According to a new study from AARP and the National Alliance on Caregiving, 63 million Americans provide ongoing care for an adult or child with a complex medical condition or disability. That’s nearly 1 in 4 people, and the number has increased by 20 million in the past ten years.

What’s more, most caregivers in this overwhelming group are unprepared for the role.

In her book The Unexpected Caregiver, author Kari Berit emphasizes that it is vital for caregivers to get help with the job.

“It's absolutely okay to seek out help for this, because we're not trained. We're not trained in aging, what happens as we age? What's normal aging? What's aging with disease? What's aging with a disease that causes dementia? We're not trained in that. We don't have the knowledge of that, so it's okay to not know and to ask for help,” Berit said.

Berit went on to say that organizations such as the Family Caregiver Alliance and the Area Agency on Aging are good places to start to find help.

A new documentary, “Caregiving,” is available to stream on PBS.org or on the free PBS app.

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