My heart goes out to the author about the ordeals she experienced in finding good quality living situations for her elderly mother. I also experienced difficulty in helping my dad navigate care and hospice over the past few years until he passed away. The author dealt with this for 12 years! We had to move my dad a few times in the last 6 months of his life due to inadequate level of care for his needs and worse -- complete neglect and physical, emotional, and verbal abuse in a place we were paying a lot of money for "the highest level of care." I could relate to her experiences of listening to supposed experts whose advice actually caused more discomfort or pain to her mother through a rush to discharge etc. The challenge is a lot of these care facilities are being bought up by private equity who only care about short-term profit so they cut corners, have the barely minimal amount of staffing, and hire underqualified and untrained people. These places have glossy marketing materials and bring families on tours to show all of the great activities and enrichment activities and the "chef" created food options. The reality in many of these places if very far from the glitzy marketing. My dad was moved to memory care where he and other residents were abused and neglected by a staff that had no training and just did not care. Even though my brother and I did not live in the same state as my dad, we started to go frequently and "unannounced" to check in. We both were working full-time so we were lucky to have understanding bosses who let us work remotely. Even when my dad was released to hospice care when he was given a prognosis of a few months to live (which was indeed the case) - I asked the social worker at the hospital what do families do - and she said they bring them home (not an option) because hospice nurses will only check on him a few times a week. Very strange system we have here - it takes a toll on the family even if they are in assisted living. We ended up moving my dad to assisted living and hiring a private aide to make sure his needs were attended to during the day, things the author stepped in to do. I witnessed firsthand the "warehousing" of old people and thought to myself, this is not how I want to spend my last days on earth. The author mentions that she filed complaints with different state agencies about unlawful evictions, and other issues. Yet all she got back were form letters saying no evidence found to support allegations. I don't know what it will take to reform eldercare in this country, but I appreciate that the author was willing to share her learnings and experiences. Thank you to Netgalley and New Village Press for an ARC and I voluntarily left this review.

Eldercare in America is as disconnected as its generations. The bureaucracies of government are only slightly worse than those of the organizations that try (or not) to provide care for those with age-related care needs. This is a clear and harsh look at the realities of these issues right now.
I requested and received a temporary uncorrected digital galley on PDF from New Village Press via NetGalley.
#DisElderlyConduct by Judy @karofsky @newvillagepress #ElderCare #LongTermCare #AgingInAmerica #HealthcareJustice #politics #respectforelderly #respectforcarers #assistedLiving #hospicecare #reality #familydynamics