Forty-eight million Americans help take care of parents, spouses, grandparents or other loved ones and most say they could use more support. In fact, 70% of them say they’d be more likely to support a candidate who backs proposals to help caregivers. That’s according to a survey from AARP.

On The Spark Tuesday, Joanne Grossi, AARP Pennsylvania’s State President Emeritus, who cares for her 92-year-old father, said many caregivers don't know what caregiving entails when they become a caregiver,"It takes in everything from managing medications to managing doctor's appointments to things like nutritional supplements and how you even change your house. That was a surprise to me. All the different ways I had to change my home. My occupational therapist came in and told me, get rid of that rug, put a bar here, for example. So even things like as simple as how you have to change your home to make it work, I think all these kind of things are surprises to people, including the financial cost. The average person who's a caregiver is spending over $7,000 out of pocket, out of their own money to supplement this care.

Caregiving can take a toll on caregivers emotionally and physically and Grossi encouraged caregivers to seek support from family, support groups or even AARP.

AARP wants government support for caregivers as well,"We want Congress and state legislatures to do a bit more. And that includes things like tax credits for caregivers, paid family leave, paid respite care, and even an increase in our area Agencies on Aging, which really do provide a lot of services for our older Pennsylvanians."

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