Are Family Health Concerns Distracting your Key People?
Your business relies on the talent, focus and energy of the men and women who are essential to your organization. But just when many of them reach this level of responsibility, their lives outside the office get complicated. They are often juggling work with caring for or worrying about aging parents and their own children. Those concerns can cause them to lose focus in the office as well as to neglect their own health.
What can your organization do to help them ease this burden, keep themselves in peak health and get back into the game 100%?
Health Challenges of the Sandwich Generation
Caught between the demands of raising a family, working full time, and caring for aging parents, the first thing that slips through the cracks is often the health care needs and psychological support essential to caregivers’ wellbeing. “Even though it may seem impossible, it’s vital that the members of the so-called ‘sandwich generation’ keep up with annual physician and dental check-ups, preventive screenings, and also make time to rest and de-stress,” explains Dr. Miles J. Varn, PinnacleCare’s Medical Director. “If they don’t, they could damage their physical and psychological wellbeing.”
Clinical studies bear out this assertion. A paper presented at the 2003 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Drs. Janice-Kiecolt Glaser and Ronald Glaser showed the stress of caring for a family member with dementia has a negative impact on the caregiver’s immune system for up to three years after they stop providing care, increasing their chances of developing a chronic illness. In addition, when you miss yearly cancer, blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes screenings, you are also missing the opportunity to catch these conditions at their earliest stages when treatment can be more effective.
Medical Prevention is not Indulgence
The sandwich generation serves as the family’s “command central” of healthcare, concerned for the generations above and below them. That is why men and women of the sandwich generation must make their own health a priority. In fact, prevention is a good deed for your whole family, not a personal indulgence.
“You wouldn’t put off your child’s immunizations. And you should commit to taking equally good care of yourself,” says Dr. Varn who has authored an age-by-age medical checklist for PinnacleCare Members. Although the list includes more than a dozen healthcare “musts” for the sandwich generation, Dr. Varn says, “We’re actually only talking about four or five hours a year. The value of this preventive care is well worth a few hours of your time. And, the care boosts not only your own health, but the well-being of your entire family.”
What about those Sleepless Nights?
One solution to help ease the burden of taking care of your family’s multi-generations is to share the responsibilities, especially in caring for aging parents. For people over sixty-five, a variety of health issues converge. This mix of issues can either cause confusion and deterioration or, properly addressed, can be managed very successfully. As one Member recently told her PinnacleCare Advocate, “I keep worrying that something could be done that is not being done for my parents. They can’t even describe to me how they are feeling and what their doctor is telling them.” Many people are uncertain about the credentials of their parents’ physicians.
Have a frank talk with siblings and divide the duties of helping with your parents’ healthcare concerns. If your siblings live far away, ask them to provide financial assistance to retain supportive services for your parents, which you may currently handle. If you live far away, consider a gift of a PinnacleCare Membership for your parents.
You are not Alone
Many baby-boomers are dealing with a parent’s degenerating health. Realizing they have neither the experience nor time to manage the situation, they let an experienced PinnacleCare Advocate lead the way in finding the underlying cause of deterioration. For one Member, once his mother’s Advocate scheduled a thorough exam and had her medical records reviewed by the Head of Geriatrics at a world-renowned Center of Excellence, the family finally received an accurate diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease and a comprehensive treatment plan. The end result was a healthier, more focused mother who could enjoy time spent with the family, and a Member who felt that "giving a PinnacleCare Membership to my mother was the best gift I ever gave to myself and my mom.”
As for the younger part of the sandwich, spouses should discuss sharing the responsibility for both check-ups and sick visits to the pediatrician. As a family with a PinnacleCare Membership, consider asking your Advocate to chart a course for each child, incorporating factors of growth stages ahead. Keeping on top of preventive care for both your parents and children can keep them healthier, making the job of overseeing their care easier in the long run.
