A new national report from the National Alliance for Caregiving reveals that nearly one in four U.S. adults now serves as an unpaid caregiver for a loved one with complex medical needs — a staggering 63 million Americans, up 20 million since 2015. Behind those numbers are millions of spouses, adult children, neighbors, and friends quietly carrying the emotional, physical, and financial weight of care every single day. Oakwood Creative Care, a Greater Phoenix nonprofit providing arts, wellness, and enrichment programming for older adults, is responding to this crisis by calling on the community to support its work that directly relieves caregiving families every single day.
The Caregiver Crisis
According to the research, the average family caregiver devotes 27 hours per week to caregiving, often with no medical training, compensation, or breaks. Nearly half report serious financial strain, including debt, depleted savings, or leaving their jobs altogether. In Arizona, those challenges are intensified by extreme summer heat, which can leave older adults isolated indoors and families struggling to find safe, enriching opportunities for connection and engagement.
Oakwood Creative Care exists at the intersection of this crisis and its solution. Through structured daytime programming, rooted in creativity, wellness, and human connection, including visual arts, music, movement, and social engagement, Oakwood Creative Care creates a place where adults with chronic conditions and cognitive challenges can continue to thrive with dignity and purpose.
For their family caregivers, those hours mean something equally life-changing: time to breathe, work, rest, and sustain themselves for the long road of care.
How Oakwood is Responding to the Caregiver Crisis
In response to the growing need, Oakwood Creative Care recently expanded with its new Chandler campus, an all-inclusive program intentionally designed to support older adults living with chronic conditions while surrounding their families with comprehensive care and resources. The campus offers a holistic model that goes beyond traditional day programming to include The GUIDE Model, care navigation services, support groups, counseling, and hands-on educational classes for caregivers. Families also gain access to wellness-focused resources that help them build resilience and sustain their own well-being throughout the caregiving journey.
“The families we serve are heroes who too often work in isolation,” said Sherri Friend, President and CEO of Oakwood Creative Care. “When an older adult with Alzheimer’s or another complex condition spends a day with us, creating, connecting, laughing, their family caregiver gets a few hours that can make the difference between burning out and carrying on. We are here because those families need us.”
Why Community Support Matters Now
The national report also found that many caregivers feel invisible and unsupported by existing systems. Oakwood Creative Care is helping fill a gap that healthcare systems alone cannot solve through community-based, relationship-centered programming that honors both older adults and the people caring for them.
As Arizona’s older adult population continues to grow rapidly, so does the demand for Oakwood Creative Care’s programs that foster cognitive health, emotional well-being, and meaningful connection. Yet funding for arts-based and enrichment programs for older adults remains chronically underfunded compared to traditional medical and institutional models of care.
How You Can Help
Oakwood Creative Care invites individuals, businesses, and foundations in the Greater Phoenix area to invest in caregiving families through donations, volunteerism, and community partnerships. Every donation to Oakwood Creative Care helps sustain programming that:
- Gives older adults meaningful engagement that supports cognitive health and emotional well-being
- Provides critical respite for family caregivers, reducing isolation and burnout
- Allows caregivers to remain in the workforce or attend to their own health needs
- Keeps older adults connected to community, creativity, and purpose
To learn more or make a gift, visit www.oakwoodcreativecare.org or contact Oakwood Creative Care directly.
Creative Aging, at Every Stage & for Every Age
Oakwood Creative Care is bringing back the JOY in aging! We believe a diagnosis should not have to define your life. Instead, we have devoted our mission to reigniting hope for caregivers and older adults with Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other age-related challenges.
