By Ted Fischer, Co-Founder and CEO of Ageless Innovation
This year, the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP released a landmark report on family caregiving in the United States, revealing over 63 million Americans are caregivers– nearly one in four adults is now providing care for a family member. Behind these numbers are parents, sons, daughters, and even grandchildren quietly doing the work that sustains our health care system and holds our communities together. Family caregiving, as this report puts it, “is the invisible backbone of American communities.” But the weight on that backbone has never been heavier.
The average family caregiver in the United States is spending 27 hours each week providing unpaid care, with over 24% working the equivalent of a full-time job giving care for their family member upwards of 40 hours a week. These numbers are staggering and mean millions in our nation are juggling unprecedented levels of care resulting in reports of high financial and emotional stress.
We started Ageless Innovation because I too was looking for solutions after experiencing my grandmother’s dementia. Today we are working not just with older adults but with their caregivers, and hearing their personal stories. They are the adult daughter who visits her mom with dementia each day after work. The retiree who now takes care of their spouse. The young father caring for his parents while balancing life with his own children. There is often a financial reason or lack of healthcare support which can be the impetus for family care, but it is also developed from a place of love. In fact, these caregivers often don’t see themselves as such, viewing the duties of picking up prescriptions, helping with doctor’s appointments, or simply providing companionship as part of family life. But they are doing immensely important work that deserves support.
Caregiving is not just about logistics, but about connection, comfort, and dignity. That’s where innovation must step in. I learned that firsthand while talking with families over the past decade. When Ageless Innovation first began exploring how innovation could bring moments of joy and companionship to older adults, I expected to hear about how our approach helped those living with dementia or cognitive decline. What I didn’t anticipate was how often caregivers would tell us that they felt the impact, too.
When a daughter can give their ailing parent a moment of connection through our robotic pets or when technology helps ease a caregiver’s mental load so they can be more present with a loved one, that’s no small thing. These moments don’t just uplift the person receiving care, they also bring relief, connection, and strength to the family members on the front lines of caregiving.
It’s clear digital tools, technology, and products that foster engagement, independence, and comfort for older adults at home are needed. We’re seeing caregivers embrace a variety of innovative tools on a broad scale, from products like our Robotic Companion Pets to digital apps and wearables that provide remote monitoring to online tools to manage their loved one’s finances and healthcare. These trends show caregivers are ready for smart, thoughtful innovations that make care more sustainable and more importantly, less isolating.
Moments of joy and connection fostered among family caregivers are crucial. With 25% of working family caregivers reporting feelings of loneliness, as business leaders we can listen to them, design for them, and invest in technologies that lighten their load without replacing the heart of their care. And we can advocate for a future where family caregiving is not invisible, but valued.
Every caregiver deserves more than gratitude. They deserve support, relief, and the peace of mind that their loved ones are cared for and connected. Because when we care for caregivers, we care for the foundation of our families and our communities at large.