The New Old Age: Who Cares for the Caregivers?

By By Jane Gross Published: October 14, 2008, New York Times Advocacy organizations propose one way to ease the burden for caregiving families - assign the task of educating and supporting family caregivers to the geriatric nurses and social workers who already work most closely with families. For that to succeed, the nurses and social workers would themselves require additional training and reimbursement for the time they spend assessing the needs and capabilities of family caregivers and then teaching them necessary skills, giving them ongoing support and connecting them to additional resources.