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Senior & Adult Care

An older black man smiles as his grandson rides on his shoulders

Ensuring that your senior parents and family members are taken care of while you are working or taking time for yourself is important. The University provides benefits related to back up elder care and support groups on campus. The information below also includes links to local and national organizations to help make caring for your loved ones easier.

If you are aware of other local organizations, resources, etc. that you think may be of interest to other families, please don’t hesitate to share additional resources with us via this Google form! 

Eldercare Finders and Information

Back Up Elder Care

Notre Dame provides a back-up care benefit to assist faculty, staff, and graduate students in managing personal commitments through Bright Horizons. This program includes back-up care for unexpected, short-term elder care needs along with an online provider directory for on-going family care solutions.

  • Bright Horizons - Provides short-term, last-minute elder care services for low, University-subsidized co-payments.
  • Sittercity (housekeeping, dog walking, etc.) - Activate your free membership to connect with care providers.

Financial and Legal

Healthcare

  • Health Advocate - This is a special benefit for faculty, staff, spouses, dependent children, parents, and parents in law to help you and your entire family navigate both the clinical and administrative aspects of the healthcare system.
  • Summus - This benefit provides fast, virtual access to world-class medical experts and the Summus MD team to help you and your family navigate and act on all health concerns. Notre Dame faculty and staff, their spouses, children, and dependents who are enrolled in a University medical plan are eligible to take advantage of Summus — at no cost to you.

Family and Medical Leave (FMLA)

Family medical needs may necessitate significant time away from work for caregiving purposes.  Notre Dame provides eligible employees with leave from work consistent with the provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA). FMLA entitles employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave within a rolling 12 month period for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave.

Please see this article for more information about requesting FMLA as well as resources for managers and staff.

Additional Resources

Local Organizations

Campus

Well-Being for Caregivers

  • Employee Assistance Program (CareBridge) - In addition to providing resources for emotional support, CareBridge offers a training center that addresses multiple areas, including caregiver support.
  • Calm - Use the Calm app to step away when you need some time to enhance your mindfulness and decrease your stress.

  • Well-Being for Life platform - The Well-Being for Life platform helps you achieve your health goals - while earning rewards - with a fun and engaging experience that delivers powerful resources right to your fingertips. Employees also receive free access to the following apps within the Well-Being for Life platform.

    • Enrich - Financial well-being application that provides personal finance tools and budgeting guidance.
    • Foodsmart - Nutrition application that makes eating well simple with access to thousands of recipes and grocery lists.
    • Koa Health - Emotional well-being application with a full library of content related to supporting children, burnout, sleep, loneliness, and so much more.
    • Wellbeats - Virtual fitness application that provides access to a video library of more than 800 exercise, nutrition, and mindfulness classes that cater to any age, gender, interest, or ability level, including family fitness classes.

Education & Support for Caregivers