Back in June, in a blog post I wrote about the stresses many of America’s 40 million family caregivers feel, I said: “Perhaps one day, Congress will pass something like the bipartisan Recognize, Assist, Include, Support and Engage (RAISE) Family Caregivers Act.” It recently did and President Trump has signed it into law. The RAISE Act aims […]
Caring Relationships: Negotiating Meaning and Maintaining Dignity
In this disturbing era of Trump, we revisit our encore show on disability rights. During his campaign in November 2016, Trump mocked NY Times reporter Serge Kovaleski, who had chronic joint disease that limits his arm movements. On this edition of Making Contact, we’ll explore the dynamic and complex relationship of care receiving, giving, and […]
Caring for my dying husband was the best time of my life
Ten years ago, my world as I knew it ended. My husband of 19 years, the father of my two sons, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Over the course of seven months, Bill went from beating me silly on the tennis court to needing my help to go to the bathroom and bathe. It was […]
Study: Heavy toll endured by ‘invisible’ unpaid caregivers
A study published yesterday in the JAMA Network medical journal seems to state the obvious. Family members and friends who step up to help elderly or disabled adults sacrifice their own well-being. The study, one of very few conducted on unpaid caregivers, suggests caregivers who provide “substantial help” to stricken relatives often endure their own […]
Self-absorbed millennials? Not the ones who are caregivers for their elders.
Among the benefits of living in an industrialized society is the fact that, as medicine and technology improve, people live longer and the birth rate declines. But these advances may in fact make life harder for America’s youngest adults, who find themselves increasingly called on to care for aging parents and grandparents even as they […]