(Fwd) [jwl] Older Women's Health

[J. Halász Judit]

From:jwlegroups at aol.com
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Women need long term care

Women are the primary recipients of long term care services.  Since women
outlive their male counterparts by an average of seven years, the projected
88 percent increase in the number of people over age 85 in the next a5
years will increase their needs.  Men's illnesses tend to be acute, while
women tend to have chronic health problems and consequently require more
long term care services.

•  Two-thirds of home care consumers are women (10 million);
•  Women make up three-fourths of all nursing home residents 65 years
    old or older;
• The typical nursing home resident is an 85-year-old woman who enters
    a nursing home because she lives alone or no caregiver is available.
• Fifty-two percent of women now age 65 will spend a least a day in
    a nursing home, compared with 33 percent of men the same age.

Women provide long term care.

The majority of family caregivers are women who provide unpaid
assistance to individuals, usually relatives, who need long term care.
Although most caregivers assist disabled elderly individuals, who are often
spouses, many provide assistance for children and working age adults with
disabilities.

•  Caregivers for elderly parents often have children under 18 at home
    as well;
•  Women comprise more than 80 percent of the family caregivers for
    chronically ill elders;
• Sixty percent of caregivers are wives of disabled, often older, husbands,
    and 73 percent of these women are 65 years and older themselves,
    many of whom may be experiencing their own aging, physical illness,
    or financial burdens.
• Eighty-nine percent of women over 18 are caregivers to children or
    parents.  The average American woman can expect to spend 17 years
    caring for a child and 18 years caring for an elderly parent.
• Approximately 1.5 million full-time workers are also actively
    providing care to dependent elderly.
• More than 90 percent of paid long term care workers in the United States
    are women -- many of whom are mid-life and older women of color.
    Paid caregivers provide a remarkable array of services, while generally
    receiving low wages and few employee benefits.

The physical and financial pressures of caregiving.

Caregiving is hard physical work that can increase a woman's risk of
injury and illness.  Many caregivers lack adequate health insurance,
which compounds the health-related problems of caregiving.

• About 25 percent of women caregivers experience health problems of
    their own related to their caregiving activities.
•  Caregivers are also likely to experience feelings of helplessness
    resulting from a lack of respite, or someone to take over temporarily
    to provide rest and relief;
• Women average ll.5 years out of the work force.  The sporadic nature of
    a caregiver's work pattern is not only reflected in lower pension
    earnings, but often disrupts any chance for pension vesting.
•  Sixty percent of caregivers report incurring additional expenses
    related to caregiving for items such as transportation, utilities and
    dietary expenses;
• Social Security is the sole source of income for many unmarried women.
    By latest figures, 22 percent of women 65 and older who received
    Social Security received no other income; 40 percent depended on it for
    at least 90 percent of their income.
•  Women re less than half as likely as men o receive a pension, and
    those who do receive a pension about half as much as a man's.
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    Reach the Older Women's League at 1-800-825-3695 or their website,
www.owl-national.org.