How to Balance Elder Care and Your Career
Posted in Health & Safety
Caring for an elder can often lead to ruining your career. Giving care to elders leads to the loss of almost $700,000 worth of wage earned in a lifetime, the loss of pension and social security contributions included as stated by the 1999 MetLife Juggling Act Study.
Most caregivers tend to sacrifice promotions, opportunities to be trained further and a raise in salary as they take leave from their jobs, cut hours from work or quit from it just to take care of sick relatives.
According to the Family Caregiving Alliance, caregivers are more susceptible to this happen more likely to women than men. The common caregiver who provides care for the elderly are females on an average age of 46, usually married with annual wages totaling $35,000.
As it is difficult to sacrifice one for the other-that is, leave a career that is so promising to take care of the elderly. This can even be unbearable for those who have been raised with the mentality that they have to take care of their elders as they grow old. It is quite rude, for those people to turn their backs on their mothers who have spent time taking care of them when they were young.
Should you ever plan on taking leave to take care of an elderly loved one, it is best that you consider the Family and Medical Leave Act or FMLA. That will provide you a paid and unpaid leave for twelve weeks to take care of an ailing relative.
However, if you think it might take more than three months to take care of a sick family member, certain tips can be done to balance work with caregiving so as not to jeopardize career with familial responsibility.
Share caregiving tasks with another family member
This is one good option that you can consider. The family member can be your sibling, or any other relative who can shoulder the same tasks you do. With that you can have enough time for work.
Consider adult daycares
Staff from daycare centers can look after your sick relative, provide them whatever they need.
Generally open Mondays to Fridays during the day, it costs only $56 per day.
Hiring a trained health caregiver
Trained caregivers can provide the necessary care and companionship in your house. Caregivers can be hired from the agency, it can be quite expensive depending on which part of the country.
Remember, Medicare covers home care, every service rendered is already covered entirely. The equipments are covered 80 percent under Part B. Home caregivers provided by the state program are already covered 100 percent.
