Intergenerational Care Benefits Everyone Involved

September 29, 2024

September is Intergeneration Month, launched by The Intergenerational Foundation, to connect generations and urge people from varying age groups to socialize. The idea behind recognizing Intergeneration Month each September is to promote learning from each other, such as gaining a better understanding of history and the challenges that separate generations. By connecting with different age groups across generations, unlikely friendships form between those who would otherwise never have communicated with each other. 

People balancing raising young children and caring for aging parents may consider looking into what intergenerational daycare can offer. Facilities that provide both child care and senior care are on the rise, and that’s probably because, in addition to being a convenient solution for caretakers, the benefits to each age group are numerous.

If you’re considering Intergenerational Care for your loved ones, here’s everything you need to know. 

What is Intergenerational Care?

Intergenerational care centers provide care for both young children and older adults. “It’s also referred to as a ‘shared site,’” says  Merle Griff, the director of McKinley Center Intergenerational Project. “In many cases, there’s a senior area on one side of the building, a child care area on the other, and a hallway connecting the two. At various points during the day, they come together,” she says. The care provided can take on several forms, but at the core, it’s a service offered to multiple generations to provide care in one place across age groups.

The benefits of multi-generational care include forming connections between people who have a lot to teach one another and who would have otherwise never been allowed to meet. “It brings younger and older people together to increase social connectedness, enhance well-being for the benefit of all ages, and strengthen the web of support that is so integral to families and communities,” says Sheri Steinig, the director of Generations United. “People of different ages come together to learn, play, grow, and interact in planned intergenerational activities as well as through informal encounters,” she says.

The Different Kinds of Intergenerational Care

While intergenerational care means care across generations, the services provided vary. “There are many settings for intergenerational care,” says Steinig. “There can be programs at community centers and schools or care in daycare centers, retirement communities, nursing homes or assisted living and affordable housing,” she says. You may even provide intergenerational care in the form of a multigenerational household where more than two generations live. One in four American households are already multigenerational.

Intergenerational care centers look more like daycare facilities with adult daycare services or nursing home locations. “Each center is run their own way,” says Griff. “There are typically planned, structured interactions during the day,” she says. Both age groups are usually not combined for the entire day. Daily intergenerational activities may look like a combined sport, arts and crafts activity, comparison presentations between then and now, or even cradling opportunities, where seniors are paired with infants to rock and soothe to sleep. To date, there are fewer care centers than intergenerational programs. While there are only 150 sites across the country, care centers are expected to grow in popularity. For instance, The Mount Intergenerational Learning Center, a Seattle preschool within a nursing home, reports having over 400 children on their waiting list.

Intergenerational care programs are structured pairings between children of various ages and older adults. Programs such as these are designed to foster relationships between youth and seniors. It could be a pen pal program between elementary school kids and seniors, college students visiting nursing homes, multi-age choirs, or veterans going to schools to talk to students about their experiences.

To find a program such as this or a care center in your area, Generations United offers a search tool.

The Benefits of Intergenerational Bonds

Many grandparents live thousands of miles away from their grandchildren while aging adults live several states away from their children. According to a study from the University of California San Francisco, 43% of older adults report experiencing loneliness, and those who feel lonely are at a 59% increased risk of declining health.

That’s when intergenerational care can help. Older adults experience a sense of purpose and renewal after spending time with and helping young people. It helps seniors feel like they are not just receiving care but offering care. “Despite the dementia diagnosis, the maternal and paternal instincts can still kick in, and the seniors feel a sense of purpose,” says Jenna Hauss, the president of ONEgeneration. “They can care for others. They don’t always need to be cared for,” she says.

It isn’t just older generations that benefit from the connection. Children who spend time around older adults have fewer biases around such things as walkers and wheelchairs and become more comfortable with these differences. Multigenerational care promotes sensitivity among both age groups. Parents notice that their children are more empathetic, while older adults experience less loneliness, reduced agitation, and improved overall health.

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Intergenerational care addresses two important needs: early childcare and the increasing demand for senior services, but the benefits of this combined service reap rewards far beyond caretaking. Research is proving that both age groups experience different perks from intergenerational connections. If this sounds like it might be the right fit for you and your loved ones, Insureyouknow.org can help you search for care by storing all of your research, financial information, and medical records in one easy-to-review place.

2021 Benefits for a Happy, Healthy, and Productive Workforce

December 30, 2020

According to a study by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, 42 percent of the U.S. workforce worked from home in 2020. New challenges for a stay-at-home workforce include balancing work while caring for children or the elderly, dealing with mental health and other medical issues, and having opportunities for options in their work schedules. In response to these issues, some proactive businesses plan to provide child-care enhancements, telehealth benefits, and other flexible opportunities in 2021 to keep employees happy, healthy, and productive.

Child Care Benefits

For working parents, COVID-19 has been a balancing act of work and home responsibilities. At the beginning of the pandemic, 60 percent of parents had no child care support and they currently spend, on average, 52 hours per week on child care, homeschooling, and other household tasks according to a Boston Consulting Group survey.

One of the most innovative trends of 2021 will be to offer expanded support for child care. Some employers will boost child care benefits to include tutoring services, emergency child care support, virtual support groups for parents, onsite day care in the workplace, in-home child care for work-at-home employees, and virtual activities to keep kids occupied. These supportive measures will help alleviate stress at home so parents can be more focused and productive at work.

Mental Health Support

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees struggling with mental health challenges seek support from employers to cope with stress, anxiety, and burnout. Employers can offer telehealth resources and other virtual health tools like meditation apps, access to professional therapy, sleep tools, resilience training, and one-on-one behavioral coaching.

In a recent survey of employers by the Business Group on Health, two-thirds of businesses said they offer online mental health support and that is expected to grow to 88 percent in 2021. The stress of the pandemic combined with increased access to telemedicine will result in expansion of mental health benefits. Patients who are uncomfortable seeking help for stress and anxiety in person may experience less apprehension in a telemedicine environment.

Most employers also are providing increased access to other online mental health support resources such as apps, videos, and additional on-demand information. Still others are implementing manager training to help supervisory staff recognize mental and behavioral health issues and direct employees to appropriate services.

Telehealth Benefits

Since the pandemic began, an unprecedented number of people have scheduled virtual medical appointments, fearing potential exposure to the coronavirus. As telehealth availability increased in 2020, more patients began opting for this type of care. Even those not worried about contact with COVID-19 have appreciated the convenience of not missing a day of work to spend hours going to a doctor’s office in person.

Telehealth options have been expanding for years with both healthcare providers and health insurance carriers offering consumers the option to seek non-emergency care for minor illnesses from the comfort of their own homes or offices.

Additional telehealth alternatives will likely be added to many employee health plans as a way to address concerns over direct contact during the COVID-19 pandemic and because of the overall convenience of virtual visits.

Improved In-office Benefits

During the pandemic, patients who have gone into a doctor’s office have been met with thermometers, sanitizers, fewer fellow patients in waiting rooms, and shorter waiting times. Consumers will continue to demand in 2021 a streamlined in-office experience without a loss of efficiency in the administration of healthcare.

Flexible PTO and Sick Leave

The COVID-19 pandemic has redefined the workplace and employers’ leave policies to expand paid time off (PTO) and to provide more flexibility around work hours.

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act, passed in March 2020, ensured all employees receive two weeks of paid sick leave to care for themselves or loved ones.

Taking time off includes not only going on a vacation but also allows for leave for family and caregiver roles to achieve a good work-life balance that helps employees be productive at work and more present in their personal lives. With many employees having no place to go for an extended vacation, employers are also changing PTO policies out of concern employees won’t use allotted paid time off during the pandemic.

Some employers are allowing employees to carry over a portion of unused PTO into 2021, while others are experimenting with PTO sharing programs, so employees can donate their vacation time to a charity, a general company fund, or a specific colleague.

A combination of adjusting time off policies, offering more flexible work schedules, or adopting new policies in general are some of the ways employers will address these concerns in 2021.

Financial Wellness

As the pandemic sent shockwaves through the U.S. labor market with layoffs, pay cuts and furloughs, employers made sure to support employees through financial challenges with benefits like early wage access, automated savings programs, and education resources.

Many employers provide optional benefits like additional life or disability insurance as well as offering employees resources and education to reduce stress and enhance financial well-being. Some programs include educational sessions on common topics like reducing debt, while others include complimentary meetings with financial advisors. A few companies have opted to solve their PTO dilemma and financial stress by allowing employees to directly apply a PTO payout to student loan debt.

Health and Fitness Options

The transition to remote work means employees may be more sedentary than in an office building. To help employees alleviate stress and stay physically active, new virtual fitness offerings have become a must-have employee benefit during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Countless employers are taking their wellness programs online, offering virtual yoga, kickboxing, Tae Kwon Do, and other types of fitness classes. Wellness contests such as virtual fun runs, walks, and biking competitions also have been popular.

Some employers have hosted virtual lunch and learning programs, as well as online happy hours, and collaborative movie viewing. Many have introduced online gaming sessions, which have included trivia contests, Zoom bingo, and competitions for best virtual backgrounds. Still others are relying on old-fashioned but Zoom-friendly games such as Scattergories, Pictionary, Charades, and Heads-up.

Expansion of Other Benefits

Many employers will continue to make their benefits plans more attractive by increasing the availability of additional voluntary benefits such as life and disability insurance, home, auto, and pet insurance, financial counseling, and legal services. These options can often differentiate one business from another helping to attract and retain qualified employees.

Employers are also finding creative ways to reward remote staff with food delivery service gift cards and subsidies to pay for home office equipment such dual monitors and comfortable, ergonomic office chairs, as well as Internet or cellular services that they use for work.

In 2021, out-of-pocket costs are predicted to increase from 5 to 10 percent for healthcare premiums. Insurance claims for preventive and elective care that were put on hold during the pandemic also may increase maximum costs and deductibles.

If your employer institutes any new benefits or offers you upgraded options designed to contribute to your happiness, health, and productivity, keep track of your employment benefit changes at InsureYouKnow.org.