Editor,
On behalf of the more than 1.3 million unpaid family caregivers in Indiana and the thousands of AARP volunteers and members, I would like to thank our Carmel-area members of the Indiana House of Representatives who voted in support of the Caregiver Advise, Record, Enable (CARE) Act: Reps. Huston, Richardson, Schaibley, Torr and Bosma. The CARE Act, House bill 1265, passed with an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of confidence by our Representatives and we hope this gives a clear and heartfelt signal to our Senators about the importance of passing this much-needed caregiver support bill.
The bill recognizes the critical role that unpaid family caregivers play in helping to keep their aging parent and/or loved ones living independently in the comfort of their own homes and limiting the number of their return trips to a care facility. Our bill will require that the option to list the name of a family caregiver is presented whenever a loved one is admitted into a hospital or a care facility, assuring that the appropriate family caregiver is timely notified prior to a loved one being discharged if needed, and making certain that the caregiver is provided with the appropriate instructions and training necessary to perform the proper care and comfort for the parent and/or loved one such as medication management, giving injections, transporting, exercising, and bed transfers.
A personal experience of the needed passing of the CARE Act was when my niece was sent home from the hospital without any instructions on how to give a shot.
Lastly, sadly during our researching, we found that Indiana is at the bottom of the list of state support of unpaid family caregivers. And, we ask our Senators to please recognize the critical support needed by those of us who want to take the proper and loving care of our parents and/or the loved ones and vote for the CARE Act.
Melvin Armstrong
AARP Volunteer
Carmel, Indiana
