AND {&} THOU SHALT HONOR (TV)
Summary
A special television documentary presentation about caregiving for the elderly.
Recent trends in caregiving are examined throughout the United States, starting with an example in the town of Franklin, Ohio. In one suburban home, Mary Ann Nation talks about the past two years caring for her increasingly elderly husband, who was diagnosed with a rare form of brain virus. Mary Ann decided to quit her job to care for Harlan full-time, and the two of them regularly check in with their doctors. Harlan requires assistance with most everyday tasks, including bathing and getting around. He also has difficulties with his memory, including remembering his and Mary Ann’s children, and she tries to keep his mind active to help him remember. She notes that she does not wish to put Harlan in a home, although she acknowledges that it may be a necessity if Harlan’s condition worsens. However, she takes comfort in the idea that she is making his life better, and says that he has retained his sense of humor.
In Atlanta, Georgia, three grown siblings of the Boykin family care for their mother Mattie, aged 73, in their home. Mattie worked cleaning jobs for her entire life to support her nine children, and is now the matriarch of a sprawling multi-generational family. Her daughter Gladys manages a local KFC where Mattie now regularly dines; she has worked there for 23 years since she was a teenager. She cares for Mattie, as well as her own children and grandchildren. Despite the difficulties involved, she is happy to take care of her mother and talks about the close familial bond between the entire family. Mattie suffered a stroke in 1996, leaving her severely weakened both mentally and physically. Doctors advised that she be put in a care facility, but her children felt that they would be better suited to care for her. Every four months, Mattie is transported between her children’s homes, and they rely on each other to form a support network for her. They take responsibility for feeding and medicating Mattie, and note that despite their disagreements they always pull through for her. They cannot afford the adult day care they would need for Mattie, and Gladys brings Mattie to work so that she can look after her without taking time off. Their system works for the time being, but they have a lack of options, particularly if Mattie becomes too frail to travel.
In Los Angeles, 83 year-old Jerry Cohen cares for his wife Harriet, using the money he has saved over his many years of employment to do so. He discusses his financial situation with his lawyer, as he wishes to continue to care for Harriet in his home. Under the current Medicare system, Jerry is not eligible for official caregiver status (and the attendant financial support) unless he puts Harriet in a nursing home, but he believes that such a facility would not be able to give Harriet the level of attention she deserves. In the middle of the remote settlement of Moenkopi, Arizona, a Hopi family exercises innovative caregiving techniques, overseen by Alene Garcia, judge of the local Hopi family court. Her mother Alice was permanently paralyzed in a car accident, leaving her unable to look after her 97 year-old mother Edna, who now participates in caring for Alice. They receive aid from the local Hopi Elderly Services facility, which provides support to Hopi families caring for an elderly relative in the home. The entire family works together to take care of Alice; Arizona state officials trained several of them in proper techniques for caring for and assisting paraplegics. It is observed that programs such as the one for Alice could potentially be employed for other elderly dependents such as Harlan, Mattie, and Harriet, in order to give their families financial support.
In Mesa, Arizona, Arthur Block suffers from Alzheimer’s Disease, and is cared for by his daughter Ethelinn. He once ran a successful photography business, but now has difficulty remembering his own family or even performing simple tasks such as taking a shower. Ethelinn describes the challenges inherent in caring for her father, including the careful regulation of what objects and resources he has access to and making sure he doesn’t wander off on his own. She notes that someone suffering from Alzheimer’s can easily leave on their own if they get a notion in their head to do so. Being in public places is difficult for Arthur, although Ethelinn notes that he derives great enjoyment from spending time with his grandchildren, who have learned to accept the nature of his condition. In Los Angeles, California, Lorraine Watson has quit grad school in order to care for her parents and sister. Her mother, aged 85, recently suffered from a stroke, and her father, aged 90, has cancer. In addition, her sister, aged 61, is blind and has been mentally retarded since birth. The responsibility of caring for all three of them is overwhelming to Lorraine, especially since her mother does not want her to get assistance from anyone else, refusing to allow strangers in the house. Even getting her parents in and out a vehicle is a difficult task, and she describes looking after them in public as like “herding cats.” Lorraine feels responsible towards them since they devoted so much of their time and energy to raising her and her sister. Both Ethelinn and Lorraine benefit from a respite care program held at the USC Andrus School of Gerontology. There, at a 48-hour “retreat,” caregivers are given various forms of relaxation such as massage therapy and art therapy. Meanwhile, elderly patients have the option of attending adult day care, such as citizens of Santa Barbara, California. However, caregiver support programs are uncommon and expensive.
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Joni Rabinowitz and her husband John have a difficult time providing long-distance assistance to her mother Marcia, living in New York City. Marcia insists on being largely self-sufficient and refuses to leave New York City to relocate to a care facility. She complains of being lonely, although has refused most attempts at giving her a full-time live-in caregiver, finally compromising to have someone come in a few times a week. Marcia is obstinate about her desire not to have anything about her life changed, and Joni tries to work around this to help her. People like Rona Bartelstone specialize in helping families such as the Rabinowitzes by organizing a nationwide elderly care network, taking geographical distance and financial difficulties into account. Experts across the nation work to prepare for people facing the possibility of becoming caregivers, offering financial advice, logistical strategies, and health advice.
In New York City, newly married couple William and Marisol Deutsch talk about William’s recent memory and concentration problems. Tests revealed that William was suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s Disease, and he starts to show subtle signs of his increasingly pervasive memory loss. Marisol does her best to look after William; he likens her attention to “babysitting;” he also talks about what he’s learned about how people react to illness from his profession as a physician. Psychologist Dr. John Ryder tries to assist William and Marisol by administering memory tests and trying to evaluate their interpersonal situation. Despite the challenges of William’s condition, he and Marisol work to try to maintain their relationship and their love for each other.
For some elderly, a nursing home is an unpleasant but unavoidable option. Elena Perrotta is forced to sell her father Sal’s possessions in order to help pay for his nursing home costs, as his pension and social security does not fully cover it. He is staying at the Good Shepherd Health Care Center of Santa Monica, California. Sal fought in World War II and worked as a journalist after that, but in recent years he became unable to care for himself. Although he agreed to move in to the nursing home without resistance, it was difficult for both him and Elena. This transition is extremely difficult for many, such as Maria Smith, who was forced to send her mother Ana to a facility after she became unable to speak or swallow food following a massive stroke. She checks up on her constantly, especially after learning that the staff attending to her did not follow vital care instruction, such as her feeding and medication schedules. At Miami Shores Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, staff such as Mary Ellis Wadley exemplify the typical situation of people working for caregiving facilities: they are overworked, underpaid, and have positions which take a great deal of their time and energy. She has been in this position for over 28 years, and recounts that her wages were insufficient to provide for herself and her children until she and other caregivers unionized. Many in the profession note that their jobs are unsavory and often underappreciated by their patients and their families; only those who care deeply about the profession and their patients are dedicated enough to perform the job. They also note that they become attached to their patients emotionally; Mary Ellis believes that no one should have to die alone, and hopes that she can alleviate that in her own way.
Dr. William H. Thomas believes that despite the efforts of people such as Mary Ellis, the nursing home system is “antiquated” and unsatisfactory. He lives in upstate New York on an eco-friendly farm, believing that it is essential to think about energy use and “connection to the Earth.” He worked as an emergency room doctor before serving in a nursing home for a time in the 1990’s, and he “fell in love” with nursing home work. Noting his own dissatisfaction at the limitations of the nursing home environment, he detests the use of the term “industry” as a descriptor for long-term health care. In response to this he created the “Eden Alternative,” a revised nursing home model based on his own ideas about caring for the elderly. These include better treatment for nursing home staff, believing that they should be treated with the same respect as the patients. He also outlines how his model involves the elders themselves in the decision-making process, and how the facility itself is vibrant with various flora and fauna. He believes that this alternative model would have an equivalent cost to a traditional nursing home, and believes strongly in the “growth” of the elderly, no matter how sickly or challenged they may be. He notes that caregiving is very much on his mind since his two daughters suffer from debilitating neurological disorders and require constant care. His model has already been implemented in over 200 nursing homes nationwide.
At the University of Minnesota, med school students are taught sensitivity to problems suffered by elderly patients by means of a technique called “the aging game.” They use roleplaying exercises and apparatus designed to impair their senses and mobility to experience life as an elderly person. The students gain a newfound perspective on elderly care through these exercises, especially those who have already worked in elderly care. Howard Frushtick, a retired salesman from Atlanta, Georgia, volunteers as a caregiver for elderly in his community in association with a local organization assisting adults with developmental disabilities. He works at an “independent living site” helping with everyday thing such as administering medication or organizing social events. He recounts that he was inspired to do so after caring for his wife for five years after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. His work also involves him volunteering to entertain nursing home residents, a task he enjoys. In Montevideo, Minnesota, Lutheran Reverend Lois D. Knutson directs her parish towards caring for the elderly, who comprise a large percentage of her congregation. She helps organize volunteer caregivers and says she views such caregiving “holistically,” believing that the parish should work with both the elderly and their families to achieve a better standard of care.
Other efforts to care for the elderly can be seen in examples such as a mobile medical unit created by Dr. Andrea Fox in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She devised the unit as a means of treating patients with mobility issues and has learned a great deal about the elderly and the motivations behind their choice of care and lifestyle. She hopes to use her experiences to help hospitals adjust their protocols to help ease patients’ fears of hospitalization. She also makes house calls to patients without coverage and tries to help caregivers who are overwhelmed by their responsibilities. She advocates a philosophy of “caring rather than curing” the elderly, and believes that policies concerning elderly care will require a great deal of restructuring in order to be successful. Elsewhere in Pittsburgh, Pamela Haddad recounts the challenge of caring for her ailing parents while simultaneously working full-time and raising her daughter. She is thankful that her employers have been understanding about her situation, giving her flexible working hours and other considerations. Many companies are becoming more aware of issues revolving around caregiving, such as the Motion Picture & Television Fund, which funded an elder healthcare and retirement community assisted by a number of actors and people in the business. In San Francisco, the organization Onlok serves as an elderly care and community center for the Asian-American community.
Successful author Nancy Mairs makes appearances nationwide for both literary tours and for advocacy on behalf of disabled elders. She and her husband George recount their thoughts about their marriage; she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the age of 29, and George has helped care for her ever since, and retired from his teaching position to care for her full-time. Their marriage has suffered many setbacks over the years, including infidelity and Nancy’s bouts of suicidal depression. They discuss their reliance on each other and their philosophies about caregiving for people with disease and disability. George was recently diagnosed with melanoma cancer, and Nancy insisted on trying to care for him in the same way he had done for her. They emphasize the “circularity” of their relationship and how they each deal with their illnesses. In Princeton, New Jersey, Mary Marshall talks about the recent death of her husband and the realization of her fears of becoming a widow. She served as his caregiver for years before he died, and takes steps to deal with her grief and emotional turmoil. The people highlighted in each story discuss what “honor” means to them in the context of caring for the elderly or disabled, and how it has impacted their own lives.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: November 30, 1999 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:56:47
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:75572
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Public affairs/Documentaries; Aged - Medical care; Elderly people
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV, 2002
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- David Davis … Executive Producer
- Harry Wiland … Executive Producer, Director, Writer
- Dale Bell … Executive Producer, Director, Writer
- David O'Dell … Coordinating Producer
- Deirdre Dix … Coordinating Producer
- Teresa Modnick … Producer
- Bailey Barash … Producer
- Beverly Baroff … Producer, Writer
- Ada O. Shaw … Associate Producer
- Yashua Husain … Line Producer
- Tena Cotton … Line Producer
- Katherine Rosenberg … Line Producer
- Thia Spezialy … Line Producer
- David Loeb … Music by
- Gary Griffin … Music by
- Nita Whitaker … Music by
- Joe Mantegna … Host, Narrator
- Lynn Ann Leveridge … Announcer
- Mary Ann Nation … Interviewee
- Thomas Watanabe … Interviewee
- Gladys Platt … Interviewee
- Larry Stegall … Interviewee
- Milton Boykin … Interviewee
- Mattie Boykin … Interviewee
- Jerry Cohen … Interviewee
- Janet Morris … Interviewee
- Harriet Cohen … Interviewee
- Alene Garcia … Interviewee
- Alice Fritz … Interviewee
- Edna Tallas … Interviewee
- Aurelia Nehoitewa … Interviewee
- Angela Delgarito … Interviewee
- Ethelinn Block … Interviewee
- Brian Block … Interviewee
- Vickie Block … Interviewee
- Tyler Block … Interviewee
- Nick Linsk … Interviewee
- Brittany Block … Interviewee
- Arthur Block … Interviewee
- Lorraine Watson … Interviewee
- Donna Benton … Interviewee
- Joni Rabinowitz … Interviewee
- John Haer … Interviewee
- Marcia Rabinowitz … Interviewee
- Rona Bartlestone … Interviewee
- Catherine Smith … Interviewee
- Phyllis Shelton … Interviewee
- Jane Brody … Interviewee
- William Deutsch … Interviewee
- Marisol Deutsch … Interviewee
- John Ryder … Interviewee
- Elena Perrotta … Interviewee
- Joe Francuz … Interviewee
- Maria Smith … Interviewee
- Mary Ellis Wadley … Interviewee
- Julia Bethea … Interviewee
- Gail Simms … Interviewee
- Anna Walker … Interviewee
- Sue Gilbertson … Interviewee
- William H. Thomas … Interviewee
- Howard Frushtick … Interviewee
- Paul Pieper … Interviewee
- Lois D. Knutson … Interviewee
- Andrea Fox … Interviewee
- George Hazinas … Interviewee
- Celia Hazinas … Interviewee
- Brian Cloyd … Interviewee
- Pamela Haddad … Interviewee
- Allan Woods … Interviewee
- Doris Roberts … Interviewee
- Sally Field … Interviewee
- Michael Douglas … Interviewee
- Susana Chan Fong … Interviewee
- Catherine Eng … Interviewee
- Nancy Mairs … Interviewee
- George Mairs … Interviewee
- Mary Marshall … Interviewee
- Loraye Backer … Interviewee
- Alicia Franco … Interviewee
- Nancy Morith … Interviewee
- Karol Watson … Interviewee
- Sandra Jenkins … Interviewee
- Wendy Hollis … Interviewee
- James Pacala … Interviewee
- Nelson Barnett
- Ana Buenrostro
- Marie Therese Conover
- Vivian E. Greenberg
- Harlan Nation
- Sal Perrotta