Why are caregivers for the elderly such bad advocates? There are 40-60 million Americans caring for loved ones yet their needs are widely ignored by the political system. Thus, politicians rarely rouse themselves to do much to help, and when budget-cutting time comes, what little assistance there is often ends up on the block. The inability of caregivers to organize politically was a major topic of [...]
Yesterday, I participated in an AARP program with several authors of books on caregiving. One fellow panelist, the novelist Walter Mosley, was wonderfully provocative as he reflected on what he calls “the great equalizing effect of great age.” Mosley, whose mother was Jewish and whose father was black, put it this way: “White people become black people when they can [...]
On Thursday, I'll be participating in an ambitous program sponsored by AARP where 10 authors will discuss their experiences and views about the challenges of family caregiving. Most of us have had the personal experience of caring for family members and know about the subject first-hand. Some of our books, such as my own Caring for Our Parents, use the personal stories of caregivers to describe the nation's [...]
Yesterday, I joined three of the most creative thinkers in the long-term care policy world to discuss the future of personal care services for the elderly and disabled in an era of shrinking government resources. My fellow panelists at the event, sponsored by The Urban Institute, were Robyn Stone, author of Long-Term Care for the Elderly and senior vice president for research at Leading Age, [...]
The Metlife Mature Market Institute has released its annual survey of the cost of long-term care services, including nursing homes, assisted living facilities, adult day programs, and home care. And the news is not good. On average, provider costs rose far faster than the rate of inflation. The only exceptions were home care services, where costs were unchanged from 2010 [...]
Frail seniors, as well as adults with disabilities, often need help with routine medical care such as taking pills, receiving injections, getting oxygen, or managing catheters. Traditionally, this assistance has been provided only by nurses. But, especially for people living at home or even in assisted living facilities, having a nurse provide this routine care is prohibitively expensive and can lead to long delays in [...]
The quality of care for the frail elderly and adults with disabilities and the assistance available for their family caregivers varies widely among the states. Now, for the first time, researchers at AARP have tried to measure where you can get the highest quality care. And the differences among the states are even more dramatic than I thought. A handful, including Minnesota, [...]
Read this powerful story by Sally Jenkins about University of Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt, who, at 59, was recently diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. Despite the disease, the legendary coach says, "You don't quit living. You keep going." In fact, Summitt isn't even planning on quitting coaching--at least not for a while. For now, she'll rely on her assistants to [...]
Elder abuse is hard to define, and it is a challenge to know how widespread it is. But it is a deeply serious problem and I recently came across two elder abuse stories worth passing on. If you are an elder care professional or an adult child caring for parents, read them carefully. And beware. The first is courtesy of Steve Goldberg, a Washington, D.C. investment adviser and contributing [...]
A new study released today by AARP estimates the economic value of family caregiving was $450 billion in 2009. In other words, if those family members were paid for the personal assistance they provided their loved ones, it would have cost $450 billion. That is twice the cost of paid assistance by home health aides, nursing facilities and the like. It is almost four [...]