An emergency day-care centre for seniors launched in Calgary today, designed to help employees struggling to balance work and family obligations.

Kids and Company, a national provider of child-care benefits, will operate the facility at a south Calgary seniors' residence.

The idea for the facility arose after the child-care provider was approached by corporate clients who sought to offer a short-term elder-care program for employees juggling the demands of work and family, Kids and Company President and CEO Victoria Sopik told CTV.ca.

"Many have said to us 'You know what? Not everyone has a child, and yet every single person here has parents. And so what can we do to help families dealing with their parents on a daily basis?'" Sopik recounted.

Companies offering the program as part of their benefits package include Deloitte, Nexen, Enbridge, RBC Financial Group and BP Canada.

The company has said it could expand its service to other Canadian cities, such as Montreal and Toronto, if the pilot program is successful after a period of six months.

Kids and Company officials have said employers are seeking solutions to help their middle-aged staff increasingly concerned about their aging parents' well-being.

Under the program, employees who might elect to use the facility are urged to visit the centre with their parent.

Staff at the facility will assess the senior, and if they need specific medication, will arrange to have it on hand.

After the first visit at the centre, employees can drop their parents off for the day, be it the following day or even months later.

"It's a lovely recreational facility, with a hair salon, an Internet cafe, cappuccino bar and even bowling," Sopik said.

Some U.S. firms already offer their employees "backup" elder care, which is designed to provide substitute caregivers at the last-minute.

Middle-aged Canadians are finding themselves providing care to aging parents, relatives or friends, according to a Statistics Canada study, which finds this can have job-related consequences.

More than 1.7 million adults between the ages of 45 and 64 were providing informal care to nearly 2.3 million seniors with long-term disabilities or physical limitations in 2002, according to the study released in November.

Statistics Canada reported that seven out of every 10 caregivers in this age range -- many of them women -- were also in the work force.

While most low-intensity caregivers felt few or no socio-economic consequences, high-intensity caregiving had a significant impact for more than half of all female caregivers, regardless of their work hours.

"Caregiving had some significant job-related consequences," the government agency reports.

"Individuals providing four hours or more of care per week were more likely to reduce their work hours, change their work patterns or turn down a job offer or promotion."

Longer work hours mixed with higher caregiving intensity levels were also associated with increased proportions of stress.

For example, many felt guilty because they thought they should be doing more to help, or because they felt they should be doing a better job.

More than 40 per cent of women who provided over one hour of care weekly reported feeling guilty. Those feelings of guilt intensified as their hours of paid work increased.

Overall, working longer hours was linked to increased guilt feelings among both men and women, but on average, men felt guilty to a lesser degree.