New research shows families bear the cost of caring

Sandwich generation who have children and elderly parents are physically, emotionally, and financially drained. Though there are services available, they are quite complex and not easy to navigate.

University of New South Wales and Clinical Director of CarePilot, Associate Professor Tuly Rosenfeld Source: Courtesy of CarePilot

"Elderly parents want to stay at home not at the residential facilities and some of the families do not trust aged care facilities or residential care." said Associate Professor Tuly Rosenfeld a Geriatrician from the University of New South Wales and Clinical Director for CarePilot.

He said that according to new research commission by CarePilot, (ww.carepilot.com.au) it showed that one in five families of Sandwich generation, people whose age between 30s and 40s who have children either young or older children and elderly parents to look after are physically, emotionally and financially drained, as they have to look after their children or elderly parents who might be disable, drug and alcohol dependent, chronic diseases, mental health, terminal illness that required constant care.

So during Carers Week (15-21 Oct) http://www.carersweek.com.au/ Associate Professor Tuly Rosenfeld would like to emphasize that carers should not leave the care duties to bottle up until it is too late or in crisis stage as they might break down. They should put their hand up and seek professional assistance.

Associate Professor Rosenfeld also mentioned that even though there are services, they are pretty complex and it is hard to navigate. Most of the family who care for either their own children or elderly parents barely know or understand how to access help, even their doctors or general practitioners don't really know how to go about it, let's alone specialists in this field. Therefore, it is very important to know what kind of services are available out there and how to access them.

He said that Australian government has a website called  My Age Care that provides information about age care services which people can access through https://www.myagedcare.gov.au/ or contact 1800 200 422. The Australian government also has a care package called "Commonwealth care package"  or Commonwealth Home Support Programme https://www.myagedcare.gov.au/help-home/commonwealth-home-support-programme that families can check if they are eligible to access some services but it is a means test. Besides this services there are also other private services ranging from nursing, household, foods or chores services like lawn mowing available.

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