Nov. 5, 2002
Care in Times of Need
GW’s Family Care Resources Offers Guiding Advice
to the University Community
By Carol
Ann Rudolph
During the 14 months since Sept. 11, families
of all kinds have experienced the increased stress of terrorism, a flattened
economy, and the day-to-day challenges of balancing work and personal
life. Be it the Ozzie and Harriet family or the Cosby’s, single-parents
or the “sandwich generation” family (with an elderly parent
and two teens living in the same home), a husband whose spouse has Alzheimer’s,
or a single person concerned about a grandparent living hundreds of
miles away, at least one-third of employees are faced with the challenges
of care-giving.
It is generally accepted, after years of research about working parents
and child care, that parents often lose as many as five to eight days
of work due to child care arrangement breakdowns. School holidays, snowstorms,
and other disruptions in school and child care schedules can throw parents
into a panic if they don’t have their arrangements well planned
out.
In addition, by the end of this decade, workers 55 years and older will
comprise 20 percent of the work force, and these employees will have
increased care-giving responsibility or concern. Even though their children
may be grown and on their own, these employees will be faced with caring
for their aged parents or relatives.
Employers nationwide addressed the enormous concerns of working people
trying to live up to their responsibilities at work, as well as at home,
by offering a variety of workplace benefits such as on- or near-site
child care, tax-deferred spending plans to cover child care or medical
expenses, and resource and referral programs. GW is no exception.
The most frequently used program among family oriented benefits offered
to employees is the Resource and Referral Service — predominately
for employees with child care and elder care concerns. GW joined other
employers when they established the Child Care Resource and Referral
and Counseling Service in the late 1980s. Since then the service has
expanded to include elder care and dependent care resources and referral,
now known as the Family Care Resource and Referral and Counseling Service
(FCRRCS). More than 1,200 employees have benefited from the service
in the past decade. Between 3 and 5 percent of the employee population
use the child care services and 1 to 3 percent take advantage of the
elder care/dependent care resources and referrals.
FCRRCS is available free of charge to all GW employees. FCRRCS, based
in Bethesda, MD, offers telephone consultation as well as on-site consultations
with specialists to discuss family care needs.
As the founder of FCRRCS and a child care specialist, I have more than
30 years of experience in early childhood education, training child
care workers and Head Start teachers, operating child care centers,
providing parent education programs, and consulting on child care and
parenting issues. Sharon Lynch, FCRRCS’s social worker and geriatric
care specialist, and director of ElderLink, has more than 20 years of
experience in the field providing elder and dependent care advice. The
two of us offer comforting and practical advice to The George Washington
University employee community.
FCRRCS offers counseling days generally scheduled on the first and third
Tuesday of each month. Consultations take place in the benefits department
offices at 2033 K St., suite 210. Along with advice and counseling on
the varied options, employees receive a comprehensive packet of information
including a list of resources they need as well as tip sheets and relevant
articles. FCRRCS often orders materials from agencies and sends them
directly to the inquiring employee or their family member.
Included among the information provided by FCRRCS’s specialists
are: lists of child care centers and licensed family day care homes,
nanny and au pair agencies, and share care arrangements. On the elder
and dependent care side, FCRRCS offers specialized assistance locating
nursing facilities, assisted living communities, home health care agencies,
and other supportive services such as transportation programs, Meals-on-Wheels,
companion services, health insurance counseling programs, long-term
care insurance information, and legal and tax information. FCRRCS contacts
local agencies around the country and overseas, when necessary, to identify
services for aging parents and relatives who live outside the Washington,
DC, metropolitan area.
One employee writing about FCRRCS’s response to her request for
elder care assistance echoes the sentiments we often hear: “The
best phone call I made was to [FCRRCS]. Thank you so much for your quick
response and your help. I can’t thank you enough for giving me
peace of mind that I am doing the right thing.”
Employees receive a personalized information packet and between one
and two hours of consultation and follow-up, which may include the family
care specialists making calls to agencies and centers to determine any
relevant information employees need such as availability of space, costs,
hours, and program description.
FCRRCS also will be sponsoring a series of lunch time Family Care Seminars
beginning in January. These informative programs will be held in the
Marvin Center and employees may bring their lunch and join the discussion/lecture
on a host of topics such as dealing with aging parents, parenting teenagers,
learning about long term care insurance, infant/toddler development,
and many other topics relevant to family life. Employees should watch
for flyers with more details about these informative seminars.
For more information about using the Family Care Resource and Referral
and Counseling Service, call 301/897-8272 or E-mail ccmrfcr@aol.com,
or contact Vance Beggs, benefits services manager, at 994-9620 or E-mail
vbeggs@gwu.edu.
Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu
