Release: Louisiana Family Caregivers Provide $6 billion in Unpaid Care to Family, Friends at Home

NEWS RELEASE
Nov. 21, 2019

Contact:
LaTonya Scott, AARP Louisiana, Communications Director
225.376.1158
lsscott@aarp.org

Louisiana Family Caregivers Provide $6 billion in Unpaid Care to Family, Friends at Home

(Louisiana) — In Louisiana approximately 680,000 family caregivers provided an estimated 570 million hours of care — worth a staggering $6 billion — to their parents, spouses, partners, and friends in 2017, according to state data available in the latest report of AARP’s Valuing the Invaluable series. The complexity of family caregiving increases as medical and nursing tasks continue to enter the home, and family demographics change amidst an aging population.

“Family caregivers are the backbone of our long-term care system for older Americans,” said Denise Bottcher, AARP Louisiana State Director. “Yet they continue to face physical, emotional and financial challenges as they care for loved ones.”

AARP is fighting to support family caregivers and the older family and friends who count on them. In 2018, AARP Louisiana championed the Nursing Home Virtual Visitation Act which gives nursing home residents and their families the ability to install a video monitoring device in their room, allowing them to remain virtually connected to their loved ones and be an integral part of their care team.

In 2020, AARP will continue to fight for commonsense solutions to give family caregivers more support, help at home, training and more. Those solutions include:

• CARE Act Implementation: For states that have enacted the CARE Act, work to ensure protections envisioned under the new law are fully realized through various regulatory measures.

• Home and Community Based Care: Significantly increasing—or protecting against significant decreases in — the number of older adults who have access to state-funded services at home, like home care and adult day care.

• Nurse-Family Caregiver Connection: Bills to cut through the red tape that prevents nurses from doing their jobs.

The full report will is now available and includes national figures, trends in family caregiving, and policy recommendations.

To review state figures and the methodology, visit: www.aarp.org/valuing.

Resources and information on family caregiving, including AARP’s Prepare to Care Guides, are available at www.aarp.org/caregiving.