I'm 65 and caring for my 87-year-old mom with dementia. Going to work is sometimes my only break.
A 65-year-old woman shares her personal experience of balancing a career with the demanding and expensive reality of caring for her mother, who suffers from dementia. The essay highlights the financial and emotional strain of long-term caregiving in the United States.
Why it matters
It sheds light on the 'sandwich generation' and the systemic challenges of elder care and dementia support in the US.
Angela Davis, 65, cares for her 87-year-old mom with dementia. Camille Farrah Lenain for BI This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Angela Davis, 65, who lives in New Orleans with her 87-year-old mom with dementia . She said her mom's at-home care is upward of $7,000 a month. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. My mom and dad were never married. I grew up in New Orleans and went to an all-girls Catholic high school. My mom was a school teacher and bought a house in her 30s, which I recently transferred to my son. My dad was a math teacher, but left that to help his dad run a furniture moving business. I went to Fisk University and moved to Texas, then Connecticut. I did my clinical fellowship at Yale University and had a son.
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