Park in ACC lot, Dogwood Deck by permit
Sandwich generation finds
challenges in caring
for aging family members
Park in ACC lot,
Dogwood Deck
by permit
|
|
Every day, hundreds of people come to UNC Hospitals and the
School of Dentistry from all over North Carolina.
They arrive seeking treatment for themselves or worried
about the condition of a family member or friend who they may be coming to
visit.
The last thing these people need is additional stress trying
to find a place to park.
That is why the Dogwood Deck on Manning Drive and the
Ambulatory Care Center (ACC) Lot off Mason Farm Road are reserved for hospital
and dental school patients and visitors weekdays between
7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.
All too often, however, parking has not been available for
patients and visitors because the spaces are taken by faculty, staff and
students who are going to class or work, or in the case of resident students,
sometimes storing their vehicles.
To address the problem, the Department of Public Safety
(DPS) renewed its efforts to monitor entrances and check license plate numbers
in these parking areas before issuing tickets to any vehicle belonging to a faculty
member, staff member or student. And for those people who had legitimate
reasons for parking there, DPS also has made it easy to appeal the tickets
online.
Criticism about the policy was voiced at a recent Employee
Forum meeting.
“We understand that employees and students often have
medical reasons to park in the parking deck or ACC parking lot, and we want to
make sure they can do that without being ticketed,” said Randy Young, DPS
information specialist.
“If they’ll obtain a temporary hangtag parking permit, they
won’t have to worry about getting a ticket.”
People can get the parking permits from:
Booth
attendant at the Ambulatory Care Center off Mason Farm Road;
Dogwood
Parking Deck office, just inside the East Drive entrance;
Public
Safety building customer service window from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (DPS is
located on Hardin Drive off Manning Drive.); and
UNC
Hospitals Parking Office (2nd floor, Anderson Pavilion; 966-1031).
In addition, faculty, staff and students can call DPS at
962-3951 to have the hangtag mailed to them prior to their medical
appointments.
If they have an unplanned appointment or emergency, they can
also call this same number to provide their license plate information and avoid
getting a ticket.
Sandwich generation finds
challenges
in caring for aging family members
Sue Coppola, right, helps 91-year-old June Watson review
her bills
during a visit to Watson’s home near Chapel Hill. |
Like most members of the sandwich generation, Sue Coppola has
a lot on her plate. Coppola, a professor in the School of Medicine’s Division
of Occupational Science, also helps care for her mother, who has dementia, and
her daughter, a high-school student just learning to drive.
The sandwich generation is the group of middle-aged adults
who are raising children while also providing financial support or care to
their parents. Thanks to increases in life expectancy, the situation is
becoming more common for many Americans, including Carolina faculty and staff
members, Coppola said.
“The demographics are quite compelling,” she said. “It’s
going to put increasing strain on families, who already provide 80 percent of
care.”
About one in eight Americans between the ages of 41 and 59
are caring both for children and aging parents, according to a 2005 study by
the Pew Research Center.
Many of these caretakers miss work to attend doctors’
appointments with older family members or to handle crisis situations. That
costs employers about $33.6 billion in lost productivity each year, according
to a 2006 study by the National Alliance for Caregiving.
About 80 percent of caregiving for older adults is performed
at home, most often by women, and the fact that more women have become employed
in recent decades complicates the issue, said Anne Whisnant, vice president of
the Association for Women Faculty and Professionals, which sponsored a workshop
last November about caring for older adults. Whisnant is also director of research,
communications and programs for the Office of Faculty Governance.
“It’s different now when the main caregiver in many cases is
also employed,” Whisnant said.
Although juggling different roles can be stressful, Coppola
said it is important to remember that aging also has a
silver lining.
“There are a lot of wonderful gifts to aging,” she said.
“All the data shows that people generally have higher life satisfaction as they
age. There’s a satisfaction that you’ve gotten through a lot of the hurdles in life,
even if you’re sorry that life is coming to a close. And spending time with an
aging parent can be very rewarding.”
Meanwhile, a wealth of resources for older adults is
available through the University and in Orange County. Coppola and other UNC
experts offer several tips for faculty and staff members caring for an aging
family member.
Because social isolation is one of the most critical
problems that older people face, connecting with others and feeling productive
is important.
“The people who live to be centenarians are people by and
large who have something to do tomorrow,” Coppola said.
Creating new family roles, such as having a grandparent
bless the food at special meals, can bring a sense of purpose. The Orange
County Department on Aging can provide information about activities for adults
ages 55 and older; call 245-2000.
Taking steps to prevent falls is crucial. “Falls are a huge
killer of people,” said Victor Marshall, director of the UNC Institute on
Aging.
Last year, the institute helped found the N.C. Falls
Prevention Coalition. The 30-member organization uses social-marketing
techniques to teach people how to reduce the risk of falls, such as by removing
throw rugs and installing grab bars in showers. To reach the coalition, call
the North Carolina Injury and Violence Prevention Branch at 707-5425.
Aging experts also advocate preparing legal documents before
a crisis arises. A living will specifies the treatments an individual would
like to receive, and a health-care power of attorney authorizes another person
to make important medical decisions if the person is unable to express those
wishes. Both documents can make caring for a loved one easier.
Fostering self-reliance is another key component. For
instance, creating an environment in which older adults have access to do their
own laundry is one way to help them stay active. An occupational therapist can
help develop a plan for accomplishing this.
In planning and implementing care for an older loved one, it
is beneficial to find an interdisciplinary team of doctors who will work
together to develop the treatment plan. The Interdisciplinary Geriatric
Evaluation and Treatment Clinic in the UNC Center for Aging and Health is such
a resource; call 966-1459.
Even people who are not caring for an aging family member
can be an advocate for innovative education in geriatrics.
Last fall, English professor Jane Thrailkill started talking
with students about how they could incorporate tools from literature into their
work with older adults.
“There’s an element of detective work to what they do, and
attention to the small detail that may prove to be the lynchpin,” she said.
“Those aspects of what they’re up to are frequently involved in literature.”
The students discussed how to observe key details –
such as dirty dishes in the sink – that could be a quiet signal of
depression and how this insight might keep a problem
from escalating.
Editor’s Note: Sara Peach, a master’s student from Durham in the School of
Journalism and Mass Communication, wrote this article.
