An increasing number of baby boomers, who are now aged 41 to 60, are faced with a pressing issue: how best to look after mom and dad while looking after their own families and jobs.

For some employees, temporary daycare for mom and dad is the latest job perk. But while progressive companies realize eldercare is a reality for their employees, no one expects corporate-backed eldercare to be a permanent solution. Experts suggest looking to your communities for solutions.

Boomers’ parents are living longer than previous generations but are becoming functionally and cognitively frail. Statistics Canada recently reported that in 2002, 1.7 million adults aged 45 to 64 were providing informal care to 2.3 million seniors with some form of physical or cognitive limitation. And 70% of those caregivers were in the workforce.

That means your boomer clients may well be scrambling to keep their heads above water at work. “Workers caring for elderly people often experience a reduction in productivity,” says Maureen Osis, president of ElderWise, a Calgary-based company that helps elderly Canadians and their adult children manage issues related to aging. “It’s difficult to be efficient at work when Mom is calling you 10 times a day or you have to rush off to the hospital when Dad takes a fall.”

Getting seniors to medical appointments and co-ordinating outside help usually has to be done on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., adds Barbara Carter, president of Papillon Consulting Services, a Toronto-based seniors’ housing consultancy: “Juggling these responsibilities and a job can be mentally and physically draining.”

In the 1970s and ’80s, Carter notes, baby boomers were focused on child care. In those years, she worked in human resources, specializing in staff relocation for Royal Bank of Canada. “People we were moving around the country were concerned about what schools and daycare were available in the city to which they were heading,” she says. “Now they’re worried about eldercare. In the past 20 years, the average age of dependents has shifted from being under 14 to over 65. This shift should have a big impact on the kind of support employers need to give their employees.”

Peter Silin, a social worker who runs Diamond Geriatrics Inc. , a geriatric-care management firm in Vancouver, says one local law firm offers its lawyers up to $500 a year for geriatric-care management services with his company.

Five Calgary-based businesses — Royal Bank, Deloitte Inc., Nexen Inc., BP Canada and Enbridge Inc. — are participating in a pilot project that offers their employees temporary backup eldercare at Millrise Place, a private seniors’ assisted-living residence in the city. Employees can take their parents to Millrise Place when existing care arrangements fall through.

The pilot started at the end of January “and we saw an increase in usage during March break,” says Victoria Sopik, CEO of Markham, Ont.-based Kids and Company, a national provider of employee child-care benefits, which launched the pilot project.

“This kind of backup is needed in Calgary,” adds Colin Merrick, associate partner of human resources and administration in Deloitte’s Calgary office. “We have people from all around the world working here. Many don’t have the social network to help elderly parents if they have to go out of town.”

Diana Ward, Royal Bank’s senior manager of public affairs for Alberta and the Territories, employs a full-time companion for her elderly mother. “This is something we could use if Mother’s companion is called away,” she says.

Under the pilot, Deloitte offers employees’ parents three free days a year at Millrise Place; Royal Bank provides two days. The project will be reviewed after six months to determine the demand and the possible need for expansion.

But temporary backup will not take the place of permanent care. Osis suggests that clients with elderly parents take inventory of the options available to them. They may find a subsidized day program in their neighbourhood, or they may have to pay for someone to look after Mom at home. Or they may need a combination of the two.

First of all, suggest your clients find out what their employee assistance plans cover. “Family care benefits may be buried in there,” Carter says. “If they’re not, planholders should ask why not. They can say that the company’s child-care benefits don’t apply to them but they could use some help with eldercare.”

@page_break@Silin recently had an inquiry from an Australian who is being transferred to Canada. “He wants to bring his elderly father, who needs nursing-home care,” Silin says. “I suggested he ask the company about its eldercare benefits.”

Most regional health authorities across the country operate seniors’ day programs. The costs are fairly low, as they are government-subsidized. “Call your regional health authority and find out what’s available in your area,” Osis recommends.

In Toronto, for example, Community Care East York’s adult day program operates from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays, and provides a hot lunch and snacks, discussion groups, crafts, day trips and exercise. The program is subsidized by the Province of Ontario and the United Way; participants pay $8 a day, or $20 if they need transportation.

Osis says the problem with many day programs is their inconvenient locations. Millrise Place, she notes as an example, is in a neighbourhood in the south of Calgary: “If I lived in the north end and worked downtown, would I want to spend an hour and a half getting Dad to daycare every morning?”

And hours of operation may also be inconvenient. “A program that ends at 3 p.m. just won’t work if I’m at the office until 5 p.m.,” she adds.

Cynthia Williams started her eldercare business, Marquee Active Care, in Toronto 11 years ago, when she saw the need for a seniors’ day program with hours suited to caregivers’ workdays. Williams starts picking seniors up from their homes at 6:30 a.m.; the program winds down at 6 p.m. She charges $65 a person a day.

Three Hills, Alta., has a high proportion of seniors in its population of about 3,500. It also has an active seniors’ outreach program, manned largely by volunteers. “Seniors are moving to Three Hills from rural areas because we have a good hospital and other medical facilities, seniors’ housing and we’re an hour’s drive to Calgary,” says Marion Shadlock, the outreach program’s co-ordinator.

Volunteers serve in a respite program in Three Hills and surrounding Kneehill County, giving caregivers much-needed breaks. They run a community bus service, picking up seniors and taking them shopping twice a week. They operate Caring Car service, taking seniors to appointments, shopping or visiting. And they help seniors apply for government benefits and prepare tax returns.

Many local churches also run seniors’ day programs, and participants usually don’t need to belong to the church’s faith community.

Osis also suggests family caregivers seek out occasional weekend or vacation respite care for their parents. “Caregivers can easily develop fatigue and depression, and become socially isolated,” she says.

Many seniors’ residences and nursing homes offer respite care. While this can cost $100 a day or more, bringing someone into the home to care for a senior will probably cost as much. “It also gives Mom or Dad the chance to check out a particular facility,” Carter says.

So, as an advisor, consider treating your clients to “lunch and learn” sessions with experts on elder issues. “Many people don’t know what’s out there or where to find it,” Osis says. IE