Who is a Caregiver?

A caregiver is a family member or friend who provides unpaid care for a loved one living with challenges due to disability, illness, or aging.

Do you support a family member who lives with a chronic illness, brain injury, mental illness, addiction, or disability?

Does your spouse have an illness like heart disease/stroke, arthritis, cancer, MS, ALS, Parkinson's, or Alzheimer's?

Do you help your parent(s) with tasks such as grocery shopping, house maintenance or cleaning, medical appointments, or even personal care (baths, meals, etc.)?

Are you the main person who checks on and/or helps a relative, neighbour or friend because "there's no one else"?

IF SO, YOU ARE A "CAREGIVER".

The examples above are not exhaustive by any means. The list of conditions that can make you a caregiver are endless.

4 to 5 million Canadians are caregivers. Their unpaid labour of love provides more than 80% of the care needed by people with long-term conditions. If these services were paid for, it would cost our health care and social services systems around $9 billion.

Caregiving can be stressful, time-consuming, expensive, and career-limiting. Trying to balance your caregiving obligations, child care, employment, family life, and social life can be a near impossible task unless you have the support you need and deserve.

Sometimes it can be hard to ask for help, but caregiving can be difficult to manage by yourself. In the olden days, whole communities would work together to support their most vulnerable members. Caregivers need support. Learning about, planning for, and connecting with helpful people and resources can assist in maintaining oneself on the caregiving journey.