Caring for aging family members
![[Photo: emeritus professors]](/was/20151211033644im_/https://facultydevelopment.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/images/emeritus.jpg)
Joseph Frank, professor emeritus of Slavic languages and literatures and of comparative literature, and his wife Marguerite Straus Frank, a former visiting member of the mathematics faculty
Stanford offers services under the auspices of the WorkLife Office to help faculty members who are caring for aging family members and/or dependents. Stanford’s services are provided in partnership with Avenidas, a multi-service non-profit agency that serves people age 50 and older and the caregivers who assist them. Avenidas focuses on identifying needs, developing plans and delivering services that will enhance independence, health and wellbeing.
RESOURCES IN THIS AREA:
WorkLife Office
The WorkLife Office, a part of Human Resources at Stanford University, assists faculty, staff, and students in reaching a comfortable balance between their work, study, personal and family lives.
Services offered include child-care resources and referrals, parent education and consultation, elder care and caregiving support, and strategies for navigating work and life. Call (650) 723-2660 or visit the website.
Avenidas Elder Care services
Avenidas, based in Palo Alto, offers the following services, some of which are fee-based, for faculty with an aging parent, spouse, partner or other relative:
• Information on midpeninsula community resources
• Confidential social worker consultation
• Support groups for adult children or other caregivers
coping with aging relatives
• Support groups for spouses/partners assisting less independent
older adults
• Assessment, planning, coordination of services for frail
older adults and monitoring of the situations
• Out-of-home care up to five days a week with extended
hours for working caregivers
• Information and resources for long-distance caregiving
Programs offered by Avenidas include:
• Enrichment and social opportunities
• Educational activities, including a computer learning
center and health library
• Financial and legal counseling and services
• Food and nutrition, including a daily hot luncheon for
those age 60 and older
• Health and housing information
• Personal support services for adults age 50 and older
Dependent Day Care Flexible Spending Account
Stanford offers a Dependent Day Care Flexible Spending Account that faculty and staff can use to set aside before-tax dollars for eligible dependent day care expenses, including care for children, disabled spouses or other disabled dependents. To qualify, care for the dependent must be necessary to enable faculty members and their spouses, if appropriate, to work, look for work or go to school full time.
To learn more about this benefit, call Stanford Benefits at (650) 736-2985 or visit the website.
Emergency and back-up care for dependents
As of September, 2010, Stanford provides for faculty a new and more robust emergency and back-up dependent care program to help when regular care for children or adult dependent care falls through.
Long-term care benefits
Among the benefits Stanford offers is Long-Term Care (LTC) coverage to help pay many day-to-day expenses for elderly or disabled care (e.g., nursing homes) not covered by medical plans.
LTC coverage is available to benefits-eligible faculty members, their spouses or registered domestic partners, parents, parents-in-law, grandparents and grandparents-inlaw. Eligible family members may apply even if the faculty member does not opt to enroll. Once a faculty member or his or her eligible family member purchases coverage, that coverage cannot be terminated or canceled for any reason, other than failure to pay premiums or reaching the lifetime maximum benefit. A new faculty member can enroll at any time, but if you enroll within the 31-day new hire enrollment period, you do not have to complete an Evidence of Insurability form, and coverage is guaranteed.
LTC benefits include:
• Home health agency services, personal care, hospice
care, homemaker services, residential care, adult foster
care and nursing home care
• Waiver of premiums during the period benefits are
being received and for some time afterward
• A temporary bed-holding benefit in case a patient must
temporarily leave a nursing home care facility to be
hospitalized or for another reason
• Respite care to provide time off for a day-to-day caregiver
For more information on Long-Term Care benefits, see the Stanford Benefits website.