Is the Pandemic an Opportunity for Improving Support to Caregivers

 

The New York Times recently ran an opinion piece titled “Biden’s Quietly Radical Plan.”  The column by Bryce Covert describes plans announced by Mr. Biden that would provide universal pre-school and improve long-term care services for older people.  

 

The COVID pandemic has brought into the open how important caregiving is to our society, whether it is care for young children or for older adults.  As COVID restrictions were gradually being lifted, parents of young children could not return to work because child care and pre-school programs remained closed.  With the school year approaching, parents are facing the dilemma of what to do with their school age kids if their schools go to remote learning.  

 

For older adults, the pandemic revealed how poorly prepared many nursing homes and other residential facilities are for protecting the health of residents.  But trying to keep someone at home where they may be safe poses its own problems, particularly, difficulties finding and retaining qualified caregivers who are virus-free to help out in the home.  Mr. Biden’s proposal would improve wages for home care workers and also improve their work situation.  

 

We need to remember that life before the pandemic was already hard and getting harder for many people.  Needs such as affordable child care and services to support older people to remain at home are routinely addressed in almost all other advanced economic countries, but the US has remained mired in outdated beliefs about care.  There was a time when most women didn’t work outside the home and could care for children or parents at home.  And that was a time, too, when most people did not live to advanced age, so there were not as many older people who needed care.  The idea that families should do it all is as antiquated as a statue of Robert E. Lee. 

 

So maybe we have an opportunity.  The impact of the COVID pandemic and the utter incompetence of the Trump administration have made people more aware of how backward our country has become in so many ways.  This can be the time when we start taking the steps to make caring for young and old more manageable and humane.  We are not likely to become Denmark overnight, but there is much that we can borrow from the Danes and other countries about providing for basic needs for children and older adults and other individuals with special needs.

 

You can find Bryce Covert’s article, “Biden’s Quietly Radical Plan,” at this link:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/02/opinion/biden-child-care.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage