ABC & USA Today Reporting on Elder Care This Week

All of us boomers can relate to the trials and tribulations of taking care of aging parents.  It's something we are all too familiar with.  I hope this article can serve as a useful resource for you.

USA Today on Monday published several articles on issues related to elder care as part of a five-day series. Headlines and summaries appear below.

• "Becoming 'Parent of Your Parent' an Emotionally Wrenching Process": "Caring for elderly parents ... can threaten the emotional health," as well as the physical health, of caregivers and their families, USA Today reports (Fetterman [1], USA Today, 6/25).
• "Elder Care Shifting Away From Nursing Homes": A "shift away from institutionalized care is growing" among adult children who care for their elderly parents because of "the growth of less-restrictive types of care," such as assisted-living facilities and supervised adult day care, USA Today reports (Block, USA Today, 6/25).
• "Growing Up Meant Becoming a Caregiver": The article profiles Ray Payton, a Virginia woman who cares for both of her grandparents in their home and works two jobs to pay for their expenses (Fetterman [2], USA Today, 6/25).
• "Many Worry About Being Able To Care for Relatives in the Future": Almost half of the 59% of baby boomers who do not offer personal or financial help or both to their elderly parents have concerns about their ability to offer such help in the future, according to a USA Today/ABC News/Gallup poll, USA Today reports (Fetterman [3], USA Today, 6/25).
• "Proposed Legislation Would Help Caregivers With Financial, Day Care Aid": Lawmakers have proposed several bills that seek to reduce costs for family caregivers -- some of which would provide caregivers with tax credits of as much as $3,000 annually -- but Congress "hasn't passed any of the proposals in final form," USA Today reports (Fetterman [4], USA Today, 6/25).