Description
Book SynopsisExplains why there is a crisis in caring for elderly people and how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated itBecause government policies are based on an ethic of family responsibility, repeated calls to support family members caring for the burgeoning elderly population have gone unanswered. Without publicly funded long-term care services, many family caregivers cannot find relief from obligations that threaten to overwhelm them. The crisis also stems from the plight of direct care workers (nursing home assistants and home health aides), most of whom are women from racially marginalized groups who receive little respect, remuneration, or job security. Drawing on an online support group for people caring for spouses and partners with dementia, Elder Care in Crisis examines the availability and quality of respite care (which provides temporary relief from the burdens of care), the long, tortuous process through which family members decide whether to move spouses and partners to institutions,
Trade ReviewAbel writes with empathy for direct caregivers as a family caregiver herself as well as a cancer survivor. While we are all familiar with how nursing homes failed during the pandemic, these stories of family members fighting for their institutionalized relatives, still feel new and crucially important to read. * Meika Loe, author of
Aging our Way: Lessons for Living from 85 and Beyond *
Drawing upon her deep knowledge and first-person accounts, from the nineteenth century to the COVID-19 pandemic, Emily Abel portrays both the joyful and heart-breaking aspects of family caregivers’ struggles to care for elderly people with dementia. This book will spur everyone to ask: why don’t we as a country do better for both the elderly and their caregivers? * Joan C. Tronto, author of
Caring Democracy: Markets, Equality and Justice *
Here you have a poignant, thoughtful, and extraordinarily useful account of trends that will curse us all unless we take action now. Call it investment in infrastructure, improved social insurance, commitment to common decency, or all of the above: we need a better, more sustainable system of care provision. The qualitative research highlighted here helps show us the way forward. * Nancy Folbre, author of
Valuing Children: Rethinking the Economics of the Family *
The author's observations, anecdotes, and notes yield a perspective that challenges the current system of long-term care. The author eschews providing simplistic answers, allowing those most concerned—currently active caregivers—to speak for themselves. -- T. E. Getzen, emeritus, Temple University * CHOICE *
