By: the team at the Ontario Caregiver Organization and the Essential Care Partner Support Hub
During a time of unprecedented strain, hospital teams continue to deliver exceptional care to patients. Working alongside them is an often-unrecognized ally: caregivers.
As a myriad of factors transform the length and breadth of care — from an aging population to greater life expectancy and a desire to age at home and in the community — caregivers are also under more pressure than ever.
In the Ontario Caregiver Organization’s (OCO’s) latest Spotlight Report, the numbers are telling: 68% of Ontario’s 4.2 million caregivers say they’ve hit their breaking point. While signaling a dire need for more caregiver support, another statistic raises the alarm on the systemic impact of caregiver burnout: nearly one in five caregivers have taken the person in their care to a hospital emergency department just to get a break.
The OCO recently brought together caregivers who say they lean on the ED for help because they have no other options.
“I had to stay with my mother because she couldn’t be alone. I was lying on the couch, and I had just finally closed my eyes, and I heard the door close,” said one caregiver. “She had gone outside. She was running through the streets; she wasn’t dressed for it. Usually, I could calm her down. But I just couldn’t. I had to get help. I knew I couldn’t do it anymore.”
This isn’t a choice caregivers make lightly. Going to the ED creates significant stress for the caregiver and the care recipient, but many say they’ve run out of options and face circumstances so challenging that taking a break is impossible.
Last year, almost 1.9 million visits to the ED were for caregivers desperately seeking respite. At an average cost of $323 for an ED visit, caregiver exhaustion cost the health care system an estimated $643 million.
“It is so stressful. For them, and for us,” explained another caregiver. “They don’t want to be there. And we don’t want to be there. And you know you are taking services away from someone who really needs it, a real emergency.”
To be able to continue in their role, caregivers say they need support, and they need it sooner. This isn’t the responsibility of any one care setting, but rather, it requires an integrated approach to care where primary, home care, community care, hospitals, and long-term care work together, with each care setting identifying, including, and supporting caregivers as part of the team.
OCO’s Essential Care Partner Support Hub collaborates with health care organizations across the continuum of care, providing free resources, tools, learning opportunities, and 1:1 guidance to help them implement or enhance caregiver inclusive practices and policies that support caregivers as partners in care. Organizations can also connect caregivers directly to OCO so they can access free programs and services that include peer support, caregiver coaching, or the 24/7 Caregiver Helpline. The Helpline provides caregivers with one point of access to information about community supports for the care recipient or programs that can help the caregiver navigate the challenges that go with their role.
Health care providers in all care settings can play a role in helping to connect caregivers to support earlier. But why does it matter? Because doing so is proven to lead to better outcomes for patients, caregivers, and health care providers. It helps to support better transitions, reduced preventable adverse events, lower readmission rates, and better working conditions for teams.