AARP Eye Center
By Gabrielle Armstrong, AARP Kansas Intern *
Before I began my internship at AARP, I had little knowledge of what caregivers did and what exactly a ‘caregiver’ is. It wasn’t until I began my internship and my advocacy work on behalf of passage of the CARE act* that I realized how many caregivers there are in my home state and how many of them do not receive any assistance when they take on the care of their loved one.
In the middle of my sophomore year in college, I received a shocking phone call that my motorcycle riding, joke making, big hug giving grandfather was sicker than anyone realized. An upper respiratory infection had taken a turn for the worse and his lungs began to fill with fluid, his kidneys and liver began to fail and his fever had gotten out of hand. My grandmother held his hand as a priest read him his final prayer.
In the coming days, my grandfather would receive major surgery on his lungs and was put on a ventilator, as he could not breathe on his own. We all gathered and told stories and spent time with him as he began his miraculous recovery. The coming week would amaze us all as he began to gain strength and breathe on his own. The ventilator was removed and he began to speak to us. Today my grandfather can walk and take care of himself. No one was more helpful in his recovery than my grandmother. He was finally released from the hospital on strict orders to continue inhalers, injections, and medications. My grandmother not only patiently learned how to administer all of his complicated medications, she also took him to physical therapy every week. Her house was transformed as she rearranged furniture to make him more comfortable.
Even though I only witnessed a few short days of his new home life, I realized how daunting the task of caregiving can be. Caregivers are often given tasks in discharge instructions that are normally handed to a trained nurse in a hospital. Seeing my grandmother under the stress of keeping a loved one healthy, gave me a new appreciation for what Kansans do every day as caregivers.
*The CARE Act, which stands for Caregiver Advise, Record, Enable Act (House Bill 2058 and Senate Bill 265) would help Kansas’s 345,000 unpaid caregivers and the seniors they help live independently at home by:
Requiring hospitals to designate the caregiver on the hospital admission record;
Requiring hospitals to notify the caregiver prior to a loved one’s discharge to another facility or back home; and,
Requiring hospitals to provide live instruction to the caregiver of the medical tasks they will perform at home.
AARP Kansas is working to get the CARE Act passed in the 2016 Kansas Legislative session. Please click: action.aarp.org/KScaregivers to sign our online caregiving petition and show your support of the CARE Act.
*Gabrielle is a student at Kansas State University
About AARP Kansas
Contact information and more from your state office. Learn what we are doing to champion social change and help you live your best life.