Lack of working hours, job worries, loss of income and opportunities for advancement are the fate of many nurses, indispensable “workers” who put in 5.7 billion unpaid hours in the country every year.
A report by the Canadian Center of Excellence for Caregivers, released in late 2022, highlights the value of work done by caregivers at three times Canadian spending on home care, community care and long-term care. The report also notes the exhaustion of caregivers and advocates support measures for those keeping a “makeshift system” at bay.
Like her sister, Marie-Diane Perron has been caring for her 77-year-old mother, who uses a wheelchair and suffers from macular degeneration, for 12 years. On the morning of our interview, Marie-Diane had to put aside her professional responsibilities because she had just lost the caregiver who prepared meals and took care of her mother’s chores.
“My daughter is looking for a job and would be willing to do that, but I don’t think we’ll get any more financial support because she’s a family. Should she do it voluntarily since she is her grandmother? asks the lady worried.
Marie-Diane typically spends three hours of her working hours per week accompanying her mother to doctor’s appointments. As her health deteriorates, she must dive into sick leave and vacations to meet her needs.
“We have excellent employers, my sister and I, which allow us to dedicate time to our mother. I don’t dare imagine the lives of people who don’t have that flexibility and our financial capacity,” she says, admitting to feeling very tired because the help isn’t limited to hospital appointments.
dreams of support
The psychological burden of this mother, who also lost a son, accumulated over the years, became so great that Marie-Diane gave up the role of manager, which she nevertheless loved very much. Today it has advisory functions.
Julie Bickerstaff, director of Info-Aidant
Marie-Diane wants to feel supported by society in this role, which weighs heavily even when we love.
The number of calls to the Info-Aidant, a listening and information hotline for nursing staff, has increased every year for the past 10 years.
“The most urgent need is direct financial support, because this helping role is doomed to a certain impoverishment. People pay out of their own pockets for equipment, services, etc., explains director Julie Bickerstaff.
In Quebec, a tax credit is available to caregivers, but no direct allowance.
When the health of the caregiver suffers
Photo by Valerie Lesage
Nine months after her mother’s death, Josée, who wishes to remain anonymous, is still struggling to recover from the total exhaustion her work as a caregiver has caused her.
Nine months after the death of her mother, Josée is struggling to stay healthy and gradually resumes her work in sales.
For several years she accompanied her mother, who was in poor health. In early 2022, when she was diagnosed with advanced cancer, she initially took leave to help out. And when his mother got into a palliative care home, no one suspected that it would take a month and a half.
“It was not clear that I had short-term insurance with my employer and I wondered what would happen to my future. would i lose my job I was worried but convinced that my place was with my mother,” says Josée, touched.
Eventually, she was entitled to an income equal to a quarter of her salary, which was paid out months later. A gap whose impact is in addition to any meal-on-wheels expenses and other pre-final needs.
Exhausted after the death of her mother, Josée, who had looked after everything for her own good, said she fell to her knees. She was no longer able to work until the fall. She had experienced several deaths of relatives in the previous two years, and the repercussions were strong.
Now it’s a stepparent asking her for time. Victim of a stroke during the holidays, his abilities are severely limited.
“Even if his house wasn’t suitable yet, we wanted to get him out of the hospital,” says Josée, who is tired of having to fight for the services to be provided.
people drown
“Our society doesn’t see people drowning. There aren’t many buoys launched and you have to do a lot of legwork to find services,” she says.
She wants employers to understand and have a plan with good group insurance to support caregivers in an aging society.
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