Whether it’s helping an aging parent, supporting a partner through illness or raising a child with special needs, millions of Americans are providing unpaid care to a loved one. And if they were compensated, it would cost around $600 billion a year.
WWNO and WRKF have partnered with the producers of the PBS documentary, Caregiving, to shine a spotlight on America’s caregiving crisis. We talked to people living in south Louisiana about their caregiving situations and the unique challenges the region brings when caring for others.
Kathryn Bancroft began her role as caregiver as a teenager volunteering at Louisiana Lions Camp. Although her job as a camp counselor ended years ago, the lessons it taught her stick with her today.
This story has been edited for length and clarity.
My name is Kathryn Bancroft, and I really think that everyone should volunteer somewhere where they have to care for someone. My sister went to a camp called the Louisiana Lions Camp, and it is a camp for kids with special needs. And when I was 16, my mom said, “Hey, they're hiring. You need a summer job. You should apply.” And so I did.
And I really didn't have any idea what I was getting into. It was very much like a, “Hey, come work with kids with disabilities.” And I was like, all right. And I would probably say that before I went, I was much brattier than when I came back because I went and it was so much more than I had ever anticipated.
We were expected to help with incontinence, help with diapers, help with enemas, feeding tubes. I would be up at 3 a.m. putting in a catheter. You learn things like behavior management. How to talk to a camper while you are bathing them. How do you talk to them? You learn how to talk to people at different mental levels with the same level of respect.
That's a big one. It was a really great experience to see kids who had been the odd one out and been different their entire lives suddenly not be different and probably not even be the most disabled one there. Like, it's really, really fun to kind of see them open up in that manner. And you bond so hard with them. You can't not, there's no, there's no choice. You have to love them or else you wouldn't do what you did.
You're not alone at Lions Camp. You're with all of the other teenagers that you're working with. So I've seen the brattiest, meanest most down-and-out teenagers completely change in the face of a 5-year-old who needs to be pushed onto the wheelchair swing.
You know, there's this innate need to take care of one another that's really, really beautiful. To witness not just in yourself, but in other people. That innate human compassion is something that I think I'll take with me. It forces me to remain optimistic about people. The American experience is very individualistic.
We really bolster and celebrate independence, and we celebrate not needing anyone. And we celebrate being on your own. And we celebrate being a self-made person when really nobody gets anywhere alone. And I think that the American individual-first mentality really damages our perspective when people do need help and when people do need any type of caregiving.
Being a caregiver has shown me that, whether I like it or not, it is a reality of life and to prepare for it, prepare mentally to need other people's help. We're doing it because we want to and because we love you.