Small lavender ribbons and pamphlets announcing the Family Caregiving Day Panel Discussion waited in front of each seat in a classroom in McKenzie Hall.
The panel, a group of four individuals, spoke for an hour Wednesday night to 30 audience members about their personal and professional experiences caring for seniors.
“In 2000, the average cost of long-term, in-home care was about $4,500 a month,” said panelist Mark Kinkade, director of operations at Gateway Living Center. “In 2020, in-home care is estimated to cost about $20,000 a month.”
Skyrocketing costs of caring for the elderly are leading family members to care for seniors at home, but caregivers are constantly in need of help, said panelist JoAnne Coker, a family caregiving specialist for Lane County Senior & Disabled Services.
“The statistic I would like to share is that an unpaid caregiver working 20 hours a week is six times more likely to get sick themselves if they don’t take regular breaks,” said panelist Fern McKibbon, support group facilitator for Cascade Adult Center.
After speaking about the obstacles of exhaustion, frustration and isolation that caregivers face, panelist Jean Jordan of Senior Companion Program addressed the students in the audience.
“You’re sitting here saying ‘my God, I never want to get old,” said Jordan. “Well, you have an opportunity to learn a whole heck of a lot more about life from seniors than from who you hang out with.”
Jordan organizes volunteers to visit at-risk seniors in Lane County and she cared for her own mother with Alzheimer’s for 14 years until she passed away in 1999.
Amir, a 31-year-old Eugenean who has only one name, listened to the panelists and when they noticed his knowing nods, they asked him to share his story about caring for his father with Alzheimer’s.
The difficulties the panelists presented resonated with Amir, he said, especially because he has a first-hand understanding of how expensive caregiving can be.
“The most frustrating thing about this is that the government resources and even health insurance abandon you,” said Amir.
In honor of caregivers, Mayor Kitty Piercy proclaimed Feb. 28 the official day of family caregiving for Lane County. Lavender ribbons are a symbol of caregivers and were passed out Wednesday for students to wear around campus.
The panel was one component of the five-month campaign that four senior public relations majors, Andrea Nowack, Nicole Wasowski, Jennifer Weber and Lindsay Whent, are working on for the Bateman Case Study Competition. The competition was established through the Public Relations Student Society of America and more than 70 teams are competing nationally to create family caregiving awareness campaigns with a $300 budget.
“Originally this was a class assignment, but it has turned into a lot more for us,” Wasowski said. “After months and months of research, we are very excited for tonight’s panel.”
The campaign, entitled “Family Caregiving…It’s not all up to you!” was created by the National Family Caregivers Association and the National Alliance for Caregiving and is sponsored by pharmaceutical company Eisai Inc.
Wasowski said caregiving is important for students because their parents are baby boomers and as the baby boomers age and the number of seniors increases, caregiving will be a critical issue to address.