Legislators, governor should hear message

To The Eagle:

November is National Family Caregivers Month and each year more of us are caring for a loved one with a chronic condition, disability or simply the frailties of old age. Over 850,000 Washington citizens are unpaid family caregivers, providing 80% of the services that allow family members to remain at home as long as possible. Recent state agency data reports this uncompensated caregiving is estimated to be valued at $10.6 billion.

Washington State has a Family Caregiver Support Program (FCSP) but it currently serves less than 1% of the 850,000 family caregivers in our state. Recent research findings report that the FCSP improves outcomes for caregivers with eighty-four percent of the participants showing significant improvements and slower transition to more costly Medicaid services.

Serving more family caregivers would be a great investment for our state. Our legislators and the governor should support expansion of FCSP and they need to hear that message from us. These caregivers need our support.

Suzanne Holmes

Washington State Council on Aging

Cathlamet