BC Council for Families

In 2007, about 2.7 million people aged 45 and over provided assistance or care to an elder relative who suffered from a long-term health problem or physical limitation. These numbers are up 670,000 from 2002.

Caring for a Parent Who Lives Far Away: The Consequences, a new article from StatsCan, traces the financial and work life balance challenges that exist for long distance caregivers. Some must travel half a day to visit an elder relative, others an entire day or more to help with transportation, shopping, banking, home maintenance, medical treatment, meal preparation or co-ordination of caregiving tasks.

As the senior population increases, more of these long distance family caregivers face personal challenges, especially those from smaller families. The number of siblings in a family can affect the sharing of responsibilities when a parent requires care. The further away caregivers live, the less likely they are to have come from a large family and to have additional support from siblings.

Caregivers living further from the assisted parent were also more likely to have extra expenses. 39% of those living more than a half day’s journey away from the parent being assisted reported that they had spent, on average, more than $500 per month on care. They were also more likely to miss full days of work, particularly women.

While many of the responsibilities and challenges of caregiving to relatives near or far remain the same, time pressures and additional costs can add stress for those living further from their parents. Having support circles to share caregiving has shown to relieve some of this strain on caregivers.