The Caring for Caregivers program developed by Rush social workers has been awarded a nearly $2 million grant by The John A. Hartford Foundation to help other hospitals across the nation adopt the model that supports family caregivers.
Family caregivers play a significant role in supporting older adults’ care, but they often lack support, skills and recognition within the health care system.
The Rush team of licensed clinical social workers recognized the needs of caregivers who are frequently given the role with no training and little choice — a serious and growing problem across the nation. To address this, they created a model in which the caregiver is identified in the electronic health record, to ensure the caregiver is informed of the patient's care plan, and so they can be provided with support and education to adjust to the demands and stresses of the role.
Already Caring for Caregivers has helped more than 1,500 caregivers at Rush and at the eight health systems and 48 sites of care that have adopted the model.
“Most caregivers have chronic conditions and unmet health care needs themselves, and they clearly are suffering under the burden,” said Robyn Golden, LSCW, associate vice president of Social Work and Community Health and co-director of the Rush Center for Excellence in Aging. “Caring for Caregivers raises the standard of care in a way that has proven to improve the health of the caregiver and the older adult receiving care.”
The Caring for Caregivers model was created at Rush with a grant awarded by RRF Foundation for Aging. It then was implemented at Rush and successfully piloted at six hospitals. The participating sites saw measurable improvements, such as declines in hospital and emergency department use among care recipients and lower levels of caregiver burden, anxiety, and depression.
After the success of the pilots, Rush was awarded additional grants by The John A. Hartford Foundation to share this model with health systems and area agencies on aging nationwide.
The foundation’s renewed support will enable the C4C team to achieve several goals, among them:
- Expand the award-winning C4C model to 100 new sites of care.
- Develop approaches for Age-Friendly Health Systems to routinely assess the needs of caregivers.
- Provide technical assistance to health care organizations initiating change.
- Build a coalition of community and public health organizations to integrate caregiver support, including public health departments and professionals.
An overarching goal is to embed family caregivers into the Age-Friendly Ecosystem, a cross-sector movement to improve the quality of life for older adults. Age-Friendly Health Systems is an initiative of The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement that helps hospitals, medical practices, retail pharmacy clinics, nursing homes and other health care settings deliver age-friendly care. Rush is a recognized Age-Friendly Health System.
“We aimed for a solution to provide direct services and support to caregivers across the nation," said Diane Mariani, LCSW, program manager. “Now the Caring for Caregivers model is changing how health systems, public health departments and agencies on aging support the family member or friend who is caring for an older adult.”
“We know that you can’t have age-friendly care without support for caregivers,” said. “We look forward to the continued expansion of the successful Caring for Caregivers model and its integration across not only Age-Friendly Health Systems but also the entire Age-Friendly Ecosystem.”
