Real Life Family Caregivers of Kansas City

Families are the core unit of society. When we are born, our parents take care of us. When our parents grow old, we take care of them.

Caregiving for a family member is a common stage of life for many people, still it seems the issue of family caregivers often fade into the background. Despite the fact that family caregiving is so prevalent, there is a lack of supports available, for family caregivers, as well as awareness about existing resources. Not only that, Sandwiched KC understands that, even though caring for a loved one is quite commonplace, many people carry out the responsibility of caregiving without realizing there is a formal term for what they are doing.

According to the 2022 National Strategy for Supporting Family Caregivers, “Caregiving is a public health issue that receives inadequate recognition, and family caregivers are often the hidden heroes of the health care, long-term supports and services, and the child welfare systems. Improving support for family caregivers requires increased awareness of the roles they play and the challenges they face. In addition, there are many people providing support to loved ones who do not think of themselves as “caregivers;” they need to be empowered to identify the crucial role they play so that they can receive available training and assistance if they need it.”¹

The fact of the matter is family caregivers make the world go ‘round. There are approximately 53 million caregivers have provided unpaid care to an adult or child in the last 12 months.² It is estimated that across Missouri, 800,000 provided 750 million hours in unpaid care in 2021, valued at $11,600,000.³

Project Overview

Purpose

The purpose of the Real Life Family Caregivers of Kansas city video series is to capture the stories of family caregivers in the KC metro.

Goal

The goals of the project are to create videos/vignettes/stories to:

• help those who are caring for a loved one self-identify, that is realize that there’s a term for the support they are providing, so they can receive assistance available to family caregivers.
• celebrate the triumphs and identify the challenges facing family caregivers in today’s reality.
• prepare those who are not yet in a caring role for possible future responsibilities.
• educate the community on issues affecting those caring for a loved one.