Posted under General & Marketing Massage for Special Populations & Massage for Elders
Hello all,
I discovered a New York Times blog called The New Old Age by Jane Gross where she explores the challenges baby boomers face caring for aging parents. She shares her personal experience and wisdom gained by caring for her own mother. One particular entry that caught my attention dealt with the impact on families of boomers in the “Sandwich Generation” living day in and out with the trials of taking care of an aging parent at home. There are some 20 million of us in this predicament today. I explored the links that Ms. Gross included in her blog and discovered a short film that is a powerful portrayal of one family’s experience caring for the wife’s aging father who has dementia. The film is honest, candid, and illustrates the grit and grace found in the humanness of caring for an elder. The distributor of the film describes it like this:
In this emotionally charged account of family caregiving, filmmaker Julie Winokur and her husband, photojournalist Ed Kashi, expose their personal lives with unflinching candor. Winokur and Kashi uprooted their two children and their business in order to move 3,000 miles cross-country to care for Winokur’s father, Herbie.
At 83, Herbie suffers from dementia and can no longer live alone. Winokur and Kashi are faced with difficult choices and overwhelming responsibility as they charge head on through their Sandwich years. It is a story of love, family dynamics and the immeasurable sacrifice of those who are caught in the middle. Take a look for yourself – you’ll be glad you did. http://mediastorm.org/0009.htm
What do you think would be a way to support a friend who is caring for an aging parent at home? Share your thoughts!
Kind Regards,
Ann