By Careforth on Nov 8, 2021 9:55:51 AM
On November 2nd, an op-ed by Jennifer Trowbridge, CEO of Northwest Indiana Community Action, was published in IndyStar, a longstanding local news source for Indianapolis. The piece, titled “Hoosiers spend 700 million hours a year as family caregivers. They need care, too” marks the beginning of National Family Caregivers Month, an annual awareness event that takes place in November.
Trowbridge stresses the urgency of providing better support to caregivers, now more than ever, during this critical time for rallying support.
“The pandemic laid bare the urgent need to create a better social safety net for long-term care,” she writes. “Now we – healthcare payors and providers as well as the community, broadly – need to continue to build on the momentum created in response to this emergency.”
“We need to look at this moment as an opportunity to permanently establish the services and supports for our rapidly aging population that have become critical as temporary pandemic-related measures. You may be one of those individuals. We need to recognize you and the 850,000 individuals—13% of the state of Indiana’s population — who are devoting themselves to serving as family caregivers.”
