Stroke caregivers get little help
Family caregivers, who give the bulk of care for U.S. stroke patients at an estimated $6.1 billion a year, get little preparation, information or help.

Lead author Carol Levine, director of the Families and Health Care Project at the United Hospital Fund, interviewed 99 family caregivers of stroke and brain-injury patients in New York City while they received care from a certified home health agency and after these services were stopped. Even during the time when formal care was being given, patients received three-quarters of their care from family members.

"They are doing most of the work but are not really ready to take on all of the care themselves, and certainly do not get enough advice on where to get assistance," said Levine. "We really have to reframe our whole long-term care system to assess the needs of family caregivers as well as the patient."

Family caregivers are often not kept informed by healthcare agencies, which are geared to dealing with the patient only, according to the study published in the Milbank Quarterly.........