Providing Respite Care Gains in Need
One of the more crucial selling points of home care is the fact that an agency can relieve some of the pressure on family members who try to administer that care on their own. According to this article written by Jayne Williams of the Port Clinton (Ohio) News Herald, and backed up by solid statistics, a lot of family members are going to need a lot of relief in the near future.
Williams cites government statistics that indicate that the odds are more likely than not that an adult will serve as an unpaid caregiver to a family member at least once in their lifetime. Roughly 44 million Americans will do so in a given year – that’s 21 percent of the adult population. According to the article, 80 percent of the long-term care in the U.S. is provided by non-professional family caregivers, 61 percent of whom are women and 13 percent of whom are aged 65 and older.
Now for the shocking bit: 59 percent of non-professional caregivers are members of the workforce and have to juggle regular jobs on top of their caregiving duties.
The moral of the story: There are a lot of family caregivers out there. And to put it mildly, many of them are stressed out. They need relief, and the agency that crafts its marketing plan to meet the needs of this market segment will be the most successful.
How can this be done? By following these easy steps:
- Recognize the primary market for agency-provided caregivers. According to the stats, that market consists mainly of employed, middle-aged adults, most of whom are women.
- Recognize the predicament: They’re juggling too much and they’re overwhelmed.
- Use your marketing material to demonstrate how your agency can meet that need. Remember: you have the answer.
Case studies are an excellent way of showing how caregivers can make life easier for families:
- Interview a client who was stressed out and get them to explain how your agency’s services made their life easier.
- Get numbers. How many hours were they working per day?
- How many hours did they spend as a non-professional caregiver before they found your agency?
- Were they recently able to enjoy a vacation with their spouse and children because your agency was there to care for their loved one? If so, where did they go? Details are everything.
Home care agencies do have the answer. Thanks to these powerful government stats, we now know just how many people are asking the question. All it takes is good marketing to put the two together.