New York, NY–The latest issue of United Spinal Association’s Action Online newsmagazine features caregiver issues from three perspectives: the employed caregiving health professional, the spouse as primary caregiver, and the parent as caregiver. To read these articles, go to www.unitedspinal.org/publications/action/.

Caregivers 101 offers highlights of a presentation delivered at the August 2007 North American Conference on Spinal Cord Injury/Disorder in Orlando, Florida. Among the 44 million people in America serving as caregivers today, a significant portion are hired to deliver care in an individual’s home.

The person seeking to hire a caregiver must take an employer’s approach, by developing a “job description” that includes identified needs like personal care, household duties, communications assistance, and mobility requirements. An application for the caregiver position should be developed, and an interview conducted. Promising candidates for the caregiver position should be kept on file in case the person hired does not work out. Most importantly, if the person in need of care has a gut feeling that an applicant is not right for the duties involved, move on to another applicant.

When Do You Let Go? presents a series of candid comments from children with spinal cord injuries and their caregiving parents. The average age that an individual incurs a spinal cord injury in the United States is between 17 and 25, so it is common that one or both parents of many of the 11,000 newly-injured persons with SCI per year contribute some level of caregiving. This article counsels parents to learn about SCI and to be positive with their child as much as possible.

In Caregiving and Depression, readers learn that depression strikes “parent” caregivers at twice the rate of depression among the general public, and depression burdens “spouse” caregivers at six times the rate of the population. This article is based on a frank interview with Suzanne Mintz, co-founder and president of the National Family Caregivers Association, who discusses her own struggle with depression and the critical importance of respite care to the caregiver.