Skip to content
Scan Health Plan
Bar Close Menu
Log In Register
Cancel

Suggested Search Terms

  • Dental
  • Drug
  • Vision
  • Careers
  • SilverSneakers
  • Pharmacy

Popular Search Terms

Find a Doctor
Find a Pharmacy
Find Drugs Find Drugs
Need Help Finding Something? Start Here Go
    View All Results
    No results found
    Username required
    Password required
    Help logging in, resetting password, and retrieving username - SCAN Health Plan Need Caregiver Help Logging In? Create your Member Account - SCAN Health Plan Arrow
    Error(s) below:
    • Discover & Enroll
    • Members
    • Caregivers & Family
    • Find Providers & Drugs
    • Contact
    • More
    • About SCAN
      • Community Benefit
      • Events
      • Press Room
      • Newsletters
      • Careers
    • Resources
      • Knowledge Center
      • FAQs
      • Plan Materials
      • Pharmacy
      • Formulary
    For Providers Log into your portal(s) and find helpful resources for managing your business.
    • Home
    • About SCAN
    • Newsletters
    • Newsletter Issue 4
    • Senior Caregivers Deserve a Hand
    Back to Issue

    Senior Caregivers Deserve a Hand

    SCAN Newsletter Nov Dec Issue 4 Featured Article

    In the years after his wife, Glima, was diagnosed with dementia, Bill B. found it increasingly difficult to take care of her, their home and his own health alone. As her condition worsened, “We went from her helping me a little to me doing all of it,” Bill, 89, says. “It became a 24-hour-a-day job.” When Bill had to give up driving because macular degeneration took his eyesight, the couple’s challenges became even greater.

    Like Bill, Norma S. knows the realities of being a fulltime caregiver. At 89, she is the sole caregiver for her 93-year-old husband, Carlton, whose dementia has made it so he can no longer care for himself. Norma has health concerns of her own, too: The pain in her feet makes standing in the kitchen to prepare dinner almost unbearable.

    Bill and Norma are members of a growing legion of older adults devoting their later years to caring for a spouse or other older loved one. It’s been found that more than one-third of the nation’s more than 34 million unpaid caregivers are age 65 and older.*

    We know that many of our members fall into this group, so we wanted to find out more about the challenges they face. We conducted a survey late last year, and asked senior caregivers across the country about their caregiving responsibilities.

    ‘He Knows That I Am There’

    More than 86 percent of the 1,000 seniors in the SCAN survey said that taking care of their loved one is a rewarding experience. Norma agrees: “I have been physically and mentally able to take care of him, and that’s such a satisfying feeling,” she says. “He knows that I am there and I will be there.”

    But being there for a loved one can mean less time and energy for caregivers to take care of themselves. “Most seniors are devoted to the person they are caring for,” says Eve Gelb, SCAN senior vice president. “But in many cases, we are seeing that caregivers end up sacrificing their own well-being when they should be able to live their best life, too.”

    Asking for Help Can Be ‘Humbling’

    Often, senior caregivers are reluctant to ask for help or to tell others about their challenges until the burden is too much to carry on their own. Bill explains why it was hard for him to ask for help: “All my life, I’ve always been independent. It was hard to come to terms with realizing I couldn’t care for my wife alone. It was very humbling.”

    Connecting Caregivers to the Community

    Eventually, the daily challenges of caring for themselves and their loved ones led Bill and Norma to realize they couldn’t do it alone—and both found they didn’t have to. Bill contacted SCAN, who helped him find a professional caregiver to help with some of Glima’s personal needs and a housekeeper who helps with household chores; his sons also help out when they can. For Norma, meal preparation is no longer a problem after a SCAN Peer Advocate suggested she call Meals on Wheels. She says that having nutritious meals delivered “has been a real lifesaver.”

    Bill encourages other older caregivers not to be afraid to ask for help. “If you’ve been independent all your life it can be a hard thing to do,” he says, but he and Norma have both learned that even a little help can lighten the load.

    “There’s beauty in the fact that, despite the challenges, people find joy in caregiving,” says Eve Gelb. “It’s important that we make sure they know about the support available so they and their loved ones can have the best possible quality of life.”

    *National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP. (2015). Caregiving in the U.S.

      Next
      Scan Health Plan
      We are social
      Facebook Twitter Share
      • Last Updated on 1/22/2019
      • Y0057_SCAN_11135_2018F
      • 10012018

      SCAN Health Plan is an HMO plan with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in SCAN Health Plan depends on contract renewal. SCAN also contracts with the California Department of Health Care Services for Medicare/Medi-Cal eligible beneficiaries. Click here to read the full disclaimer.

      © 2018 SCAN Group. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Nondiscrimination and Accessibility Requirements 

      Back to top