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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Money and Time: Easing the Caregiving Burden in WI

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Monday, November 19, 2018   

MADISON, Wis. – November is National Family Caregivers Month, which honors those whose invaluable contributions allow older Wisconsinites to age in place in their homes.

And efforts are underway to develop measures that can better support caregivers every month of the year.

There are 578,000 unpaid caregivers in Wisconsin. Helen Marks Dicks, state issues advocacy director for AARP Wisconsin, says they often put their own needs on the back burner in order to look after a parent, spouse or friend.

And that includes opening their own wallets.

"A person is spending about $7,000 on supplemental things that they provide for the person they're caring for,” she points out. “And that includes medication, insurance, so there's both a financial burden and a time burden."

Dicks says AARP is working with state lawmakers to introduce a Caregiver Tax Credit in 2019, which would reimburse family caregivers up to $1,000 for their documented costs.

According to an AARP study, 78 percent of caregivers spend their own money to help family members or loved ones stay in their homes.

Advocates are also promoting the CARE Act, which has been passed in more than two dozen states.

Dicks explains it would improve the quality of care and reduce hospital readmissions by requiring training for caregivers when a loved one is discharged from a medical facility.

"Family caregivers are now doing wound care, they're doing medication management, they're doing feeding tubes, all kinds of things that don't just come naturally to you, that you need to have some training to get done and done right," she points out.

Dicks contends these measures are important for communities and the state.

As the population ages, she says supports for caregivers can help people age in their homes, and be less reliant on government funded programs and long-term care services.

"Even in a workplace people are stressed out because of caregiving responsibilities,” she states. “And they now say that one in four millennials are actually in the caregiving roles in their families. So, that's an incredible number of people of all ages caring for family and friends."

The unpaid labor of the nation's 40 million caregivers is valued at $470 billion annually.


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