How Do We Care for Our Aging Parents?

Keeping our elderly parents healthy, particularly when they have a chronic illness or disability, can be a demanding full-time job. Though 70 percent of all elderly are cared for by family and friends, assisted living and nursing homes fill the gap in care in cases too challenging for even the most devoted families. Long-term care can require close medical attention multiple times a day, combined with assistance performing the basic tasks of daily life, like dressing and bathing, and providing mental health support. Nine million men and women over the age of 65 will need long-term care this year; by 2020, that number will rise to 12 million. The elderly will have a 40 percent chance of entering a nursing home, and about 10 percent of those will stay five years or more. These men and women and their families will face the difficult decision of where to seek and how to manage long-term care. They often have to make these decisions without reliable information about what types of care are available and appropriate, or which facilities and services offer the highest quality care. With the California HealthCare Foundation’s newly-launched ratings website making it easier to find quality long-term care, Zócalo hosted a panel of experts including — Debra Saliba of UCLA, California Culture Change Coalition Executive Director Bonnie Darwin, Gary Passmore of the Congress of California Seniors, and Gretchen Alkema of the SCAN Foundation — to discuss what we should do when we, or our parents, need help making these decisions. This event was made possible by the California HealthCare Foundation.