The Age of Dignity: Preparing for the Elder Boom in a Changing America

by Ai-jen Poo

Overview

In The Age of Dignity, thought leader and activist Ai-jen Poo offers a wake-up call about the demographic reality that will affect us all. "We have more senior citizens in America today than we've had at any time in our history," Poo writes, pointing out that more than 14 percent of our population is now over sixty-five; by 2030 that ratio will be one in five. In fact, our fastest-growing demographic is the eighty -five-plus age group—over 5 million people now, a number that is expected to more than double in the next twenty years. This change presents us with a new challenge: how we care for and support quality of life for the unprecedented numbers of older Americans who will need it.

Despite these daunting numbers, Poo has written a profoundly hopeful book, giving us a glimpse into the stories and often hidden experiences of the people—family caregivers, older people, and home care workers—whose lives will be directly shaped and reshaped in this moment of demographic change. The Age of Dignity outlines a road map for how we can become a more caring nation, providing solutions for fixing our fraying safety net while also increasing opportunities for women, immigrants, and the unemployed in our workforce. As Poo has said, "Care is the strategy and the solution toward a better future for all of us."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620972014
Publisher:	New Press, The
Publication date:	06/07/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	531,165
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Ai-jen Poo is the director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and a co-director of the Caring Across Generations campaign. Her accolades include the Ms. Foundation Woman of Vision Award, Newsweek's 150 Fearless Women list, and Time's list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. She lives in New York.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Caring Across Generations 1

Part I A Changing America Needs Care 11

1 The Elder Boom 15

2 The Sandwich Generation 43

3 The Caring Professionals 71

Part II Care at the Crossroads 107

4 Waking the Caring Majority 113

5 A Policy of Caring 141

Afterword: Life in the Care Grid 169

Acknowledgments 177

Appendix A Government Programs Related to Aging and Care 179

Appendix B Resources for Families 189

Appendix C Ways to Get Involved 201

Notes 207

Index 217

About the Authors 227

About the Photographers 229

Editorial Reviews

10/27/2014
Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and recent winner of a MacArthur Fellowship, offers a critical examination of the current and near-future situation of the elderly and home care workers in the U.S., along with hopeful suggestions for improvement. In the first portion of this work, Poo combines statistics with the stories of individuals to give a multifaceted picture of the difficulties facing older Americans, their families, and their caregivers. With the population of Americans over the age of 85 now representing the country’s most rapidly growing demographic, she predicts that the demand for care workers and the challenges to our current “care labyrinth” will only increase. The book goes on to indict the U.S. medical system and government assistance programs for emphasizing the “delay of death, rather than the quality of life.” Meanwhile, elders’ family members, generally too busy to provide adequate care themselves, relegate the task to in-home care workers, many of them undocumented immigrants, who receive poor wages and virtually no benefits. For possible solutions, Poo looks abroad to programs like the “time dollar” currency credit of Japan, as well as to domestic programs like Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities. Overall, she makes a strong argument for a cultural and governmental shift toward valuing older citizens and providing them with opportunities for rich, full lives. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Thoughtful, moving, and relatable.”
—Library Journal

"Ai-jen Poo's first book shines a new light on the need for a holistic approach to caregiving in America. A timely and hopeful book, The Age of Dignity holds solutions that lift all boats—strengthening our families, the workforce that supports us, and the nation as a whole."
—Maria Shriver

"Ai-jen Poo knows how to create social change from the bottom up…showing the humanity of a long devalued kind of work. This goes beyond organizing to transforming."
—Gloria Steinem in Time

Publishers Weekly calls the book "a strong argument for a cultural and governmental shift toward valuing older citizens and providing them with opportunities for rich, full lives."

" An urgent and irresistible book."
—Gloria Steinem

" Don't miss this book."
—Van Jones, New York Times bestselling author of Rebuild the Dream

"A powerful call for a Care Revolution in America."
—Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues

"Ai-jen Poo is among our most compelling social movement leaders."
—Ambassador Swanee Hunt, chair of Hunt Alternatives and Eleanor Roosevelt Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government

"A bold and inspiring vision for the future."
—Jim Firman, president and CEO, National Council on Aging

From the Publisher

01/01/2015
As the baby boomer generation ages and life expectancy grows, the United States will continue to see a significant increase in elderly populations, which will require more caregivers and government support. Poo (director, National Domestic Workers Alliance; codirector, Caring Across Generations) successfully argues that now is the time to consider cultural, behavioral, and policy changes in how the elderly and those caregivers who support them are treated and regarded. In addition to providing background and statistical data on the increasing elderly population in America, the author thoroughly examines issues surrounding elderly caregivers, including the low wages they receive for an arguably demanding job, family members who care for their elders, immigrant populations frequently serving as caregivers and domestic workers, issues surrounding women being primary caregivers, and much more. Poo also discusses practical policy considerations that may address these issues and cultural attitudes or behaviors about these demographics, which she maintains should be further examined. Includes useful notes, appendixes, and photos. VERDICT Thoughtful, moving, and relatable, with numerous personal and professional anecdotes, Poo delivers a concise discussion recommended for readers interested in the social sciences or elder care.—Jennifer Harris, Southern New Hampshire Univ. Lib., Manchester

Library Journal

An articulate author and home-care labor spokesperson says more caregivers will be needed for the huge increase in aged people we’ll soon have. Narrating with clarity and compassion, Emily Woo Zeller pulls listeners into the audiobook’s personal stories and invites them to consider the challenges and detailed solutions offered. Sounding concerned and knowledgeable, she connects in a special way with the author’s message: American society doesn’t have the culture or administrative infrastructure to deal with the home-care needs of the 11.5 million Americans who will be over 85 two decades from now. Attention is needed now to prepare for preserving their independence and dignity, and tending to the welfare of typically underpaid home-care workers. This powerful audio will awaken listeners’ sensibilities and shake up institutional lethargy about this looming social need. T.W. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2015 - AudioFile

2014-11-04
A fierce advocate for the rights of domestic workers examines two phenomena—a booming aging population in need of long-term care and the rising tide of undocumented immigrants—and finds not two problems but one great opportunity.National Domestic Workers Alliance director Poo is surprisingly optimistic in the face of what would seem to be tough problems for American society. With reams of statistics, she presents the facts about the coming increase in our aging population, and she points out that we can learn from other countries, namely Japan and Germany, that have already faced this situation and have been finding ways to cope with it. We can become a more caring nation by making certain cultural, behavioral and structural changes in our society, and Poo offers some specific models of change to build on. Some are technological developments; some are community-based projects; some are government programs currently being tested in a number of states. The author argues that just as the nation has built an infrastructure of roads and electricity, so can it build an infrastructure of care. The caregivers that the elderly must frequently most rely on are immigrants, "the invisible infrastructure" of our economy and our social fabric. Poo claims that we must create a way for undocumented caregivers to attain legal status, provide the training needed to raise the quality of care and improve their wages. She even outlines how the money could be raised to accomplish these goals. Her narrative is filled with stories of the lives and struggles of individual caregivers for the elderly that she has interviewed, and she provides photographs of her grandmother and other elderly women with their devoted caregivers. Three appendices provide further information on resources. This can-do book by an activist seeking to rouse the public into action has a lot to say to anyone who plans on getting old.

Kirkus Reviews