State Legislation, Policy & Reports

California: Governor Vetoes Three Family Caregiving Bills

One day before the deadline, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed three family caregiving bills that had passed in the Legislature and had the support of labor and caregiving organizations. S.B. 727 and A.B. 537 would have expanded the state's existing Paid Family Leave law and provided job-protected leave to workers needing time off to care for seriously ill adult children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren and parents-in-law. S.B. 836 would have added "familial status" to the list of prohibited bases for employment discrimination under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. In his veto messages, the Governor stated that these bills would expand and complicate California's employment laws, which are already confusing enough and give the perception that the state is "not friendly to business." For more information, visit:

California Governor's Press Releases

Kentucky: Older Residents Want Support to Age at Home

The results of a survey of 800 Kentucky AARP members age 55 and older found that the overwhelming majority (85%) "support increasing funds for services that help people stay in their homes as they age," including investment in home- and community-based services. In addition, nine in ten survey respondents say it is important for them to stay at home as long as possible when they age. At the same time, many are not confident that they will be able to afford needed long-term care services, including home health aides or nursing home care. AARP released this report, "Aging at Home: Long-Term Care in Kentucky" in October 2007. For more information, visit:

AARP

Report Examines State Legislation to Increase Wages and Benefits for Home Care Workers

The Center for Personal Assistance Services released a report in July 2007 which examines state legislation specifically aimed at increasing the hourly wages or benefits of home, direct or personal care workers. The report, written by Alice Wong, H. Stephen Kaye and Robert Newcomer, identifies 38 bills from 19 states introduced between 2001 and 2006 which met that criteria, but only thirteen of those bills or legislative appropriations passed into law and are considered "promising practices" in the report. The bills took a number of approaches to increase the wages of home and personal care workers: they increased the Medicaid reimbursement rate (such as a living wage adjustment), amended current laws, or provided health insurance parity. For more information, visit:

Center for Personal Assistance Services

Federal Legislation, Policy & Reports

House Passes Resolution Supporting Long-Term Care Awareness Week

On October 15, 2007, the House of Representatives passed a resolution (H. Con. Res. 133) supporting the goals and ideals of Long-Term Care Awareness Week. The resolution recognizes that there are an estimated 44.4 million family caregivers in the U.S. who provide unpaid care services valued at approximately $257 billion annually. The resolution also states that "advance planning by family members will help to protect caregivers' health, financial security, and quality of life." It provides many other statistics which indicate the challenges older adults face in learning about and preparing for the high cost of long-term care services, many of which are not covered by Medicare. For more information, visit:

Thomas

Report Examines Challenges for Medicaid in Providing Long-Term Care

The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, supported by the Kaiser Family Foundation, released a report in September 2007, "Long-Term Services and Supports: The Future Role and Challenges for Medicaid," which examines the structure and impact of Medicaid's role in long-term care, including policy challenges facing the Medicaid program today and going forward. Some of those challenges include how to increase care coordination services and connections to other service sectors, as Medicaid increasingly helps beneficiaries with a continuum of needs beyond health care. In addition, Medicaid is grappling with how to support and enhance home- and community- based services over institutional care while addressing current issues such as long waiting lists, restrictive eligibility criteria and increased reliance on family members and friends when recipients remain at home and in the community. For more information, visit:

Kaiser Family Foundation

International News

United Kingdom: Government Considers Reform of Long-Term Care System

The BBC News reported on October 10, 2007 that the U.K. government has proposed a policy paper that would "examine whether reforms are needed to the system of funding long-term care of elderly and disabled people in England." A primary focus of the review is the means-tested system by which older adults and adults with disabilities with assets below 12,000 pounds ($24,384 USD) have their long-term care needs covered by the state. Many experts argue that the cap is too low, and that many people have to sell their homes in order to pay for their own care before the government will step in and help. The report will also look at the need for increased funding for long-term care as the population ages and more people require services. For more information, visit:

BBC News

Research Reports & Journal Articles

Study Examines Factors Associated with Caregivers' Use of Respite and Counseling Services

An article in the Journal of Gerontological Social Work (Volume 49, Number 4) revealed that tailoring caregiver interventions to meet the particular support needs and coping strategies of caregivers in various situations may help alleviate or prevent caregiver stress. The article, "A Stress Process Model of Family Caregiver Service Utilization: Factors Associated with Respite and Counseling Service Use" by Dr. Teresa Dal Santo and her colleagues, explained that the study examined whether a caregivers' use of respite versus counseling support services was affected by the context of their caregiving situation and had different effects on their stress levels. The researchers found that caregivers did reach out for respite or counseling based on their individual needs and care situations, such as whether the care was more or less physically demanding and whether they were at the early or late stages of the care process. For more information, visit:

Journal of Gerontological Social Work

Study Finds Better Relationships Between Family and Nursing Home Staff Reduces Caregiver Depression

An article published in the September 2007 issue of The Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences (Volume 62B, Number 5) is called "The Importance of Family Relationships with Nursing Facility Staff for Family Caregiver Burden and Depression," by Cory Chen and colleagues. The article revealed the results of a study which examined the association between family caregiver depression and the caregiver's relationship with the staff at nursing homes. It found that "staff-family relationship quality, specifically perceived conflict with staff, is significantly associated with family caregiver depression." The authors suggest that interventions to improve those relationships could "impact family caregiver depression by reducing stress that family caregivers experience." For more information, visit:

The Journals of Gerontology

Study Finds Communication Program Benefits Family Caregivers and Nursing Home Staff

The August 2007 issue of The Gerontologist (Volume 47, Number 4) published an article that evaluated an intervention designed to improve communication and cooperation between nursing home staff and families of residents with dementia. The intervention, a program called Partners in Caregiving, includes training sessions for family members and staff on communication and conflict-resolution techniques, as well as a joint meeting with facility administrators. The study found positive effects for program participants: families experienced improvements in interacting with staff, spousal caregivers increased their care involvement, and staff reported reduced conflict with families and reduced depression. The article is called "Partners in Caregiving in a Special Care Environment: Cooperative Communication Between Staff and Families on Dementia Units," by Dr. Julie Robison and her colleagues. For more information, visit:

The Gerontologist

Conferences & Trainings

National Caregivers Conference November 1-2

The Family Support Center of New Jersey will be hosting its annual National Caregivers Conference on November 1-2, 2007 in Iselin, New Jersey. The conference will allow family caregivers, service providers, state coalitions and other professionals in the field of caregiving to learn about and discuss new approaches to caregiving issues. Kathleen Kelly, Family Caregiver Alliance's Executive Director, will be speaking at the conference. For more information, visit:

2007 National Caregivers Conference

Funding, Media & Miscellaneous

Indianapolis Discovery Network for Dementia

On October 11, 2007, EurekAlert reported on an effort in Indianapolis, Indiana to develop a model to enhance dementia care at the local level. The Indianapolis Discovery Network for Dementia (IDND) was formed one year ago and is comprised of local researchers, health-care professionals and community advocates. On October 20, 2007, IDND will host a summit to launch RAPID-PC - Recognizing and Assessing the Progression of Cognitive Impairment and Dementia in Primary Care. This model is intended to help the group reach its goal of "building efficient, effective, locally sensitive solutions for dementia care" that recognize family caregivers and can be replicated in other communities. For more information, visit:

EurekAlert

PBS Offers Free DVDs on Show Featuring Sandwich Generation Caregivers

The PBS program, To The Contrary with Bonnie Erbi, recently aired a special report on sandwich generation caregivers, with support from the Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation. DVDs of the show are now available for free from PBS. The show follows Pam Trunk, a mother of three, who is caring for her husband with cancer and her mother suffering from dementia. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) is also featured, explaining what Congress is doing to help caregiving families. To receive a free DVD copy of this program, e-mail your request with the name of your organization, how many copies you would like to receive, and a brief explanation of the intended use of the video and who will be viewing it to [email protected]