Kaiser Health News/JAHF Event Recording: Unsung Heroes - The Crucial Role, and Tenuous Circumstances, of Home Care Workers During the Pandemic
Kaiser Health News (KHN) and JAHF hosted an interactive web event March 30, "Unsung Heroes: The Crucial Role - and Tenuous Circumstances - of Home Care Workers During Pandemic."
Even as the pandemic took a devastating toll on health care workers and older adults in the United States, many home care workers continued to report to work and provide vital care to vulnerable people despite the health risks to themselves and their own families. KFF’s Kaiser Health News (KHN) and The John A. Hartford Foundation webinar examined the crucial roles home care workers have played for families during the pandemic as well as the challenging economics of the industry for providers and consumers alike.
The event was intended to be an intimate conversation about the role of home health during the COVID-19 crisis. Moderator Elisabeth Rosenthal, KHN Editor-in-Chief, drew on personal experience: Her mother, Elaine, who died last year at age 96 of suspected Covid-19, spent the final months of her life in an assisted living community, where she was cared for by aides from Senior Helpers, a provider of in-home care. Panelists included:
- Joanne Taylor, Owner, Senior Helpers Westchester (NY). Taylor began her career in home care after juggling the roles of caregiver, advocate and loved one for her own family members.
- Clare McHugh, a Novelist and home health care client in Baltimore whose 90-year-old mother suffers from advanced dementia.
- Karen Gilmore, a Home Health Aide for Ms. McHugh’s mother.
- Robert Espinoza, Vice President of Policy at PHI, a New York-based nonprofit group that studies and implements ways to improve eldercare and disability services both for those who receive care and those who provide it.
- Rani Snyder, Vice President, Program at The John A. Hartford Foundation will make introductory remarks.
A John A. Hartford Foundation grant supports KHN's Aging & Improving Care of Older Adults coverage.
To watch the webinar recording and to download the slides, click here.
