[ONLINE] Crisis Conversations — Live From Better Life Lab

The coronavirus pandemic is disrupting virtually everything about the way we work, live, connect with one another and expect from our government, businesses, communities and each other. And it’s exposing the deep cracks and inequities in American society across race, class and gender. We can’t go back.  So what will it take to create a fairer future of work and family? That’s what the Better Life Lab explores every week. Join us on Zoom to share stories, ask questions and make sense of what’s so rapidly unfolding, and imagine together a better new normal.

Join us on Friday, August 7 at 1 pm Eastern time, for a 30-minute interactive conversation on the challenges of family caregiving in the time of COVID-19. The more than 53 million family caregivers in America were already under pressure prior to the pandemic, many of them forced to choose between inflexible or unsupportive work environments and caring for loved ones who need care. They are not supported by public policy – even the emergency paid family leave law Congress passed last spring excluded those caring for aging or chronically ill loved ones. And many, including those in the sandwich generation, never get a break to take care of themselves. As the pandemic rages, and with a coming aging crisis, how do we begin to care for family caregivers?

Host:

Brigid Schulte
Director, Better Life Lab at New America

Guests:

Jessica Mills
A family caregiver in Georgia who put off her college plans to care for her mother with dementia

Debbi Simmons Harris
A family caregiver in Minnesota who had to stop working to care for her son, who has required complex medical care for more than two decades

Jennifer Olsen, DrPH
Executive Director of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving

Karen Lindsey Marshall, J.D.
Director of Advocacy and Engagement at the National Alliance for Caregiving