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Family caregivers such as Joan Davidson, shown here with her husband, Gene, in 2013, would be officially recognized as part of their loved ones' care team under House Bill 3378.
(The Oregonian/OregonLive/2013)
Among Oregon registered voters who are 45 or older, 50 percent are providing or have provided unpaid care for an adult loved one.
More than 40 percent say it is likely that they will provide unpaid care to an adult loved one in the future.
And 86 percent support keeping family caregivers informed of medical decisions about the adult for whom they're caring.
Those are among the findings of a 2014 AARP telephone survey of 800 Oregon registered voters age 45 and older that was entered into testimony in support of House Bill 3378, which would formally recognize unpaid family caregivers as part of a patient's care team.
The bill, which is scheduled for a House Committee on Health Care work session at 1 p.m. Monday, would require hospitals to identify and record the names of family caregivers, said Jon Bartholomew, director for advocacy for AARP Oregon. The organization is the bill's lead advocate.
The bill would also require hospitals to assess family caregivers' ability to provide post-discharge care and provide them with instruction or training as necessary.
"Family caregivers are being asked these days to do a lot more in terms of nursing-style care at home," Bartholomew said, citing tasks such as managing medications, giving shots, dressing wounds and cleaning catheter lines. "People are spending less time in the hospital and more time with expectations that family caregivers will be taking care of them."
House Bill 3378 would ensure that "the family caregiver is being treated as part of the care team," Bartholomew said.
"It's one thing to be handed a sheet of paper - 'Here's the things you're expected to do.' It's another to be walked through the process," he said. "When people don't feel as prepared, they might either get the care wrong ... which leads to an infection or a re-hospitalization - or you also might avoid doing the care."
AARP Oregon estimates that there are about 460,000 unpaid family caregivers in the state.
The bill's chief sponsor is state Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland, chair of the House health committee. Oregon hospitals also have signed on to support the bill, Bartholomew said, adding that at some hospitals, the policies that the bill would require are already in place.
Hospital employees might find themselves spending more time with family caregivers, Bartholomew said, "but on the other end of the spectrum you're going to be dealing with better health at home."
"The whole point is we want to make sure that family caregivers have the tools they need to keep their loved one healthy and happy," he said.
Among those who have testified in favor of the bill is west Salem resident Bill Olson, 79, co-chair of the Advocacy Coalition of Seniors and People with Disabilities. Olson and his wife were caregivers for their late son, Michael, after he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a skiing accident at age 23 in 1983.
House Bill 3378 will give family caregivers much-needed status with health care professionals, Olson said. "It's basically some recognition that family and unpaid caregivers can be very, very important to the success and to the adaptation of the patient, whether he be a blood relative or just someone that you care about."
-- Amy Wang
awang@oregonian.com
503-294-5914
@ORAmyW