A new business challenge: can you run a business or work a job and care for aging parents effectively at the same time?

• Author: O'Toole, Bob

Trying to manage the care of aging parents or a disabled family member while trying to meet work responsibilities is a challenge that faces a growing segment of our population. As the huge demographic "bubble" in our population--76 million baby boomers--grows older, so do their parents.

While longevity is something we all hope for, it can be a mixed blessing. Medical advances have indeed prolonged our lives, and that also means we have a longer period of old age where help is needed with routine activities of daily living.

Caregiving takes a heavy toll on work and family life. Among those who have provided hands-on care:

* 67 percent reported that it has had a significant affect on their family lives.

* 41 percent said that it has interfered with their work.

* More than 10 percent of those who have provided long-term care assistance said they had given up promotions or jobs as a result.

A SHARED PROBLEM FOR EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES

Employers are learning that their employees who are also caregivers to an elderly family member have an impact on businesses' bottom line as well. Studies funded by AARP, The National Alliance for Caregivers and others, estimate elder-care costs to employers at $29 billion annually. These costs are due to lost time at work by caregivers, time spent on the phone at work trying to resolve caregiving problems and many other issues.

When local or long-distance caregivers try to locate help, they discover that a discouraging development is emerging in America. While the population of frail older persons is growing, the care and services available for them is shrinking rapidly. Steep cuts are occurring in the once generous Medicare home health care benefit. With billions of federal dollars now needed to pay for the war on terrorism and to strengthen our economy, funds for programs for elders continue to grow scarce.

A valuable resource for working caregivers may well be their employer. Many corporations, industry and professional associations are now responding to these pressures by offering innovative and affordable elder-care benefits to ease the caregiving burdens faced by their employees and members. Once a luxury that only large national...