010- Care Giving Pressures and Solutions

Women provide the majority of informal care to spouses, parents, parents-in-law, friends and neighbors, and they play many roles while caregiving—hands-on health provider, care manager, friend, companion, surrogate decision-maker and advocate.  The demands on caregivers’ time are also substantial but women don’t abandon their caregiving responsibilities because of employment. Instead, they try to juggle combined pressures of caring for a loved one with their need for income and preparing for retirement.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the estimated percentage of informal caregivers who are women is between 69% - 75%.  Although men also provide care, female caregivers may spend as much as 50% more time providing care than male caregivers and are less likely to be employed full time. The percentage of women caregivers who report experiencing emotional stress due to their care giving role: 40% vs. 26% of the male caregivers. Traditionally, women have been socialized to fulfill the caretaking role in the home and even in the workplace. Women are expected to be wives, mothers, community volunteers, teachers, and nurses. We are expected to be understanding, gentle, and to provide service to others.  We are responsible for everyone else but that is not what we are asserting on this show.  While we still may maintain these responsibiities we need to make sure that we also take responsibility for ourselves. Women caregivers most frequently report unmet needs such as finding time for themselves, managing emotional and physical stress and balancing work and family responsibilities.  So the question becomes, how do we satisfy our responsibilities for both our loved ones and ourselves. Ruth Rothbart-Mayer, LCSW Ms. Rothbart-Mayer received her master’s degree in Social Work from Columbia University.  She is a psychotherapist in New York and New Jersey with an emphasis on care giving, living with chronic illness and bereavement.  She is a Geriatric Care Consultant assisting families/individuals caring for an ill person by providing a blueprint of care, provide resources, assisting families to monitor the care and needs over time to ensure success. Her focus on the needs of older adults includes working at the Alzheimer’s Association, NYC, as Director of Council Senior Center, NY where she developed programs for people with dementia, including support groups and a specially funded program that used the arts to stimulate individuals with memory impairment.  Returning to NJ Ms. Rothbart-Mayer was the Director of Social Services at Senior Care & Activities Center, Montclair. Ruth is a trained dementia specialist and runs programs to establish a framework for understanding the illness and best practices to provide care and guidance for professionals and families. Emily L. Lutz, PDMM After years of helping her own elderly grandmother who struggled with the daily stress of day-to-day paperwork tasks, Emily L. Lutz founded Liberty Paperwork Solutions, LLC.  Clients hand off the tasks of managing day-to-day financial affairs, such as paying bills, organizing financial records, preparing records for tax time, dealing with vendors on incorrect bills, managing medical claims, budgeting and much more.   Her services are currently used by seniors, adult children of aging parents, busy professionals and people with physical or special needs.    Prior to starting Liberty Paperwork Solutions, Emily was an Assistant VP at BNP Paribas, where she was an AVP in the swaps/equity derivatives front office. Emily holds a B.A. in Mathematics from the State University of NY at Binghamton.  She is a proud member of the American Association of Daily Money Managers and a Certified Professional Daily Manager.