Few jobs are as challenging as being an unpaid family caregiver — no matter how much you love the person in your care. But even though your responsibilities will never be easy, there are certainly ways to make them easier.

Care for the Family Caregiver is an initiative of EmblemHealth's Integrative Wellness department that provides information, resources and tools to help manage the challenges and stress of caregiving. Recognizing that family caregivers are the forgotten patients, the program seeks to address some of the needs of unpaid family caregivers, of whom there are some 44.5 million nationwide.

Often called "silent patients," family caregivers are largely ignored by the health care system and are thus at risk for depression and illness. With an aging population, medical advances that keep people alive longer, shorter hospital stays, and sophisticated technology that allows sicker people to stay at home, the importance of family caregivers — and the demands on them — will only increase.

With the Care for the Family Caregiver program, the Integrative Wellness department is responding to the challenges faced by caregivers by:

• Sponsoring a theatrical exploration of the challenges of caregiving.
  CARING for ME; CARING for YOU premiered at the 2003 Council of Senior Centers and Services (CSCS) Conference on Aging.
• Care for the Family Caregiver; A Place to Start: Written and produced by EmblemHealth and the National Alliance for Caregiving for the 2005 White House Conference on Aging
• The Evidenced-Based Reality of Family Caregiving: Written following an award ceremony honoring HIP by the National Business Coalition on Health in New Orleans
• 10 Tips for Family Caregivers:[ English | Spanish | Russian | Chinese ]