The mounting pressures on those caring for both aging parents and young children

we're launching our new series today we call it the cost of caregiving about how we care for our country's aging population so listen to this number between now and 2030 about 10,000 people in this country will turn 65 every single day many experts say the country is unprepared to care for them and that care often falls on their adult children as Americans have children later in life many end up taking care of their parent and their young kids at the same time they're referred to as the sandwich generation CBS news contributor Lisa Ling understands this very personally and she's diving into this issue for us Lisa good morning glad to have you here good morning Gail good morning everyone so you are about to meet my family who are part of that s sandwich generation and sadly we are not alone about a quarter of us adults fall into this category and in this series we're going to introduce you to some of them Mornings in our home are pretty hectic she said there was a mistake on the study guide my husband Paul and I travel a lot for work so usually just one of us gets our two girls off to school but today Paul has to rush back to take his 92-year-old mother Grace to doctor's appointments is it called the outside no it's been a tough couple of months for her with multiple trips to the ER and rehab facilities that's the main hospital we are part of the nearly 80 million Americans taking care of children as well as our elderly parents at the same time step up and we have a name the sandwich generation the certain point your parents become like kids Lauren Shin is dealing with something similar until recently she had both of her parents living with her and her husband while raising two young kids when did your parents move into your home they moved in in 2017 when my first child was born they came to offer to stay with me for a year to help raise him and then their health started to deteriorate so I said you're staying I'm going to take care of you it was during the pandemic that Shin realized it wasn't just her mom's physical health that was starting to deteriorate it was her mind tell me about how her behavior changed and how the mom that you had always known really started to change in the first few months it was still okay um it was just seemed like a lot of nonsense talking from her but then there was a switch she would tell me to shut up with profanity word sometimes she would look at me as if she could kill with her eyes and I would say something and she'd be like you don't know what you're talking about 3 years after moving in Shin's mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease can lead to delusions and sometimes violent Behavior this makes care very difficult at first it was Shin's father who took it on he was spoon feeding her he was sitting next to her he was talking to her all day there was not a moment that he wasn't by her side after 2 years her mother's condition continued to decline but it wasn't until Shin gave birth to her second child that she knew something had to change what were those first few months when your daughter was born and your mother was still living here and going through the height of her disease it was hard I was trying to heal and take care of a newborn and I six-year-old so it was a lot of nights of screaming and crying into my pillow Lisa Shin's family decided that it would be better and safer for everyone if her mom could move into a Memory Care Facility they found what they were looking for an hour away in Anaheim California where the majority of the residents are korean-american like her mom do you know how she's been doing here she has actually adjusted a lot better the first month or two was hard she I heard she was screaming for my dad and then a shift happened and they said this would happen and she met some friends that she always hangs out with and sits with and eats with Shin was able to pay for her mother's care through California's Medicaid Program called medical it's for individuals with little to no income but in many states cost for memory care facilities can exceed $110,000 a month out of pocket Medicaid is a state and federal joint program it's complicated which I sometimes think is by Design Nicole jorick is with the organization carrying across Generations she says most Americans should not expect that Medicaid will cover facilities she says its weight list is over 750,000 people long states can limit how many people they're going to serve and also the federal government has limits about how much money people can have in order to receive those services so Medicaid really requires people to spend down their assets and remain in poverty in order to access um long-term care okay so far we've been lucky that Paul's mom has been able to stay in her home with her kids keeping close eyes on her my own father spent his final days in a facility that he paid for with a government pension and what he had in the bank he passed last November but had he lived his entire life savings would have lasted him a maximum of two years shin and her family are great to have found a safe place for her mom but as a sandwich caregiver Shin still has young kids and an aging father at home is there anything you would want to say to all of those out there who are struggling and juggling you taking care of their kids and taking care of elderly people as well in their lives it does get better the kids will get older they will become a little bit more self-sufficient um and they won't need you as much and the elderly I just want people to know they don't want to be the ones needing help either and this is my turn to give back for all their hard work while Lauren Shin made the difficult decision to move her mom into a facility for many that's not an option due to not being able to afford it their loved one doesn't qualify or there's not enough room at these facilities to take them in and we will have more on that tomorrow boy what Lauren said right there just really resonated with me where you go you don't want to be the ones needing help either but I feel for the sandwich generation because on one hand you want to do right by your parents on the other hand you now have these young children of your own it just seems like a a vice coming on both sides absolutely I mean there's such an emotional toll but also the financial toll is so overwhelming I mean over 26% of Americans are supplementing care for their parents while trying to take care of kids themselves I'm so glad we're covering this there's no shortage of love for the kids or the parents but there's a shortage of so many other things it's very difficult that's right curious about the reaction you're going to get from this cuz you're here for the next couple of days yes I mean I've been posting about it on social media and I've been inundated with people because I think that that people are just hungry for information there a lot of people do not know what to do Lisa Ling will be here tomorrow she's going to introduce us to a family taking care of a loved one at home home and show us the challenges that they face as sandwich caregivers and for more on caregiver resources and organizations like carrying across generations and the National Council on Aging we invite you to head to CBS morning.com it's all there

Channel: CBS Mornings

Views: 148,136

Keywords: video, cbs, news, sandwich generation, adult, geriatric, retirement, parents, children, elder care, lisa ling, cost of caring

Id: 0rJ7eqON7Ac

Length: 7min 44sec (464 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 24 2024