The Employee Caregiver Support Group: A Model for Helping the Helpers

• By:  Nikki Buccina
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Once a month over the lunch break, there is a conference room reserved at Allegheny Health Network’s (AHN) Jefferson Hospital — no exceptions.

“We open up our support group to all employees who are not only caregivers during work hours at Jefferson Hospital, but are also caregiving for a loved one in their personal life,” explains Kelly Kassab, AHN Jefferson Hospital chief operating officer and the group’s founder. “We’re at the same place, same time every month to open our arms to those who may be feeling alone and need to lean on us. I don’t ever want someone to stop by our conference room and find we’re not there when they’re looking for an outlet. They’re seeking us out for a reason.”

Known as the Employee Caregiver Support Group, the hospital’s monthly gatherings are a response to a growing trend across the country. Going back to 2013, the Pew Research Center identified the challenges faced by a “sandwich generation” of adults in their 40s and 50s who were providing care and/or financial support simultaneously to parents 65 and older and to their own children. As of 2018, 12% of parents had both a child younger than 18 at home and provided unpaid care for an adult as well.

“I don’t have children, but I am a caregiver for my mother and my in-laws, so I consider myself an open-faced sandwich,” laughs Kassab.

Her two-household caregiving scenario is also increasingly common, especially in places like Pennsylvania. The state’s population aged 65 and over increased 16.3% between 2010 and 2017, growing 20 times faster than its general population.

As Kassab points out, every caregiving situation is unique. It may be older parents or children or your spouse. It may mean taking care of someone in your household or visiting multiple households like she does. But caregivers also have many challenges in common, and can be a valuable source of support and encouragement for each other.

Hearing a need — and responding

The idea for the Employee Caregiver Support Group at Jefferson Hospital came out of a broader, community-based listening initiative in 2018 called Around the Table South. An ongoing project of the Jefferson Regional Foundation, the primary goal of the Around the Table South series is to “gather over mealtime conversations to build connections and explore how we can work together to make our communities stronger.” Jefferson Hospital participates as a host for these gatherings, which bring together residents, volunteers, high school students and, of course, its own employees.

“From those listening sessions in 2018, we quickly understood how many employees were experiencing severe stress related to taking care of their loved ones, whether that’s a husband, wife, child with special needs or parent,” Kassab says. “On top of that, the caregiver role and stress is uninterrupted for those in health care — once you’re off the official clock, you jump right back into a caretaking mode at home.”

Kassab saw the value of creating a support group where employees with similar challenges could help each other. She kept it simple, no formal host or structure, just an invitation for employees to come together and talk through hardships over lunch.

Kassab says that the sessions help people in different ways. For many, it’s the camaraderie of sharing stories and knowing that they are not alone in what they’re experiencing. For others, it helps to have a safe place to vent frustrations to a sympathetic audience.

She adds that the support group also produces tangible advice and solutions. For example, one participant had a connection with Veterans Affairs and was able to help another group member get motorized stair assistance for her father as part of his VA benefits. Another person told a story about her mother welcoming two unexpected visitors into her home which, although harmless at the time, was very concerning. The group put their heads together and decided a remote monitoring doorbell was the best solution.

Sharing the experience

I had the privilege of attending an Employee Caregiver Support Group session at Jefferson Hospital — and quickly found myself surrounded by friendly faces. People clearly had a familiarity with one another that extended beyond just being colleagues at the hospital. There was a depth of relational sharing between newcomers and regular attendees alike.

Erin Joyce, a community support specialist, was attending her first session.

“I help to take care of two parents, 76 years old and 73 years old, who both have severe health complications,” she explained. “My father-in-law has also moved in with us. It can be a struggle managing all of it, but I try to remind myself that no matter how hard something is or how bad it can look, there is always a positive energy to find. My family taught me that when I was young and I have lived by it ever since.”

One of the regular group participants and its leader, Sister Lisa Balcerek, manager of Mission and Supportive Services, tied the lessons from her experience to being empathetic toward others in general.

“I’m a caregiver for my mother, who is 78 years old and has a chronic heart condition. She also cares for my 45-year-old sister who is moderately mentally handicapped. My father, who died more than two years ago at 73, had multiple health issues,” she said. “I have a fear of the future, and that’s why I’m here. But one thing I have learned is that you may have no idea what someone else is going through, and it’s important to consider that, not only at work but in life.”

For Lisa Simon, therapy service line director, the group has been valuable in helping her through a recent life change.

“When my mother was experiencing memory loss and other health complications, I placed her in an assisted living facility,” Simon explained. “I am an only child, and for as long as I can remember, it was my mother and I. Now, I have guilt associated with that decision, but this group is here to help me get through that. I don’t feel as alone. I think the important thing about this group is that it lightens the load in so many ways.”

The big picture: clinical wellness

Although Jefferson Hospital’s Employee Caregiver Support Group is not formally part of any larger program or initiative, it aligns perfectly with AHN’s broader commitment to “lightening the load” by improving clinical wellness, eradicating burnout and fostering environments of inclusion.

With or without the additional stress of caregiving at home, burnout is a common problem for health care employees at all levels. A report by the National Academy of Medicine estimated that as many as half of U.S. doctors and nurses experience substantial symptoms of burnout, resulting in increased risks to patients, malpractice claims, absenteeism and turnover, and financial losses.

“What we’re doing with the Employee Caregiver Support Group and in other areas is certainly about providing emotional support for individuals, but that also translates to our operations at the hospital,” Kassab emphasizes. “If we can make an impact on our employees in a holistic, positive way, then they can be at their best to deliver remarkable experiences to our patients. It’s an added benefit that, overall, supporting employee wellness also makes good business sense.”

The success of the Employee Caregiver Support Group has also inspired suggestions for additional support groups, including one for night shift employees that began and has received an overwhelmingly positive response. Kassab says she and other members of the hospital leadership team have also been exploring opportunities to use the support group model for several other topics, including parents supporting parents.

“We would need experts for some potential support groups,” she notes. “However, I want to be sure we’re thinking about the hard topics that are affecting the lives of our caregivers.”