Planning for Life

By Harry S. Margolis

Managing raising children while holding down a full-time job is a challenge for all parents. Add in caring for aging parents and it can feel more like a vise than the proverbial sandwich. Dedham-based marketing executive Liz O'Donnell has written a book, Working Daughter: A Guide to Caring for Your Aging Parents While Making a Living, and started a website, www.workingdaughter.com, both aimed at helping daughters of elderly parents better manage the pressures coming at them from all directions. Both are based on O'Donnell's own experience trying to care for her parents, raise her children and meet the requirements of a demanding job. They are full of good advice for other daughters (and sons) facing the same challenges.

By Harry S. Margolis

A relatively new grassroots organization, Caring Across Generations, is working to change public policy to support people caring for people with disabilities of all ages. It is a coalition of over 200 other organizations. Its co-directors are Sarita Gupta, executive director of Jobs with Justice, and Ai-jen Poo, executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and a MacArthur Award winner.

The organization's goal is "to bring our caregiving infrastructure into the 21st century, so everyone can age and care with dignity." It focuses its work in three areas: access to care, support for families and better care jobs. It argues without these changes we will not be able to meet the care needs of our aging population except through increased institutionalization.

By Harry S. Margolis

A new website offers information and resources for individuals and families facing end-of-life challenges. It is designed as both a destination itself with answers to questions about end-of-life topics and as a directory of services in the community. The website, www.endwithcare.org, grew out of the work of the Massachusetts Commission on End of Life Care and the Massachusetts Experts Panel on End of Life Care, which in 2014 came out with the report, Looking Forward: 2014 and Beyond. 

By Harry S. Margolis

In Mary Ellen Gioia v. Richard D. and Ann L. Ratner, the Essex County superior court in Massachusetts refuses to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a registered nurse who claims she was injured by a patient in her care. She brought the suit against the patient, Richard Ratner, and his wife and health care agent, Ann Ratner. Judge Diane M. Kottmyer rules that the suit against Mr. Ratner can move forward but dismisses the claim against his wife.