November is National Family Caregivers Month. It's a month set aside to pay notice to the many people who provide service free of charge to take care of loved ones with some type of physical or mental challenge.
The National Alliance For Caregiving reports the typical higher-hour caregiver provides 21 hours of unpaid care a week. That person has been caregiving for an average of 5-1/2 years and expects to continue care for another 5 years. Nearly half of these higher-hour caregivers report high emotional stress.
Sarah Seeger of the Alzheimer's Association says the recently enacted federal law, the The HOPE for Alzheimer's Act would increase access to information on care and support for newly diagnosed individuals and their families...
"....what it means for us is that people will have access to caregiving sessions with a medical professional and we're really excited about that. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved a new Medicare service which basically improves access to care planning and other services for people with cognitive impairment. That includes Alzheimer's ..."
The Act provides increased support and services to those with the disease and those who support them. More is available at the Alzheimer's Association website at alz.org
