Bermuda Council on Ageing hosted its first conference, "Ageing@Work", on December 6, 2007, and from all the positive comments, evaluations and feedback we've received it was a great success.

In addition to five international presenter, we had a lunch-time panel of Bermudians who looked at retirement, human resource practices for the older worker, and caregiving in the workplace. Claudette Fleming of Age Concern gave an excellent presentation on retirement in Bermuda, while Yolanda Outerbridge of HSBC Bank of Bermuda (I've deleted the word "Limited" per their style guide, and I notice that it's typically published without) gave real insights into what a progressive employer can achieve when providing benefits and policies for the older worker. My own presentation focused on caregiving, and I shared two real-life examples of what it is like when your world turns upside down and those around you turn a blind eye.

The first is a summary of comments made by an anonymous caller in response to articles on caregiving that I wrote in this newspaper a few months ago:

"What you say about caregivers goes right to my heart. I gave up work to care for my mother. She has Alzheimer's and the doctor said it would get a lot worse, but I didn't understand what he meant. Now I do. It's been three years, and I have used up all my savings. Now we both have to live on her pension. I don't have one. I also gave up my health insurance, so when my sugar (diabetes) acts up I go to the emergency room for treatment. I'm sick. I don't know what's going to happen to me. I'm so depressed I don't know if I can ever go back to work, and my mother just gets worse."

She ended by saying "thank you for letting me know I am not alone, and thank you for caring". This woman is trying to do the right thing but, because she has given up work to care for her sick and elderly mother, unless we do something to help her she is destined to become part of the next generation of aged poor in Bermuda.

Others are doing the caregiving while trying to hold down a job, and they are experiencing levels of stress that most of us cannot even imagine. The following comments are not unusual for someone who is working and caring for a parent with Alzheimer's disease, a condition that is commonly acknowledged as causing the most stressful form of caregiving:

"I get up at five o'clock in the morning to get ready. I have to bathe my mother, feed her, change her bedsheets, put her in the chair ready for the bus that collects her for daycare. Then I get my children out of the house and get myself ready for work. The whole time, Mom is crying for her breakfast because she forgets she's eaten it. Some days, my mother messes herself right before the bus comes, so I have to let the bus go while I clean her up, then I take her to daycare and that makes me late for work. I don't know how long I can hold on to my job."

By looking at caregiving through the workplace, we find that the issues of an ageing workforce are integrally connected with work/life and work/family balance. And by coming together to address the needs of caregivers in the workplace through both policy and legislation, we can cast the net far and wide over this complex and growing issue as it affects families, employers, government, and the community at large.

The research is in, both locally and globally. Bermuda Council on Ageing has brought together key stakeholders for a conference examining the issues. We now know what the challenges are. We cannot continue to turn a blind eye to what is going on in our community, or get bogged down in endless research and meetings. Caregivers need support, and they need it now. If we support them, then by definition we support those who are receiving care.

Let us make 2008 the year that we all work together-government, the private sector, the non-profit third sector, and the community-at-large-to find solutions and put in place policies and programmes to support our caregivers, whether they are at home or in the workplace.

Marian Sherratt, M.A., is Executive Director, Bermuda Council on Ageing. She writes on issues concerning ageing each month in The Royal Gazette. Send e-mail responses to info@bdaca.org