AARP I Heart Caregiver Day Recognizes Work of Family Caregivers

Dave Nelson

AARP New Mexico took over the State Capitol Feb. 25 with a sea of red shirts to celebrate family caregivers and the work that they do as well as bring attention to House Bill 139, the Lay Caregiver Aftercare Training, also known as the CARE Act.

House Bill 139, The CARE (Caregiver Advise, Record, Enable) Act asks hospitals to designate a family caregiver in the medical record when a patient is admitted; notify that caregiver when the patient is discharged or transferred to another facility; and provide education about any medical or nursing tasks that the caregiver must perform once the patient is discharged.

Both houses of the state Legislature passed a memorial, sponsored by Sen. Michael Padilla and Rep. Deborah Armstrong, declaring the day I Heart Caregivers Day.

Joining the celebration were community partners: the Alzheimer’s Association, the New Mexico Direct Caregivers Association, the New Mexico Aging and Long-Term Services Department, and the New Mexico Association of Educational Retirees.

Jackie Cooper, AARP New Mexico State President, said that over 400,000 family caregivers provide unpaid care for a loved one, which would cost over $3.1 billion if they had to be paid.

“Why do we do this,” she asked. “Because we want to; because our upbringing or our culture says it’s the right thing to do; because we don’t want our loved ones to be institutionalized; because we want them to stay at home.”

“Is it easy? No, it takes time and money; it impacts the caregiver’s employment, social life, family, health and pocketbook. We need to take the time to thank each caregiver that we know – and we need to do whatever we can to support him or her,” Cooper said.

Gary Girón, Executive Director of the Alzheimer’s Association, said there are 34,000 New Mexicans with Alzheimer’s disease and of those, 80 percent are cared for in their homes by 105,000 family caregivers.

“Dementia caregivers are under tremendous strain: 59 percent of dementia caregivers rate the emotional stress of caregiving as high or very high and over one-third report symptoms of depression. Because caregivers tend to neglect their own health, in New Mexico, dementia caregivers account for $62 million in higher health care costs,” Girón said.

Sen. Padilla and Rep. Tomás Salazar were honored during the event for being named AARP Capitol Caregivers for their work last year getting House Joint Memorial 4 passed. The memorial established the New Mexico Family Caregiver Task Force, which is creating a state plan on family caregiving issues.

Gino Rinaldi, New Mexico Aging and Long-Term Services Department Cabinet Secretary, spoke about the work the task force is doing.

“Caregiving in New Mexico is a critical issue in our state. We need to have a real true dialogue on the issue of caregiving,” Rinaldi said.

Rep. Armstrong, who along with Salazar, is a sponsor of the CARE Act, also spoke on the important work caregivers do.

But the most impressive part of the day were AARP volunteers -- decked out in their AARP shirts and carrying red heart-shaped fans asking for support for the CARE Act -- visiting with lawmakers about the importance of getting the CARE Act passed.

“This has been a very slow legislative session so we wanted to see if we could highlight the CARE act, really acknowledge the important work that caregiver’s do, and build some momentum around the bill,” said Gene Varela, AARP State Director.

To date, HB139 has been passed by the House Health Committee and the House Business and Employment Committee. It has received a third committee assignment to House Judiciary but that has yet to be scheduled.

(Photo caption: AARP New Mexico volunteers prepare to visit lawmakers on HB139. Shown are volunteers Waldo Anton, Clarice Getz, Mary Stockley, Jackie Cooper, Jennie DiGregorio, also NMAER president, Regina Martinez, staff Beth Velasquez, and Rosella Trujillo.)