Caregiving can take a toll on you financially and emotionally. About 48 million people in the United States are providing care to an adult family member or friend.
For caregiver Diane Goldstein, it was never a question.
“This is somebody that you cared about all your life,” Goldstein said. “If you love somebody, you don’t make that choice. That choice is you want to do this.”
When doctors diagnosed her husband, Bob, with Alzheimer’s disease, she became his caregiver.
“I realized now he retired because he could no longer handle what he was doing,” Goldstein said. “We certainly didn’t set aside funds to take care of him or with Alzheimer’s … We could not qualify for long-term care because, by the time I was approached that I should have it, Bob was already showing symptoms.”
Goldstein feels fortunate that this happened to them later in life; otherwise, it could have been much worse.