By John Paul Marosy, President
Bringing Elder Care Home LLC
jpmarosy@charter.net
(508) 854-0431

The U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA) has funded the Caring Workplace project to test an approach to effectively supporting employed family caregivers. Ann Bannes, Vice President of Saint Andrew's Resources for Seniors, a non-profit organization in St. Louis, Missouri, is director of the project.. It is the only one of about 38 federal grants awarded by AoA that specifically focuses on supporting employed family caregivers. Recently, I reviewed the second year report for the project and I spoke with Ms. Bannes and with a representative of one of the project's participating employers.

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AoA awarded a three-year grant to St. Andrew's in October 2001 to design and implement The Caring Workplace initiative. The goal: to involve a dozen employers of various sizes and from various sectors of the economy (for profit, government, and non-profit). Workforce size ranges from 500-3,000 per employer, with a total potential pool of about 20,000 employees.

The project's stated goal is to "create a comprehensive model for cost-effective elder care management services that allows employed caregivers to provide quality care while remaining on the job as productive and committed employees."

No fees are charged to either the employer or the employed caregivers. Each site-based program includes an array of services, including:

• Caregiver assessments,
• Education/consultation,
• Care planning,
• Older adult assessments,
• Resource identification,
• Referral to community agencies,
• Support groups at the workplace,
• Research, and
• Other services needed by participating caregivers.

Promotional activities include targeted letters to CEO's, articles in organizational newsletters, on-going local publicity via business-oriented publications and news services, a project website, a Caring Workforce newsletter, and a St. Andrew's Annual Caregiver Recognition Award.

• About 4,000 employed family caregivers have participated in the program. Of these, about 1,000 have obtained in-person assessments of their elder care situations.
• Among employees who used the service and responded to the evaluation survey:
  • 90% reported that the project's elder care services reduced the on-the-job time they spent dealing with elder care issues,
  • 68% reported reduced caregiving-related absences,
  • 90% reported reduced caregiving-related stress, and
  • 98% reported increased caregiving skills.
• Among participating employers:
  • 89% reported that the project had potential for reducing employer costs,
  • 91% reported potential for improving employee retention rates,
  • 100% reported potential for improving employee productivity, and
  • 78% reported potential for saving on employee healthcare costs.

Louise Autry is a human resources professional who works at Emerson Motors, a $1.5 billion St. Louis-based company that manufactures motors for the automotive and appliance industries, employing 13,000 world-wide with about 700 in St. Louis. "What I like about the Caring Workplace project is, they just come in and make my life easier," she said. "They're here in person. They're available via telephone and email. They also work with our company nurse. They go out and do assessments for employees. We publicize it via the intranet and put out brochures, but word-of-mouth seems to work best."

"We're thrilled with them," says Ms. Autry, "because they are very professional and they protect people's privacy. We had an employee who came down to HR and we referred him to St. Andrew's. The employees can't get over the fact that they come to the home."

Grant funding for the Caring Workplace runs out at the end of the fiscal year, September 30, 2004. I asked Ms. Bannes how the program will survive. "Eleven of the twelve companies have said it's wonderful and they'll seriously look into how they can keep it. We will charge a flat fee depending on the size of workforce," said Ms. Bannes.

For her part, Ms. Autry has recommended that Emerson Motors include funding for the services in the budget being prepared for fiscal year 2005. She feels the chances are good. Why? "I've used the service myself," she said, "to find legal help for my mother who lives out-of-town. And the CEO has used it, too."

The Caring Workplace team will produce a free how-to manual, based on their experience. For more information or to obtain a copy of the manual, contact Ann Bannes at abannes@standrews1.com.

What do you think? Take a moment now to send us an e-mail with your opinion to jpmarosy@bringingeldercarehome.com We will publish your thoughts in the next issue.

John Paul Marosy
Editor and President,
Bringing Elder Care Home, LLC

John Paul Marosy is the author of Elder Care: A Six Step Guide to Balancing Work and Family, available from Bringing Elder Care Home Publishing online at www.bringingeldercarehome.com or by calling 508-854-0431. Visit www.bringingeldercarehome.com or call or email today to learn how your organization can offer this effective resource: (508) 854-0431 or jpmarosy@bringingeldercarehome.com

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