents are caregivers, notes Burki. As a result, they're offering tailored benefits such as LifeCare's caregiving services. For example, LifeCare specialists are available 24/7 to help caregivers find respite services, in-home services, caregiving-oriented legal and financial services, and a host of other helpful resources designed specifically for caregivers and their loved ones.

With people using a wider array of devices to go online these days—PDAs, BlackBerry devices and web-enabled cell phones—LifeCare is making sure that its members have easy access to the company's full complement of tools and resources. “LifeCare is all about making people's lives easier,” said Burki. “So we're simply not going to be limited by time or place.”

Higher Risk for Alzheimer's Caregivers
Caregiver burnout is especially threatening to the millions of people who care for Alzheimer's sufferers because these caregivers typically have to provide more intensive types of personal care-bathing, feeding and dealing with incontinence, for example. This can easily take its toll, physically and emotionally. In fact, according to the Alzheimer's Association, more than 80 percent of Alzheimer caregivers report that they frequently experience high levels of stress and nearly half say they suffer from depression.

Tips To Avoid or Alleviate Burnout By following these simple tips, you can stay strong and healthy, which means you'll be of far greater assistance to your loved one! Don't try to do it all: share duties with friends and family members. Stay healthy: get enough rest, eat well and exercise regularly. Forgive yourself: when things don't go quite right, don't waste your energy on being self-recriminating or angry. Share with and learn from others: join a support group or online caregiving forum.

Studies show that, despite their heavy burdens, 47 percent of Alzheimer's caregivers have used no paid help in past 12 months to fulfill their caregiving duties. Burki believes this is cause for concern. “It's important to remember that most of these people hold down regular jobs in addition to caring for their loved ones,” he says. “So when they're hit by burnout, it's a triple threat—their work can suffer, their personal or family life can suffer, and the quality of their caregiving can slip.”

Indeed, the same is true for all caregivers. Burki suggests that they should consider turning to professional geriatric care managers (GCM) for assistance, preferably before burnout occurs. GCMs are often professional nurses and social workers who are trained in assessment, care planning and care management of older adults, and they provide a number of services that can greatly reduce the stress that caregivers feel and help them avoid burnout altogether. Some of these services include: in-person assessments of an elder's home and daily living activities; creation of customized ongoing care plans; care facility evaluations to report on the environment, care, staffing, and overall level of quality; ongoing care coordination (bill paying, care appointment coordination, setting up community services, etc.).

In an online poll that LifeCare conducted among its members in late 2004, 82 percent of respondents said that they have an older loved one who could benefit from the hands-on assistance of a Professional Geriatric Care Manager (PGCM) within the next year. “This number mustn't be ignored,” Burki states. “For the nation's employers, in particular, it can be extremely wise to offer employees access to a geriatric care management program that addresses all of these issues and needs. These programs can keep employee caregivers from leaving early, arriving late or missing work altogether to attend to their caregiving duties. And it can keep employees from falling victim to caregiver burnout, which can cause expensive health problems that impact the employer's bottom line.”

LifeCare's Professional Geriatric Care Management Program received the 2005 Caregiver Friendly award for Excellence in Service from Today's Caregiver magazine.

If you're a LifeCare client and would like more information about this program, contact your account manager. If you're not a client, contact us at 866-675-3751.