12/14/2023

Gen Z Could be Facing an Eldercare Crisis

Few are aware of the enormous costs of care

When Edna Lopez-Rodriguez graduated from college in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, she moved back home to Florida with her parents because she was having trouble finding a job. A few months later, her father had a stroke, and Lopez-Rodriguez's life flipped upside down. At 21, she was now a caregiver. Lopez-Rodriguez took a job at Disney to help bring in extra money while she and her mother took turns taking care of her father.

"He couldn't shower; he couldn't eat. He had to be tube-fed," she told Fast Company. "We were like factory workers working on his body. That was the moment I actually felt like I'd lost my dad."

Yet what she found the hardest was the isolation, not only from her peers but also the rest of the world. Lopez-Rodriguez has half siblings on her father's side, but they were older and married. The bulk of the care fell mostly on her and her mother's shoulders. "People didn't understand," she said. "It's hard on your mental health, and I was exhausted."

Please select this link to read the complete article from Fast Company.