This article is cross-posted with Jewcy.
Do not cast me off in old age; when my strength fails me, do not forsake me. --Psalms 71:9
Ten years ago, American Jewry looked in the mirror and realized our community was, on average, an older lot than the rest of America. The 2000-1 National Jewish Population Study results were as clear as day, finding 19 percent of American Jewry to be elderly, defined as 65 or older, compared to 12 percent in the general population.
Since then, the cries for help from Jews in the Sandwich Generation – those caught in the crunch of caring for aging parents while raising their own children – have grown increasingly urgent as more families feel the strain, emotionally and financially.
That strain is spreading, as the Great Age Wave begins: Starting this year, an American turns 65 every eight seconds. America’s 77 million Baby Boomers – including 1.4 million Jews – are poised to retire. What does this mean? The problems of the Sandwich Generation are now America’s problem, with seniors expected to make up the bulk of the 30 million Americans needing direct care by 2040, up from 13 million in 2000. With demographic shifts to smaller, spread out families, more will need help caring for relatives. What we face is a national Care Crisis.
The Care Crisis is already a top priority in the Jewish community, but traditional services and institutions can’t keep up with the burgeoning need. From coast to coast, I’ve been hearing from friends and rabbis the same heart-rending stories of impossible choices and personal crisis as congregants struggle – to honor their parents (kibud av va’em) by helping them age with dignity in their homes, to afford (or find) quality care, to act Jewishly in fulfilling obligations to both parents and children and to the caregivers they employ.
What strikes me most about these conversations are the strong emotional bonds that transcend employer-employee relationships, with many caregivers accorded honorary-family status. Often a paid caregiver is the person whose hand is grasped in the middle of the night, who allows an aging parent to maintain dignity while losing independence in performing life’s daily rituals: eating, washing, walking. To an adult child who feels torn by obligations to their own young children and the parents who raised them, knowing that a trusted caregiver is helping one’s parent makes all the difference.
At the same time, caregivers are employees. Many aren’t treated with dignity and respect – not by employers, and not by our laws. Far too many domestic workers – eldercare-givers, home health aides, nannies, housekeepers, most of them women, few of them white – fall outside the jurisdiction of many of the labor laws that have protected most American workers since 1935. For far too many, there are no mandated sick days, no minimum wage, no protection from exploitive hours or dangerous conditions, no civil rights protections, no legal recourse for discrimination.
We must ask ourselves: How can we not protect the very people we trust to care for our most beloved in our own homes?
The time has come for the Jewish community to first recognize, then articulate – widely and broadly – the many ways that the fate of our families, the fate of caregivers, and the quality of care are inextricably linked. If we plan ahead, we can ensure that the graying of America is met with a well-trained workforce of caregivers. Who among us wouldn’t want the best care for our loved ones – and ourselves?
To be sure, these are difficult financial times and fraught issues – ones that can and should be addressed as a community and a society. What we need are systemic solutions that honor our loved ones and the people who care for them, recognizing just how intertwined our fates are.
Baby Boomers have transformed the landscape of America, demanding that we recognize the basic rights of those who before went unprotected. Now it is time to make sure that their golden years are filled with the dignity and care they deserve and have sought for others while ensuring that the caregivers who help make that possible enjoy the same dignity and respect.
Simon Greer is president and CEO of PJA & JFSJ, which is working to engage the Jewish community in Caring Across Generations, a new movement to protect and expand our nation’s support system for the aging and people with disabilities at a time when the need for care in America is skyrocketing. Learn more about Caring Across Generations. |
