Contact your legislator about helping to get caregiver legislation passed to help veterans

S 1963 in the Senate and HR 3155 are bills that would provide training for caregivers to help our injured and ill veterans. As in the Health Care Reform legislation, the differences between the Congressional bill and the Senate Bill are holding up needed legislation to help our brave veterans get the the best help to rehabilitate and/or provide the best care possible for the mental, psychological, and physical issues. With all of the innovations in medical care, veterans that would have died in years past are living with many problems. We need to support our troops with providing them with the best trained caregivers available. Additionally, so many of the military people have been on tours of duty more than being home. These personnel and veterans are affected by post traumatic stress and other stress related disorders. We need to support them by contacting our legislators and get them to compromise on the bills and pass a bill that will provide the help to our servicemen and women and veterans that they deserve. Contact your legislator.

EEOC Issues Employer Best Practices to Minimize Discrimination against Caregivers

According to the Kansas City info Zine, the document provides recommendations for employer policies in an attempt to remove barriers to equal employment opportunity for workers with caregiving responsibilities. Some of the key situations covered in the Best Practices Document include personal or sick leave policies that allow employees to use leave to care for ill family members and equal-opportunity policies that address unlawful discrimination against caregivers. The entire document can be found on the EEOC website. This is a small step in starting to get administrators within the government to realize the enormity of the contributions to society and sacrifices that family caregivers make in our country, as well as, most countries in the world.

Lifespan Respite Program at risk

The Caregiver Support Blog provides useful information about the pending legislation that may not pass the appropriations committee. If this bill does not pass, funding will be cut for services to the disabled, and to family caregivers under the Lifespan Respite Care Act. The American Psychological Society has a great fact sheet on the Lifespan Respite Care Act that everyone should read. Once you have read the act, please contact your Senator at http://www.senate.gov and tell them to vote for the Fiscal 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Bill.

Tax time for caregivers

I was working on my taxes last week. As I was going over all of my expenses, I realized I spent thousands of dollars on gas, food, and necessities while caring for my aunt. It made me think about family members who care for someone for longer than 8 months. I asked my tax person if people can deduct those costs. I know my cousin also spent a good deal of her own money. I mean really what do you say to the person you are caring for, “could you give me $50 for groceries?” Did I expect to be reimbursed, No!! But it seems to me that the statistics show that family caregivers provide an economic service to society that can and usually does lead to more medical costs for the caregiver and a loss of wages or retirement because of work time missed or leaving a position. As this USA Today article demonstrates Congress and Bush are not very interested in helping the caregiver maintain their health and financial status unless you provide in-home care. It is about time that our representatives acknowledged that without the help of family caregivers, many of those being cared for would be under the care of the taxpayer.