{"id":63886,"date":"2024-04-09T11:50:38","date_gmt":"2024-04-09T18:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=63886"},"modified":"2024-04-09T11:50:38","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T18:50:38","slug":"love-is-with-me-2nd-gen-asian-americans-share-challenges-of-care-giving-for-elderly-immigrant-parents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=63886","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Love Is With Me\u2019 \u2013 2nd Gen Asian Americans Share Challenges of Care Giving for Elderly Immigrant Parents"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Sunita Sohrabji<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The National Asian Pacific Center on Aging has created four videos featuring families discussing the challenges of caregiving. The ‘We Care’ project will be screened at film festivals around the US, starting this May.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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(Giving Compass photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The tradition of caring for one\u2019s aging parents is embedded in Asian culture. But 2nd<\/sup>\u00a0generation AAPIs face multiple challenges in caring for their immigrant parents, including a lack of support, finances, and just plain time.<\/p>\n

In its 2020 report:\u00a0\u201cAsian Americans 65 and Older,\u201d<\/u><\/a>\u00a0the Administration for Community Living \u2014 an agency within the federal Department of Health and Human Services \u2014 notes that the Asian American population age 65 and older was 2,492,874 in 2019 and is projected to grow to 7.9 million by 2060. Older AAPIs largely live in three states: California, Texas, and New York, noted the report. More than 9% of the elderly AAPI population lives in poverty, with an average annual income of $30,788, and just $19,561 for older Asian American women. About 25% of Asian American seniors live with their adult children.<\/p>\n

\u2018We Care\u2019<\/h2>\n

The National Asian Pacific Center on Aging is<\/u><\/a>\u00a0one of five organizations involved with Asian Americans Advancing Justice-AAJC\u2019s Narrative Change and Caregiving Project. The initiative is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.<\/p>\n

For the project, NAPCA created four videos of \u00a0families discussing the myriad of challenges involved in care-giving. The filmmakers brought together a deeply-moving range of narratives. One film tells the story of two Indian American daughters caring for their mother, formerly a physician, who can now only communicate by blinking as her disease progresses. Another film focuses on a Filipino American man trying to balance the twin challenges of a full time job and being the sole care giver for his 91 year old mother. In a sweet moment, the two chat about old times as they make egg rolls together.<\/p>\n

A young Hawaiian Chinese woman lives with her elderly mother, who suffers from multiple illnesses. They are forced to talk about end of life expectations as a close family member is moved to hospice care. And in another film, a Thai American woman, whose elderly parents still work at their restaurant despite health challenges, says: \u201cI feel like I\u2019m the parent of two really stubborn children.\u201d<\/p>\n

The series is titled: \u201cWe Care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patience and Love<\/h2>\n

\u201cEvery story is different, the expectations are different,\u201d Benny Lai, a spokesman for NAPCA, told Ethnic Media Services. \u201cBut the mindset is the same. You have to have a lot of patience and love. Otherwise you cannot be a caregiver.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAsian folks are more willing and common to be caregivers. Back in our home countries, it\u2019s very common that the second generation are living with their parents,\u201d said Lai. \u201cAnd when they are in the States, living in bigger homes, getting married, moving out of their parents\u2019 homes, they find it easier to hire a couple of domestic helpers at maybe $3,000 to $4,000 a month per person, or put them in elderly houses for $4,000 a month. But not a whole lot of people can afford them,\u201d he said, noting that by default, adult children become their parent\u2019s caregivers.<\/p>\n

Denyse Woo Ockerman, who lives with her mother Irma in Hemet, California, characterizes her mom as \u201cmy best friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ohana<\/h2>\n

\u201cWe were meant to be together,\u201d she says in her film. \u201cCaregiving is imprinted in our culture. It is ohana,\u201d says Woo Ockerman, using her culture\u2019s word for a deeply-tied family.<\/p>\n

\u201cLove is With Me,\u201d are the words that echoed through Manisha and Nayana Shahane\u2019s mother\u2019s journal, which she began to write shortly after being diagnosed with Multiple Symptom Atrophy. The family\u2019s long term care insurance ran out: Manisha and Nayana had to step up round-the-clock care, often at expense to their own well-being.<\/p>\n

The loss of time for self care was a theme that echoed through all four videos. But each caregiver also spoke about the deep satisfaction they had gained from caring for a vulnerable human being.<\/p>\n

All four films will be featured at various film festivals around the US beginning in May. They can be viewed on NAPCA\u2019s YouTube channel next month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BySunita Sohrabji Apr 4, 2024 The...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-u-s-a"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63886"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63887,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63886\/revisions\/63887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}