Increasingly, Children Are Caring For Nonagenarian Parents

NAUGATUCK (AP) — Two years ago, Franklin Andrew, then 98, was at the Naugatuck Senior Center when a nurse noticed one of his legs was swollen.

The nurse suspected congestive heart failure. His daughter, Marge Pierce, drove him to his doctor, who had him sent to Waterbury Hospital, where he was given a shock treatment to stabilize his heartbeat.

“I’m watching the monitor out in the hallway all by myself, and it just scared me,” Ms Pierce said.

Ms Pierce, 64, is her father’s caretaker. She now lives with her 100-year-old father full time.

Mr Andrew’s health is generally good for a man his age, she said, but he has fallen a couple of times and once, when she was on vacation, she discovered she had his medication in her purse.

“That was it. It freaked me out,” she said.

This type of living arrangement — children caring for their elderly parents — is becoming more common across the country as the nation’s population ages.

According to the latest US Census data, the nation’s 90-and-older population has nearly tripled over the past 30 years, reaching 1.9 million in 2010. Over the next four decades, this population is projected to more than quadruple.

The census report indicates nearly 81 percent of people in their 90s who do not live in a nursing home have one or more disabilities. People of this age have difficulty running errands alone, driving, walking and climbing stairs, meaning they need assistance with everyday activities.

It is these caregivers who are contributing to people living longer, said John Erlingheuser, advocacy director for the American Association of Retired Persons.

Caregivers — he is one for his 81-year-old mother — make sure their parents are not being neglected, taking their pills, getting to their doctor’s appointments and eating properly.

That is not the only reason people are living longer. Mr Erlingheuser points to Medicare, established in 1965, as a major factor.

“I mean you take what a senior gets for an average senior’s income, and you’re talking about a good chunk of their income going just for prescription drug coverage,” he said. “So what people would do is not take them or cut back on pills, or cut them in half or take them every other day. People today have better access to more affordable prescription drug coverage.”

Under the federal Affordable Care Act that passed last year, Medicare also covers seniors for annual physicals, Mr Erlingheuser said. Screening for illnesses and treating them before they become a serious life risk extends people’s lives.

Programs such as Dial-A-Ride and Meals On Wheels are also factors, as well as advances in medical treatments and technology, he said.

People are also better educated about exercise, proper diet, and the dangers of smoking and drinking.

Chris Fishbein, executive director of the Waterbury Area Agency on Aging, said demand is up for home-delivered and nondelivered meals, emergency fuel assistance, and supplemental care services — recipients can get up to $750 per year for needs such as glasses, false teeth, or orthopedic shoes — because of the aging population. Demand is also up because of the poor economy.

“Five years ago, families were able to help defray medical costs,” she said. “Now, in addition to the senior requesting help, we frequently have the caregiver requesting help.”

Because people are living so much longer, many caregivers are in their 60s and 70s and have their own health issues.

Mr Erlingheuser said while this is true, unpaid caregivers like himself and Ms Pierce save the state millions of dollars because the state does not have to pay for that care through placements in nursing homes or home care visits.

Ms Pierce said she does not have any major health issues that interfere with her father’s care. Mr Andrew said his insurance coverage is not great, but with Medicare, Social Security, a small pension from the now defunct Lewis Engineering, where he worked for 36 years, and expected rental income from a cell tower on his property, he makes enough to survive and still live in his own house.

“He’s lucky so far his medications haven’t been super expensive,” Ms Pierce said. “A lot of other people have it a lot worse.”

The US Census reports an older person’s likelihood of living in a nursing home sharply increases with age. It is about one percent of people in their upper 60s, and three percent who are in their upper 70s. It jumps to 20 percent for those in their low 90s, more than 30 percent for the upper 90s and nearly 40 percent for centenarians.

Paradigm Healthcare, which has facilities in Torrington, Prospect, and Waterbury, houses an increasing number of people who are 90 and older, company spokesman Janet Peckinpaugh said.

Consequently, Paradigm is caring for more people with multiple illnesses and disabilities.

The big challenge for health care facilities is balancing people’s health care needs with their desire to live independently, Ms Peckinpaugh said.

She said each of Paradigm’s seven locations will focus on a specific area of need, such as advanced wound care, peritoneal dialysis, or chronic Lyme disease.

“With the population living longer and baby boomers beginning to enter skilled nursing facilities in the next 15 to 20 years, we must be prepared for their unique demands,” she wrote in an e-mail. “As this next population ages they will wait as long as possible to leave their homes in the community, give up their independence and move into a managed care facility.”