Caring for Caregivers

From The Living Church-

In a storefront office, steps from Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theater in one direction and the Clinton Foundation in the other, the Rev. Gregory Johnson chats with Joel Rogers, who holds his year-old niece, Malia, while Malia’s mom seeks advice in an inner room. With life buzzing along outside on 125th Street, the community’s busiest commercial thoroughfare, Johnson is ministry in motion inside. Few people know Johnson is a minister.

Johnson’s “congregation” is one of the largest in the city, or anywhere else for that matter. Nationwide they number 65.7 million. Years ago they had no name, though they toiled long and hard. But for the last 13 years Johnson has made it his mission to shine a light on their identity. They are family caregivers, and Johnson wants employers, corporations, and most of all the caregivers themselves to recognize that identity and claim it. As he says repeatedly, they are “the backbone of the health care industry,” and it is his calling to see that their physical, spiritual, and emotional needs are met.

More here-

http://www.livingchurch.org/caring-caregivers