A group representing caregivers yesterday called for public awareness of families dealing with long-term care burdens, while reassuring caregivers that support is available, after a family was found dead on Friday.
The Taiwan Association of Family Caregivers issued the call after a couple and their two children were found dead in a vehicle in Kaohsiung in what is believed to have been a murder-suicide.
The body of a 57-year-old man surnamed Chien (簡) was found in the driver’s seat when police arrived at the scene after receiving a report at about 8am.
Chien’s wife, 52, son, 24, and daughter, 11, were lying on the rear seat, possibly asphyxiated by exhaust fumes, police said.
No suicide note was found in the vehicle, and the case has been turned over to prosecutors and forensic investigators to determine the cause of death, police said.
The family was from a low to middle-income household that received NT$10,130 in subsidies per month, Kaohsiung Social Affairs Bureau employees said.
Chien, the sole breadwinner of the family, worked odd jobs while caring for his wife, who had cancer, while his son had epilepsy and his daughter had aphasia, Daliao District (大寮) Chief Huang Po-hsiung (黃伯雄) said.
His wife’s cancer might have been too much for Chien, association secretary-general Chen Ching-ning (陳景寧) said.
Tragedies among families in long-term care situations often result from a caregiver’s inability to take on additional burdens and their sense of desperation in the absence of social support, Chen said.
The association has identified 13 risk factors for recognizing overburdened family caregivers, it said, adding that people outside a family can help prevent similar tragedies.
The signs include: The caregiver has suicidal thoughts; is experiencing domestic violence; is in urgent need of medical treatment; is a patient themselves; has mental disorders; attends to a person with mental issues; or must care for two or more patients, especially when the patients are older.
Some caregivers do not have outside assistance or must take over from a domestic care worker who had been the primary caregiver, it said.
Others at risk are those who care for someone with Alzheimer’s disease or have been denied government aid, it said, adding that male caregivers in particular might need more support.
Surveys in Japan have found that male caregivers, due to their relative lack of skill in caregiving and the burdens of cultural pressure, might take drastic actions when dealing with stress as a result of their circumstances, the association said.
Caregivers might also experience more emotional fluctuations as the end of the year approaches, it said.
At least three of the factors appear to have been present in the Kaohsiung case, such as the caregiver being male and having to attend to two or more people with no help, it said.
As the government has limited professional personnel to address the issue, it should raise public awareness about the challenges family caregivers face, so people in their communities can offer timely help to those under extreme stress, it said.
Government subsidies for such families have not been used effectively, because ordinary caregivers need more time to change their notions of care, and also need psychological and social support, Chen said.
Official support for heavily burdened caregivers usually ends when they reject outside help, which might constitute the largest loophole in the network, he said.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about