The Caregiver Profile

Who are these caregivers and what do they help with? Learn about their life and caregiving situation.

Carley - A Day in the Life of a Family Caregiver

Carley has been caring for her parent for less than 5 years.
She lives within walking distance from her parent who has long-term physical conditions and emotional/mental health issues, and sees a doctor about twice a month.
Carley is employed full-time, and sometimes her family helps with caregiving.

A timeline of Carley's day as a caregiver.

Carley's day and caregiving activities

At 7am, Carley wakes up and starts getting ready for work.

At 8am, Carley calls her parent to chat and to remind them to eat breakfast. She says, "If I go away for a few days, then it becomes a big problem for me in terms of (my parent) getting a meal." This causes emotional strain.

At 9am, Carley goes to work.

Around 10am, Carley calls her parent to remind and to ask about taking medications.

At 12pm, Carley eats lunch.

At 1pm, Carley helps with her parent's home maintenance issues, making note of things to be fixed, searching for information, making calls as needed. She says, "(I'm) really acting as intermediary between (my parent) and various contractors that they're having issues with." This causes financial and emotional strain.

At 5pm, Carley leaves work and goes grocery and other shopping for her parent (and sometimes herself). This causes physical strain.

At 6pm, Carley prepares dinner for herself and her family, keeping her parent company as she cooks.

At 7pm, Carley helps her parent eat.

At 8pm, Carley helps her parent with housework, including cleaning, laundry, taking out the trash, etc.

After housework is finished, Carley helps her parent with paying bills, which she considers to be a challenging task.

More about Carley

Every week, Carley spends 11 hours providing direct care and 2.4 hours looking up related information.
She occasionally gets unpaid help from family.
Her parent is mostly independent, but sometimes needs help with instrumental ADLs. She says, "(My parent) needs more help with cognitive things than physical things."
On weekends, she spends time with her parent in person and helps with arranging medications.
Carley doesn't help with transportation often, but spends a lot of time when she does. She says, "One time I had to work on Sunday and had to get (my parent) transportation to church. That was a big thing. I had to call make sure he was on the bus and stuff like that."
Carley needs help in the following areas: keeping her parent safe at home and making end-of-life decisions.
She is highly experienced with using technology in general and is an early adopter.