In honor of Veteran's Day tomorrow, we are posting an article written by FCA Family Consultant, Christina Irving, who attended and provided instruction to military caregivers at the 2014 National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic, earlier this year. She summarizes her experience below.
Congratulations to California workers! In the early morning hours of Saturday, August 30th, California became the second state (after Connecticut) to pass a paid sick leave bill, now awaiting signature by Governor Jerry Brown. The bill requires businesses to provide up to three paid sick days per year for employees who work 30 days or more—a great first step towards helping hardworking Californians. Sick days may be used to care for an employee's own illness, or for that of a family member (child, parent, spouse, domestic partner, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling).
In the early part of last month, FCA hosted a special retreat in San Francisco’s historical Stern Grove for Spanish-speaking caregivers. Typically, FCA’s retreats are in English, but we wanted to plan a special day for our caregiver clients that only speak Spanish.
by Kathy Kelly, Executive Director, Family Caregiver Alliance There is a growing interest in designing new products and services to improve the independence of adults with cognitive and physical disabilities and to make life easier for family caregivers. A recent “MindDesign” Student Design Challenge sponsored by the Stanford Center on Longevity in collaboration with Aging 2.0, saw submissions from 52 student teams across 15 countries.
by Kathy Kelly, FCA Executive Director You may notice that there are many states now considering policy actions that effect family caregivers. This is a markedly different environment that reflects the increased desire for remaining in one’s community, coupled with changed incentives within the Affordable Care Act (ACA), that move towards outcomes that increasingly depend on supportive care at home and capped by the demographic changes that will create the demand for long-term services and supports (LTSS), for decades to come.
Recognizing the diversity of relatives providing care to family members, Governor Brown signed SB770 that expanded the current family leave law to include other members of a family needing care—grandparents, grandchildren, siblings and in-laws. With enactment, the state of California has the most expansive family leave law in the country.
Today the Commission on Long-Term Care released the full report on their activities over the past six months. Created by Congress and signed into law January 2013, the 15-member Commission had a very short time frame for gathering information and issuing a report.
The Report has four main areas for review: Service Delivery; Workforce; Finance; and Advancing a National Advisory Committee on Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS), with 28 Recommendations for specific policy changes.
My mother-in-law and sister-in-law have been with us since July. Mom is 92, uses a walker, and is mentally sharp. My sister-in-law is in her 50s, overweight, has bad knees, and rheumatoid arthritis.
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