The Unacknowledged Value of Unpaid Caregivers – Alexandra Drane, CEO of ARCHANGELS

Nearly half of U.S. adults work as unpaid caregivers, but the essential contribution they make is undervalued, and even often unacknowledged, by employers and healthcare professionals. Alexandra Drane could not abide this, so she co-founded ARCHANGELS, an organization dedicated to supporting and honoring the unpaid caregivers among us. As she tells host Dr. Rishi Desai in this episode of Raise the Line: “I myself have been a caregiver, am a caregiver, have needed a caregiver, and will most certainly be a caregiver multiple times over again.” Against the backdrop of a pandemic that has injected unprecedented stress and instability into the lives of millions of people in the U.S., Drane wants the swelling ranks of unpaid caregivers to understand they are not alone, and that help is available. Tune in to learn why society sees childcare in a different light than elder care, what some states are doing to help unpaid caregivers, and what Drane tells the pregnant strangers she approaches on the street. If you like this podcast, please share it on your social channels. You can also subscribe to the series and check out all of our episodes at www.osmosis.org/podcast