Considering a Nursing Home Can Strain Families and Business Productivity
Employees taking time off from work to care for an aging parent or loved one, and the associated anxiety and stress this causes while on the job, is costing companies billions of dollars.
Lake Success, NY (PRWEB) June 7, 2005 — Employees taking time off from work to care for an aging parent or loved one, and the associated anxiety and stress this causes while on the job, is costing companies billions of dollars. According to the American Productivity Audit, physical ailments associated with stress and anxiety are among the top five disorders leading to “presenteeism,” a term that describes an employee who is physically at work, but mentally somewhere else. According to the audit, stress, anxiety, headaches, depression and digestive problems account for the average loss of 115 hours of productivity per worker or $180 billion annually.
“Caregivers for an aging parent or loved one face many concerns, but some of the most stress-prone decisions involve nursing home choices. The key is doing your homework to find the right facility,” stated Ceil Strow, CEO of MyZiva.com (www.myziva.com), a Web site used extensively by nursing home professionals. “It’s a wrenching decision that tens of thousands of people make each year.”
That was certainly the case for Bonnie Gatlin, a New Hampshire-based homemaker faced with making nursing home decisions for her mother who suffers from Alzheimer’s. Ms. Gatlin is one of the millions of family caregivers in America who provide for approximately 35 million elders in their care. Many of these caregivers are or will be faced with the decision to seek nursing home care for these loved ones.
In an effort to assist in the monumental task taken on by caregivers across the U.S., the team that built MyZiva.com also created www.myziva.net, an easy-to-use Web site that has helped people across the country evaluate and compare nursing homes, understand the services that a nursing home provides, and become more informed about how to pay for nursing home care. The site averages more than 60,000 visits per month.
Gatlin first learned about MyZiva.net when she was looking to relocate her mother to a nursing home that was closer to her home and specialized in Alzheimer’s care.
“I was quite nervous and concerned that my mother had the right facility for her special needs. I called some elder care services, but no one could help me locate a nursing home,” said Gatlin. “I searched the Web and found MyZiva.net. They provided exactly what I needed, giving me information that helped narrow my search very quickly. Because of them, I was able to choose a nursing home that met the needs of my mother. MyZiva.net helped me find the best nursing home in southern New Hampshire.”
MyZiva’s founder and CEO, Robert Abrams, a well-known eldercare attorney and author, understood the need for caregivers who deal with the guilt, stress and anxiety associated with choosing a nursing home facility for a loved one. He believed that the Internet could provide a tool that would answer their many questions and address their concerns.
“People facing difficult decisions about long-term healthcare needed a place to turn to that could at least provide them with extensive information, facility comparisons, ratings, reviews and more in an unbiased, easy-to-use reference guide,” stated Abrams when asked about his vision for MyZiva. The name, which is taken from the Goddess of Health in Slavic mythology, will soon be featured among other sister sites in an online community that Abrams calls “your healthcare resource.”
For now www.myziva.net is helping America’s family caregivers to better understand their options as they cope with the needs of an aging population. It is also making it easier for them to function at work, knowing that the information they seek is now all in one place.
Source: PRWEB