Elder Care in Crisis

“Abel writes with empathy for direct caregivers as a family caregiver herself as well as a cancer survivor. While we are all familiar with how nursing homes failed during the pandemic, these stories of family members fighting for their institutionalized relatives, still feel new and crucially important to read.” (Meika Loe, author of Aging our Way: Lessons for Living from 85 and Beyond) “Drawing upon her deep knowledge and first-person accounts, from the nineteenth century to the COVID-19 pandemic, Emily Abel portrays both the joyful and heart-breaking aspects of family caregivers’ struggles to care for elderly people with dementia. This book will spur everyone to ask: why don’t we as a country do better for both the elderly and their caregivers?” (Joan C. Tronto, author of Caring Democracy: Markets, Equality and Justice) “Here you have a poignant, thoughtful, and extraordinarily useful account of trends that will curse us all unless we take action now. Call it investment in infrastructure, improved social insurance, commitment to common decency, or all of the above: we need a better, more sustainable system of care provision. The qualitative research highlighted here helps show us the way forward.” (Nancy Folbre, author of Valuing Children: Rethinking the Economics of the Family) “The author’s observations, anecdotes, and notes yield a perspective that challenges the current system of long-term care. The author eschews providing simplistic answers, allowing those most concerned—currently active caregivers—to speak for themselves.” - T. E. Getzen, emeritus, Temple University (CHOICE)

Emily K. Abel is Professor Emerita at the UCLA-Fielding School of Public Health. She is the author of many books, including Hearts of Wisdom: American Women Caring for Kin, 1850-1940; Limited Choices: Mable Jones, A Black Children’s Nurse in a Northern White Household (with Margaret K. Nelson); and Elder Care in Crisis: How the Social Safety Net Fails Families. Her book Tuberculosis and the Politics of Exclusion won the 2008 Viseltear Award for outstanding book in the history of public health from the Medical Care Section, American Public Health Association.