Caregivers to benefit from increased physician awareness of AAA services

Washington, D.C. - Increasing physician awareness of the needs of family caregivers and helping the medical community link caregivers with supportive services are the goals of a new project that is being launched by n4a (the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging) with support from the U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA). The grant was one of 11 projects of national significance announced by Assistant Secretary for Aging Josefina G. Carbonell at a press briefing in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 26.

This project, "Making the Link: Connecting Caregivers with Services through Physicians," will bring together two distinct but complementary systems - the aging network and health care providers - to help family caregivers across the country. With a host of services available to caregivers from Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) and Title VI - Native American aging programs through the National Family Caregiver Support Program, the time is right to help family practice physicians identify overburdened caregivers and refer them to services in their community. Research studies have shown that caregiving extracts a toll through increased stress, depression, illness and mortality¹.

Nationally it is estimated that one in every four American serves as a caregiver. Often these individuals need help for themselves as well as the person for whom they are caring.

Commenting on the news that n4a would receive funds to "make the link" with physicians, CEO Sandy Markwood said that the grant provides n4a the opportunity to "help AAAs and Title VI programs work with local physicians to identify caregivers and direct them to much-needed services." Moreover, she added that "Often by the time caregivers recognize their own need for assistance, they have put their own health at risk. With increased physician awareness, we believe that we can help caregivers before they pay a high price for their acts of selflessness and provide them with the support that Congress envisioned in creating the caregiver program."

The project arose from n4a's belief that because many individuals do not self-identify as caregivers and may not connect their caregiving responsibilities with their own health problems, it is critical that we assist physicians in taking a more active role in addressing this issue. Caregiving experts report that physicians do not routinely recognize the stress that caregivers are under or provide them information that might be of help².

With Making the Link that can start to change. The AoA grant will enable n4a to provide AAA and Title VI programs across the country with the tools they need to reach out to primary care physicians in their community and begin to raise awareness about the needs of family caregivers and share information about the array of available caregiver services. The tools will include information on caregiver health and a caregiver self-assessment questionnaire developed by the American Medical Association.

Moreover, with input from an Advisory Board that will help guide many parts of the grant, n4a will launch a national awareness campaign for physicians that focuses on caregiving as a health care issue. The following organizations have agreed to serve on the Making the Link Advisory Board: American Medical Association; American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine; American Geriatrics Society; American Association of Medical Society Executives; National Medical Association; American Project Access Network; Indian Health Service; Health Resources and Services Administration; National Alliance for Caregiving; the Families and Health Care Project at the United Hospital Fund, and representatives of AAA and Title VI programs. The American Academy of Family Physicians and the National Health Council will also join in the national awareness campaign.

"Making the Link provides a real opportunity to enhance caregiver well-being," said Markwood. "We are grateful to have the chance to play a part in easing caregiver burden."

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The National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a) is the umbrella organization for our nation's 655 Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) and the representative body in Washington, D.C. for the interests of 220 Title VI - Native American aging programs. Through its presence in Washington, n4a advocates on behalf of the local aging agencies to ensure that needed resources and support services are available to older Americans.

¹ Collins, Karen Scott, et al. (May 1999). The Commonwealth Fund Survey of Women's Health, New York: Commowealth Fund and Schulz, R. and Beach, Scott R. (December 1999). Caregiving as a Risk Factor for Mortality: The Caregiver Health Effects Study. Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 282, No. 23.

² O'Hara, Delia. (2001). The invisible caregiver: How can doctors care for them, too?. American Medical News, September 17, 2001.