The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed a national caregiving crisis that existed long before 2020. More than ever, the estimated 50 million Americans who serve as unpaid family caregivers are an essential extension of the health care team.
As Ms. Washington so clearly illustrated, their responsibilities are vast. Indeed, over the past decade there has been a dramatic shift in the United States to a model of out-of-hospital care that depends on the existence and competence of a caregiver and yet does very little to formally acknowledge, train or support such caregivers.
My colleagues and I are hopeful about the potential support of caregivers through President Bidenâs coronavirus emergency relief package, and through strategic plans he presented to create a 21st-century caregiving work force.
Seniors Seeking Vaccines Have a Problem: They Canât Use the Internet
Older adults living alone often lack access or an understanding of technology, and many are unsure how to sign up for an appointment.
With the pandemic curtailing in-person interactions, the stark digital divide between generations has become more apparent.Credit.Christian Sorensen Hansen for The New York Times
Annette Carlin feels trapped.
Before the pandemic, Ms. Carlin, who is 84, loved to go on walks in Novato, Calif., with her grandchildren and dance at the senior center. Since March, though, she has been stuck indoors. She has been eager to sign up for a vaccine and begin returning to normal life.
When an Actor Calls With a Poem to Share
A Paris playhouse has developed a program of one-on-one “consultations,” delivered by its artists while the theater is closed.
The singer Dimitra Kontou performing this week for an elderly patient at the Charles-Foix hospital in Ivry-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris.Credit.Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times
Feb. 25, 2021
PARIS “I am calling you for a poetic consultation,” said a warm voice on the telephone. “It all starts with a very simple question: How are you?”
Since March, almost 15,000 people around the world have received a call like this. These conversations with actors, who offer a one-on-one chat before reading a poem selected for the recipient, started as a lockdown initiative by a prominent Paris playhouse, the Théâtre de la Ville, in order to keep its artists working while stages remained dark.