Family Caregivers of BC is presenting at BCHPCA’s Grief, Bereavement and Mental Health Summit on October 2nd from 10:30 am – 11:15 am PST and we invite you to join our session! The presentation is intended for professional (health care) and administrative attendees, however it is also open to caregivers (by donation to attend).
Click here for information about the Summit and to Join: https://bchpca.org/grief-bereavement-mental-health-summit-2021/
Presentation Title: The Role of Family Caregivers and the Resulting Economic and Health Care Impacts
Description: Roughly 1.3 million caregivers are currently giving unpaid care to family and friends in British Columbia. This support has an imputed economic value of ~ $3.5 billion. Despite the fact that our health care system depends on caregivers to accept this responsibility, family and friend caregivers are often unacknowledged and inadequately supported. All of this was the case before COVID-19 and when the pandemic was declared in 2020, the already significant stresses caregivers were experiencing were exacerbated. For existing caregivers, what was already hard got harder. For those new to caregiving, they found themselves on a steep learning curve they hadn’t anticipated – with little to no time to prepare.
This session will provide a pre COVID-19 overview of caregiving in B.C., highlight FCBC’s survey results regarding the impact of the pandemic on caregiving, and consider how this may be impacting caregivers providing end of life support. It is our hope that our survey results, along with those of other caregiving organizations across Canada, will raise the profile of caregivers’ needs at the provincial and federal levels and influence future policy and programming decisions around family and friend caregiver support.