Who cares for you when you can no longer care for yourself? Deirdre Fishel’s documentary “Care” examines this question through the lens of home health care. The screening was held Saturday at Piedmont Virginia Community College’s Dickinson Center as part of the annual Virginia Film Festival.
“Care” follows the stories of four individuals, who all require home health care, in various stages of age and health. In one of the stories, a home health aide with 30 years of experience cares for an elderly woman in the Bronx, but the aide makes so little that she and her youngest son must live shelter to shelter after their time in a Medicaid-subsidized hotel room runs out. In another case, a man needs care after being diagnosed in his late 60s with an extreme form of Parkinson’s Disease, affecting nearly every aspect of his life, from his speech to his ability to stand.
The film repeatedly shows bathing scenes, in which home health aides wash their clients. These poignant scenes represent one of the most vulnerable moments in life, when one must disrobe in front of another person and receive help completing an activity of daily living most healthy individuals take for granted.
People do not typically think about a time when they will be unable to complete these tasks. When this time comes, people often do not have well-thought-out plans, leading to care based on their immediate desire to remain at home at costs that are unsustainable in the long run.
Successful caretakers do not only help their clients complete daily living activities, but they essentially serve as their companions. Yet their median salary is around five dollars an hour. They often lack health insurance, emotional support, equipment or proper training. Many work for agencies which charge around $15 an hour, only a third of which goes to the workers themselves. This benefits no one — aides cannot live off their salaries and families cannot afford care.
As the wife of the film’s Parkinson’s patient so bluntly stated, all individuals will eventually become ill. Because nearly everyone requires care at some point, the industry’s lack of publicity is astounding.
A panel discussion with Fishel and two local health professionals followed the screening, moderated by Brian Wheeler, the executive director of Charlottesville Tomorrow. Fishel has directed films for over 25 years. She stated she has always been interested in aging, noting her father died two weeks ago, making the discussion even more emotional.
“This needs to be placed on the public agenda. … There needs to be a reallocation of resources and a redefinition of quality of life,” Fishel said.
Fishel understands the process of change is slow, but hopes her film and other awareness efforts push the issue into the public arena.
“Feeding my dad pudding was really an honor,” Fishel said.
According to Fishel, taking care of those who can no longer care for themselves should be viewed as privilege, rather than a duty. All people, regardless of class or other category, deserve to be fully cared for with dignity and kindness.
“Care” proves it is unacceptable that individuals must consider selling their possessions and taking extreme measures to cover the cost of care. The realization that a person can no longer care for themselves and that family members are no longer capable of providing it is tragic enough — attaining care after this point should not add stress to the experience. As the movie suggests, tremendous efforts must be made to improve working conditions and wages for home health professionals and, ultimately, to make navigating the field of care easier for families.
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