A thank you for a lot of invisible work
Around 80% of people in need of care in Austria are cared for at home by relatives. They are there for others every day and make an extremely valuable social contribution. Caring for a relative is often associated with uncertainty, but also with physical and psychological stress. On the national day of action for caring relatives, the Geriatric Health Centers of the City of Graz (GGZ) took part in the Interest group of caring relatives and politicians drew attention to these people at a press conference.
Family as Austria’s largest care service
When a family member develops dementia or a partner is diagnosed with cancer, relatives suddenly become caregivers. Caregivers are still the largest group of people in the field of nursing care. Every day, they secretly take on an enormously important role for society as a whole and our health system, and usually do so without professional support.
Supporting caregivers
Caring for a family member often leads to major changes and relatives often reach the limits of their resilience. Unfortunately, however, there is usually a lack of public recognition and support. Support services are necessary to ensure that carers do not reach their physical and psychological limits. Approaches such as the pilot project for employing caring relatives in the city of Graz, support services from the interest group for caring relatives and courses for care at home in the Albert Schweitzer Training Center of the GGZ already exist, but more comprehensive offers are needed that are adapted to the respective care situation. The campaign day also aims to make caring relatives more aware of support offers.
Statements:
„Informal care plays an indispensable role in the health care system and in the care of people of all ages. Application-oriented research and development projects and efficient knowledge management to support informal care – as practiced in the GGZ and the Albert Schweitzer Institute – are becoming increasingly important in our time. The bureaucracy of our time is in many places moving too far away from practical issues. Supporting care at home will continue to play an important role in the GGZ in the future due to demographic developments and the associated shortage of nursing staff. Health services research should be expanded.“
Gerd Hartinger, Managing Director of GGZ
„Almost 1 million people, from young careers to the elderly, provide care at home. They are the largest care service in Austria. Many often provide this care work for years. As an interest group for caring relatives, we have dedicated 2024 to the topic of “Living with dementia – caring relatives and relatives as co-affected people”. This disease in particular presents them with particular challenges and they need special support and accompaniment. However, many are not sufficiently aware of the support options available. Our aim is to provide them with good information and to work together to ensure that they and their sick relatives remain in the middle of society and can participate in it..“
Hanna Fiedler, Vice-President of the Interest Group of Caring Relatives
“The city of Graz is taking many steps to support family carers in their important work and in difficult situations. These include the courses offered by the Albert Schweitzer Training Centre for family carers, the Graz pilot project for employing family carers, the hourly relief of family carers of people with dementia (StuBe) and the important advice and assistance offered by the Graz Care Hub.”
Robert Krotzer, City Councillor for Health, Care, Integration and Employment
“Together we create better living environments for older people.” This has been the main concern of the Albert Schweitzer Institute for 10 years. The research and development department of the Geriatric Health Centers looks back on numerous national and international projects for and with older people, caregivers and health professionals. Many successes have been achieved together with our cooperation partners. The Albert Schweitzer Training Center for Caregivers is to be particularly highlighted on today’s 6th National Action Day for Caregivers. Here, caregivers learn how to better deal with their challenging daily care and nursing routine at home. And yet: There is still a lot to be done in the Austrian care system and especially in informal care.“
Judith Goldgruber, Director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute
Specialist article Rethinking aging
In our series of specialist articles, we address relevant topics related to aging. In our last article, we highlight challenges and solutions for informal care in the digital age.
