{"id":77684,"date":"2025-12-01T11:48:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T19:48:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=77684"},"modified":"2025-12-01T11:48:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T19:48:36","slug":"family-caregivers-in-california-can-tap-into-a-wealth-of-state-resources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=77684","title":{"rendered":"Family Caregivers in California Can Tap Into a Wealth of State Resources"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_65 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_65\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span><a class=\"tdb-author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/author\/sunita\/\">Sunita Sohrabji<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_66 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_66\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><i class=\"tdb-date-icon tdc-font-fa tdc-font-fa-calendar\"><\/i><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2025-11-20T14:57:15-08:00\">Nov 20, 2025<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_subtitle tdi_67 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_67\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>National Family Caregivers Month is observed every November to recognize and honor the contributions of family caregivers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_68 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_68\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"entry-thumb td-animation-stack-type0-2\" title=\"Caregivers\" src=\"https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Caregivers.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Caregivers.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Caregivers-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Caregivers-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Caregivers-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Caregivers-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Caregivers-696x464.jpg 696w, https:\/\/americancommunitymedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Caregivers-1068x712.jpg 1068w\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" \/><figcaption class=\"tdb-caption-text\">(Unsplash photo, copyright free)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_69 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_69\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>When Dan Salinger thinks about when his caregiving journey began, he realizes it didn\u2019t start with a single dramatic event. Instead, it happened slowly, and so gradually that he didn\u2019t even realize the role he had stepped into.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was a caregiver long before I knew I was a caregiver,\u201d Salinger told reporters Nov. 19 during an American Community Media news briefing. \u201cI had my dad with me for about five years, but the caregiving journey really started 10 or more years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Salinger\u2019s 93-year-old father had been living independently before small but significant changes began to worry the family. \u201cOne day he walked into the room he had napped in a thousand times and said, \u2018Oh, you put in a new room,\u2019\u201d Salinger recounted. \u201cThat was the first severe symptom. It opened our eyes. This was not normal aging.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then came the misplaced cashier\u2019s check, the unexplained bruises, the driving mishaps. \u201cThat was the day my dad moved into my brother\u2019s house,\u201d he said. \u201cWithin a week, we realized it was too hard for any one person to do alone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His father eventually moved in with him full time. Last year, a fall resulting in a broken hip changed everything. \u201cSince then, every single need he has, someone has to be there,\u201d Salinger said. \u201cAssisting with the bathroom, showers, eating \u2014 everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Salinger, a former attorney, had already stepped back from full-time practice after a heart attack in 2019. Caregiving has been financially destabilizing, he said, though his father\u2019s unexpected popularity on social media helped bridge a small portion of the gap. \u201cBut that\u2019s like hitting the lottery,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not something you can rely on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What has sustained him, he said, is his wife. \u201cI couldn\u2019t do this without her. Anytime you bring someone into your home, it disrupts both lives. Watching her change my dad at three in the morning \u2014 she\u2019s become this amazing mother-like caregiver.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The experience, he said, has reshaped him. \u201cIt\u2019s the most difficult thing I\u2019ve undertaken, but also the most rewarding. I\u2019m a better person, more empathetic. I like myself today more than I did when I was working and playing full time.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-people-are-caregivers-long-before-they-use-the-word\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018People Are Caregivers Long Before They Use the Word<strong>\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>There are more than 7 million family caregivers in California, noted Susan DeMarois, director of the California Department on Aging. \u201cThese are your neighbors, your coworkers, your relatives \u2014 people quietly stepping in to help loved ones with everyday tasks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the biggest barrier to supporting them is that many don\u2019t recognize themselves as caregivers, she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you ask someone directly, \u2018Are you a caregiver?\u2019 they will probably say no,\u201d DeMarois said. \u201cBut if you ask, \u2018Do you drive your mom to appointments? Do you pick up your husband\u2019s medications? Do you help your neighbor with meals?\u2019 \u2014 that\u2019s caregiving.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>California\u2019s 33 Area Agencies on Aging \u2014 AAAs \u2014 and 11 Caregiver Resource Centers are designed to support families statewide. Still, people often don\u2019t know where to start.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese systems have decades of experience \u2014 50 years of AAAs and 40 years of CRCs,\u201d said DeMarois. \u201cBut the first step is recognition. People need to know they\u2019re not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her own caregiving experience shapes her work. \u201cI cared for both my parents \u2014 my father with heart disease, my mother with dementia,\u201d she said. \u201cI know what exhaustion feels like. I know the emotional weight. None of this is theoretical to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur resources can help alleviate part of the strain: emotional, financial, or physical,\u201d said DeMarois.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-the-sandwich-generation\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Sandwich Generation<\/h2>\n<p>Alma Valencia\u2019s caregiving journey began even earlier than she realized \u2014 but unlike Salinger, her mother was just in her late 50s when symptoms appeared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mom, Arminda, wasn\u2019t herself,\u201d Valencia said. \u201cBills were piling up. People we didn\u2019t know \u2014 and didn\u2019t trust \u2014 were showing up at her house. She was forgetting basic things. But we thought it was menopause, or stress, or depression. Dementia wasn\u2019t even on our radar.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her mother stopped paying her mortgage. She misplaced important documents. Her personality seemed to shift. \u201cWe were trying to solve a mystery while raising our kids,\u201d she said. \u201cI was in the fashion industry, working full time. I was juggling my career, parenting, and this growing worry about my mom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Valencia became her mother\u2019s power of attorney to avert financial disaster \u2014 but the medical answers didn\u2019t come quickly. \u201cWe had misdiagnoses for years,\u201d she said. \u201cIt took a long time to finally hear the words \u2018frontotemporal dementia.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her mother moved in with her family in 2019, just before the pandemic. Through Medi-Cal, she qualified for In-Home Supportive Services \u2014 IHSS \u2014 allowing Valencia to be compensated for part of her caregiving work. She went from earning $90,000 a year in the fashion industry to just $17.50 per hour for caring for her mother.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-caregiving-forces-you-to-grow\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018Caregiving Forces You to Grow\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>The caregiving experience reshaped her family life. \u201cI\u2019m part of the sandwich generation,\u201d she said. \u201cMy husband has been my rock. Spouses are unseen heroes. And my kids had to learn why their grandmother was changing. They would ask, \u2018Why is Nana angry?\u2019 or \u2018Why does she forget me?\u2019 I had to teach them compassion for something even adults struggle to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Valencia said she still learns something new every day. \u201cCaregiving forces you to grow,\u201d she said. \u201cIt pushes you into roles you never imagined \u2014 advocate, medical coordinator, financial manager, peacemaker, educator.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her message to other caregivers: \u201cYou\u2019re not failing. You\u2019re adapting. And that\u2019s the bravest thing you can do.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-historical-shifts\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Historical Shifts<\/h2>\n<p>Dr. Donna Benton, director of the USC Family Caregiver Support Center, placed the issue of caregiving in a broader historical context.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor most of American history, families cared for one another at home,\u201d Benton said. \u201cBut people didn\u2019t routinely live into their late 80s or 90s. Care wasn\u2019t something that lasted a decade.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s caregiving, she said, is more comparable to running a small medical unit in the home. \u201cYou\u2019re dealing with medication schedules, mobility issues, behavioral symptoms of dementia, hospital-level care tasks. It\u2019s almost like you need a health care degree just to keep up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But what hasn\u2019t changed, she said, is the emotional core of caregiving. \u201cWe do this because we want dignity and respect for the people we love.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The state\u2019s 11 Caregiver Resource Centers offer coaching, counseling, support groups, and training \u2014 all available regardless of income or immigration status,\u201d said Benton.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCaregivers are invisible because they don\u2019t see themselves as caregivers. \u201cBut they need wraparound supports. That\u2019s how families survive and how communities stay whole.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-burnout-confusion-and-isolation\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Burnout, Confusion, and Isolation<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cCaregiving is deeply personal, but it\u2019s also universal,\u201d said Paul Dunaway, director of Sonoma County\u2019s Adult and Aging Division and a board member of the California Association of Area Agencies on Aging. \u201cEvery family\u2019s story is unique, but the themes \u2014 burnout, confusion, isolation \u2014 repeat across the state.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>AAAs serve as the connective tissue for families seeking support. \u201cCaregivers need more than services. They need validation. They need someone to tell them, \u2018You\u2019re doing everything you can, and you don\u2019t have to do the rest alone.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>AAAs are the quiet workhorses of California\u2019s aging network, running hundreds of programs from dementia trainings and in-home respite to caregiver counseling, fall-prevention classes, and transportation assistance.<\/p>\n<p>Too often, families contact their AAA only when they\u2019ve reached a crisis. \u201cCaregivers call when they\u2019re overwhelmed. They say, \u2018I can\u2019t do this anymore.\u2019 Our job is to help stabilize things and show them a path forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He encouraged early engagement. \u201cIf people reach out sooner, we can help sooner. We can help them build a community they didn\u2019t know they had.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BySunita Sohrabji Nov 20, 2025 National&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77684"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77685,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77684\/revisions\/77685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}