And the correct answer is…

1. Do you drive an adult loved one to doctor appointments regularly? Do you ever help your parents pay bills or balance the checkbook?

Yes

No

A: If you answered ‘yes’ to either of these questions, you’re probably already a caregiver, or could become one down the road. Often, people don’t think of themselves as caregivers; they just see themselves helping a family member.

2. Are you a woman?

Yes

No

A: The majority of family caregivers are middle-age women. According to a 2011 report from AARP, the “average” caregiver is a 49-year-old woman who works outside the home and spends nearly 20 hours per week providing unpaid care to her mother.

3. Are your parents getting older?

Yes

No

A: As life expectancies increase, more and more people are living into their 80s and beyond. More than 70 percent of baby boomers now have at least one living parent.

4. Is there any chance your loved ones could get sick or have an accident in the future?

Yes

No

A: Rosalynn Carter, an advocate for family caregivers once famously said: “There are only four kinds of people in the world – those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who will need caregivers.” In addition to aging, accidents and major illness cause people to become family caregivers.

5. If family caregivers got paid for their donated efforts, the estimated value would be:

$500 million

$100 billion

$450 billion

A: According to AARP, the estimated value of unpaid family care reached $450 billion in 2009. That’s more than the total 2009 sales of Wal-Mart, America’s largest company.