A friend just sent me your July 31 column on elder care (BW Online Frontier, 7/31/00, "Easing the Burden of Elder Care"). As a former parental caregiver -- and one who has worked with others while writing about the issue -- I think a few words are in order.
Productivity may be affected. But the assumption that elder care is a "burden" is one that many would protest. For those with whom I've worked, elder care is a natural act, one whose lessons are worth the time involved.
As you note, many would like more support, both from employers and from their communities. But there is also a need for aging children and their elderly parents to think about and plan for the events that an elder's illness represents. Employers can help with the information and planning required. I have heard from many who say it makes all the difference.
Perhaps most important, however, we need to realize that this isn't a question of age alone. At present, I'm involved with several families facing chronic and limiting illnesses among people in their 30s or 40s. All are shocked and surprised that they are confronting issues of illness and disability that were, they presumed, attendant only upon age. These are the folks with MS, ALS, strokes, cancer...all the conditions that know no respect for age or the desire of younger workers to be healthy.
The issues of your mother's care may in fact apply to your brother's. Employers need to work with employees not simply in cases of dependent seniors but also across the range of workers and families who, periodically, will confront the issues of fragility.
TOM KOCH
Vancouver, B.C.
Send your questions to frontierlife@businessweek.com.
Koch is a freelance writer who specializes in gerontology, ethics, and bio ethics. His books on gerontology include Mirrored Lives (Praeger, 1990) and Age Speaks for Itself, to be published on Sept. 1.
