In multicultural communities in the United States and in several foreign countries, community caregivers form the backbone of caregiving for certain socioeconomic levels. I recall as a child that black women could often only find work as housekeepers or caregivers in the homes of those more fortunate. My child-like mind thought it was just black, brown and red people who took care of their sick and elderly in their homes. This was because they either had no money for care outside the home, were not welcome in formal facilities, or their cultural beliefs relative to care of the elderly prevented this decision.
I now realize I was somewhat correct with these beliefs about caregivers in multicultural communities. There is now ethnogeriatric research on informal networks that says church supports, and extended family in the Black community show that intergenerational family support and support from the extended family have been the hallmark of health care in the African American community.
So now it’s Caregiver’s Month. In honor of caregivers, the Thanks Project was launched and is a social quilt of thank you’s where you can upload a note, photo or video to thank a caregiver in your life. Take a moment to send up a thank you to that person or persons who have helped you in your Caregiving journey.
I want to thank caregivers in communities everywhere, but most especially those in multicultural communities, who are often overlooked in the conversation on caregiving and who toil against the odds doing what they must, sometimes without the benefit of Medicare or Medicaid. We now have a better understanding of the breadth of their contributions as caregiving in the home is no longer limited to a narrow segment of the population.
AARP has a wonderful resource for caregivers. You will find support and advice to help you through most of the decisions your family needs to make. Here are a few additional resources to tuck away.
aarp.org/caregiving
aarp.org
ThanksProject.org
AdCouncil.org
Taxi.ca
Facebook.com/AARP
Twitter.com/AARPFamily
YouTube.com/AARP
Facebook.com/AdCouncil
Twitter.com/AdCouncil
Patricia A. Patton is a member of AARP’s Blogger Kitchen Cabinet on #caregiving, #caresupport, #carekc issues. All opinions are her own.
Frances Stanfield says
Very nice post. I’m trying to wrap my head around the day I will have to be that caregiver. I often wonder if I will be ready. Another side for me is that my mother and I are not very close due circumstances that I will be blogging about. I’m working on getting myself together and continuing to move toward forgiveness so that I can, with a good heart, be a willing caregiver for my mother. This article made me think about that again,
Thinking about Sylvia’s comment with regard to caregiving for others outside of the family, My husband has a hard time with this upon remembering how his aunt give her life to caring for families for very little money, working hard all day then walking to the bus stop to get home. You know what I mean.
On a positive note, those that care for family members without one complaint and always ready and willing. I am so appreciative and admire them so for their patience and undying love.
Thanks for this thought provoking opportunity!
Frances
Patricia A Patton says
You sound like you have a complicated relationship that will make caregiving for family members even harder than usual, especially if you are solely responsible. I feel for you. Thank you so much for reading and sharing. You present a more common problem than many will talk about.
Sylvia says
Thank you for thanking the caregiving people of color–Blacks, Latinas, Asians. This is our reality and tradition. Yes, we do we care for our own families. But we also care for the rest of the people for very little pay and maybe some respect. I liked the photo that you used because that’s our reality. I wish AARP would have created a multicultural Ad Council campaign that truly reflected the caregiving community and reached out to our communities. We are stretched to the limit taking care of everybody! Also, that video with the two white guys for this ‘Thanks Project’ was so stupid–“You might be a caregiver if…” You mean we don’t realize we are caregivers? How is that possible?!
Patricia A Patton says
So happy I wrote this. I had to laugh myself since in my home we used to say “We would never put our Mamas in a home.” Of course we couldn’t afford one. But I do feel strongly that the reality of a larger segment of the population needs to be part of this whole caegiving conversation. Thanks for reading and commenting
Deborah Davis says
Thank you for sharing an aspect of multicultural communities that I too grew up observing and accepting as “just the way things are done in our communities”. My grandparents, aunts and uncles lived their lives until the end–in the bosom of their family’s love–in their own homes. This was possible due to an informal network of neighborly and church-based support. A nursing home was not even a consideration for our folks in my family. Now, as an adult daughter of a wonderful father who has become ill, the pattern I grew up with is being repeated. Dad lives and thrives as the “king” of his own home with a lot of help from our informal network of family, friends and neighbors. And so do many other relatives in our family. Each situation is a little unique, of course, but the basic premise is the same. Thanks for sharing these valuable AARP resources. I am sure many of us will benefit from them. And thanks for thanking caregivers. We appreciate it.
Shakira A. Ali says
Thanks for sharing this post, Patricia. While a couple of the very elderly women in my family (who could no longer provide self-care) had to be placed in nursing homes, they continued to be surrounded by loving family members. That notwithstanding, it is likely that cost-saving measures around elderly care can be substantially augmented by incorporating care from family members into the formal network of care providers – complete with training and funding, where possible. I have a close sister-friend whose non-profit provides hospice training to extended family members who are providing end-of-life care. This issue is only going to become more prominent as we Baby Boomers enter our twilight years.
Thanks again!
Shakira
Patricia A Patton says
Thank you Shakira for reading this… You are absolutely right that the this issue of caregiving will become more prominent given the large number of Baby boomers in our eeeeekkkkk twilight years.