Opportunity and emotional costs add to dementia caregivers’ burdens, says panel
After government subsidies, the typical caregiver pays about S$24,000 a year in care costs, study finds
[SINGAPORE] Michelle Ong, who is the main caregiver for her 87-year-old dementia-stricken father, was looking forward to a trip to Kazakhstan this year with her friends. It was something she had been planning since early in the year.
Three months before her trip, however, her father’s cognitive faculties took a turn for the worse. “He sat at the table in front me and said: ‘So what do I do?’, and I said: ‘You eat’. And he said: ‘How do you eat?’,” she recalled. “He was never like that. So how am I going to leave and go on a holiday, when someone tells me, ‘how do I eat?’”
Such lost opportunities – which vary from person to person – are often overlooked when considering dementia costs, said outgoing CEO of Dementia Singapore Jason Foo on Tuesday (Oct 16) at a panel dialogue on the cost of dementia care.
“When you’re doing caregiving, you can’t go for regular yoga classes. You can’t catch up with friends for drinks or dinner. You can’t go for holidays. A lot of caregivers have not been on holiday for six or seven years,” he added.
“That’s me,” said Ong. “Because my dad was diagnosed about six years ago.”
Direct and indirect costs
The panel discussion was part of a media session presenting the findings of a study on the cost of dementia care.
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The study, which surveyed 260 caregivers online, was done by insights organisation Pureprofile, in partnership with Dementia Singapore. It found that, after government subsidies, the typical caregiver pays about S$24,000 a year in dementia care costs. It also noted that support schemes, including long-term care subsidies, provide a “meaningful cushion”, reducing care costs by around 36 per cent.
The total cost of dementia care in the study comprised both direct and indirect costs. The former referred to tangible, out-of-pocket expenses such as medical bills and professional caregiving services.
The latter, meanwhile, referred to the dollar value of unpaid caregiving time, including hours spent by caregivers providing supervision and household support. Eugenia Chung, Asia research lead for data and insights at Pureprofile, said the study sought to put a dollar value to the opportunity costs borne by active caregivers, which are often overlooked.
“People actually don’t see the number of hours that caregivers actually spend supervising (people with dementia), and helping them do the most basic things that a normal person might think is easy,” she said.
The study found that caregivers provide an average of 217 hours of care – about nine days of unpaid work – per month. Valued against household wages, this equated to a median of around S$1,218.75, according to the study.
Ong, who participated in the study as an independent consultant, said that the emotional toll of dementia care should also not be discounted, given that it is often a long and uncertain journey involving mounting costs. “My dad’s 87 and wants to live until a hundred,” the 55-year-old remarked.
“I’m not stopping him, but then I’m also going to be a senior myself,” she added, saying that she would have to bear her own health and retirement costs too. “When costs started to increase, that’s when it hit me (about) how much my dollar needs to stretch.”
Chairman of Dementia Singapore Dr Philip Yap also noted that most people with dementia have other medical issues such as arthritis, diabetes and hypertension – something that is often not considered when assessing the costs of dementia care. “Some of them have also been working until that point in time. So that’s also lost income,” he added.
The event was held at social impact hub Temasek Shophouse, which recently reopened on Sep 29 after extensive renovations. The panel discussion, which was moderated by Dementia Singapore director of advocacy and communications Bernard Lim, featured Chung, Dr Yap, Ong and Foo, who will be succeeded at Dementia Singapore by new CEO Bryan Tan next week after 13 years in the role.
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