Report: Arizona's caregivers are providing millions of dollars in care — most of it unpaid

Family caregivers often provide some of the most intimate care — from dressing and toileting to wound care. A new report from AARP looks at the economic costs and its impact in Arizona.

Arizona is an aging state, and hiring paid caregivers is costly. So, it often ends up falling to family — even friends.

“So the report finds that 1.2 million family caregivers of adults contribute 1.2 billion hours of care annually. And if you were to value that work, it would come out to about $27 million per year if they were paid in the marketplace," said Dana Marie Kennedy, the state director for AARP Arizona.

Caregivers play another important role, often at their own expense.

Across the U.S., 59 million Americans are caregivers of adults, providing care for older parents, spouses, neighbors and other loved ones. They contribute 49.5 billion hours of care annually.

“And we know that many family caregivers have to take time off of work to be able to care for their loved ones," Kennedy said.

Or caregivers may leave the workforce, which could hurt when it's their time to retire. Kennedy said these family and friends are also filling health care gaps.

“They're providing much more skilled work than they used to. So we know that they're doing a lot of, you know, kind of medical tasks that they do, like wound care management, sometimes doing injections; also helping with bathing and feeding and all the other normal tasks that they have to provide to their loved one," Kennedy said.