As caregivers, we balance many different roles. Many of us have full-time jobs while caring for our parents.

Many human resources executives believe that elder care will be to the 21st century what child care was to the last few decades.

If you feel as if you’re the only caregiver attempting to balance your work and caregiving responsibilities, here are some striking statistics to validate your experiences:

· Between 2011 and 2030, the number of elderly in this country will nearly double from 40.4 million to 70.3 million. Source: U.S. Bureau of Census.

· 10% of employed family caregivers go from full-time to part-time jobs because of their caregiving responsibilities. Source: National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, Caregiving in the U.S., 2004.

· Both male and female children of aging parents make changes at work in order to accommodate caregiving responsibilities. Both have modified their schedules (men 54%, women 56%). Both have come in late and/or leave early (men 78%, women 84%) and both have altered their work-related travel (men 38%, women 27%). Source: MetLife Mature Market Institute, Sons at Work: Balancing Employment and Eldercare, June 2003.

Observers say such statistics prove that elder care is a broad issue that either is affecting, or soon will affect, a large portion of every employer's workforce, including senior-age employees, older employees with ill spouses and those with elderly parents and relatives.

What can you do to help balance your work and caregiving responsibilities?

1. Avail yourself to caregiving support groups. Learning from other caregivers can help to put your experiences in perspective. The Delaware Valley Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association keeps an updated list of support groups. Contact them at 1.800.272.3900 for more information.

2. Keep an eye out for caregiver seminars or conferences. Many long-term care providers, such as the county offices on aging, offer free educational seminars to caregivers. Information and education is half the battle in helping to manage your caregiving duties.

3. Connect with organizations related to your specific experiences as a caregiver. For example, the Delaware Valley Stroke Council maintains an updated list of area stroke support groups, and facilitates free stroke awareness presentations (www.phillystroke.com or 215-772-9040). The Greater Delaware Valley Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society offers financial assistance, transportation assistance, home care assistance, and respite programs – to name a few (www.pae.nationalmssociety.org or 215-271-1500).

4. Hire a home care agency. Certified home health aides can assist with your loved ones’ personal care and incontinence care regime. Caregivers or companions can assist with meal preparation, grocery shopping, laundry, light housekeeping, and medication reminders. (Tip: To ensure that you are not responsible for the caregiver’s medical bills should he or she become injured on the job, ensure that the home care agency is licensed, bonded, and insured.)

5. Reach out to adult medical day care centers. These centers offer daytime programs (usually from 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m., five to six days a week) of recreational activities, social services, meals, occupational and physical therapy services, and nursing services. Transportation is available to and from these centers.

6. Consider hiring a professional geriatric care manager. They conduct care-planning assessments to identify problems and provide solutions; screen, arrange, and monitor in-home help or other services, and; provide short- or long-term assistance for caregivers living near or far away. Log on to the National Association of Professional Care Managers web site at www.caremanager.org for more information.

7. Explore adding the expertise and services of an elder care attorney to your caregiving team. In addition to assisting you with the legal and financial dilemmas inherent with paying long-term care, some elder law attorneys assist families in protecting assets AND coordinating care. These attorneys have hired nurses or social workers to help you navigate through the long-term care system. Log on to the Life Care Planning Law Firms Association at www.lcplfa.org for more information.