Assistant Professor and Chair of the Department of Public HealthAs our population ages, who will take care of them? This is the question that drives Kenneth Knapp, Ph.D., in his quest to improve the quality of long-term care. “People are living longer, paid caregivers have high turnover rates because this is low-paying high-stress work and the demographic changes mean that fewer family caregivers are available to help those needing care,” explains Dr. Knapp who says these issues affect everyone. “Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, who founded the Rosalynn Carter Caregiver Institute, famously said: ‘There are only four kinds of people in the world – those who have been caregivers, those who are caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who will need caregivers.’ With the aging of the Baby Boomer generation, Mrs. Carter’s quote is even more significant now.”
Another key issue for Dr. Knapp and his team at the Center for Long-Term Care is aging in place. “Aging in place, is the ability to live in one's own home and community safely, independently and comfortably, regardless of age, income or ability level,” he explains. Toward this end, the Center hosted a Colloquium on Aging in Place last October. Drawing a crowd of more than 100 people from the local community, the multidisciplinary event addressed ways to improve ability to live in one's own home and community safely, independently and comfortably, regardless of age, income or ability level.
Here Dr. Knapp tells us what’s coming next from the Center for Long-Term Care and how we can all be better prepared when it’s our time to be the caregiver.
Last year you launched the Colloquium on Aging in Place? What’s Next?
The Center for Long-Term Care is organizing some interesting seminars including one by an elder-law attorney on critical issues facing seniors, and another on family caregiver resources.
In addition, I’m excited about a research project on social supports for older people with cognitive decline. We will be looking at how a lack of support may affect their health and whether family caregivers are likelier than non-caregivers to suffer cognitive decline due to stress and caregiver burden.
Are there any misconceptions about the work you do at the Center for Long-Term Care?
The issues of maintaining health and independence with aging are central to our mission, but “long-term care” is not just about “old” people – younger populations, too, face chronic conditions and disabilities. And we are not only interested in those who need care, but also in those who provide it, including family caregivers and paid paraprofessionals. Our team seeks collaborative relationships with community-based organizations and service providers who help meet the needs of an aging population, caregivers and care recipients.
How can we better prepare ourselves when it’s our time provide or receive care?
What is unfortunate is that people who end up being a caregiver very often “learn on the job.” I hope that we can create a new trend where we all become more aware of the near certainty that caregiving will touch us all eventually. We need to start to educate ourselves about community resources available to assist us before we are caregivers – and to push for more community resources when they are lacking.