In 2002, I first visited my relatives in the Basque country of Spain. I admired the picturesque mountain views and was curious about the lifestyle of these prideful people. One of the most touching parts of the trip was witnessing how they revered their matriarch, Josefa.
Josefa was in her 90s but was very much a part of the family. She was dressed in a warm pink robe and was attended to by her daughters. They always asked her if she was comfortable and included her in the festivities. She had a radiance that seemed to reflect the love her family showed her.
It reminded me of how we had cared for my maternal grandmother in our home when she was gravely ill with cancer. She spent her last days with us, not in a nursing home. We were fortunate to have the help of a home health aide. These are my personal experiences, but I was curious about the experiences of others. Do Latinos put their parents in nursing homes?
According to the CDC, there are 1.5 million seniors currently living in nursing homes. This figure does not include seniors living in assisted or transitional living environments, or hospice care. The historical view of Latinos has been that they will do whatever possible to care for their elderly in the home and opt for home health-care services if needed. Latinos have used long-term care less than any other ethnic group, but currently there are increasing numbers of Latino seniors living in nursing homes as female caregivers are more likely to work outside of the home. A troubling fact is that Latinos that do live in nursing homes have been found to be more likely than whites to live in poor quality homes.
Dr. Jacqueline Angel is researching the influence of economic conditions on elder care in the Latino population. She has found that many Latinos do not have adequate economic resources to provide for the care of their aging parents, even if they desire to keep them at home. She is involved in Lyons Gardens, a national model for affordable senior housing that provides independent living and services.
How do people decide to place their parents in nursing homes and what is involved in the decision making process? It could have something to do with the way parents raised their kids. If a parent cared for you well, it seems natural to want to care for them well.
The destruction of extended family living could impact Latinos’ future use of nursing homes. Independence is highly valued in our country and extended families live scattered across the states. But is there a cost to valuing independence? Does it cause us to outsource caring for our family? Latino family values have historically included care for the elderly at home. Will this change as future generations grow up? Hopefully not.
By guest contributor, Catarina Rivera.
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This is an interesting topic currently for Latinos, very pertinent….thanks for bringing it up! In short, I would say, NO. Most Latinos (solely anecdotal) do not or would not put their elders in nursing homes, unless they were very sick; however, economic pressures, divorced families, etc., may change things moving forward for Latinos in the United States where we may see many more Latinos putting their elders in nursing homes so they can concentrate on working or maintaining their immediate family nucleus.
Thank you for reading and for your thoughtful comment!
I took care of my parents when they got older. I would have rather sold all my possessions and eat dirt than to have put them in a home. It wasn’t easy emotionally nor financially at times, but they were “los autores de mis dias” and they worked hard to take care of me when I was a child and growing up.
They were my cherished elders and now they are my beloved ancestors. I don’t regret a minute of all I went through looking after them in their twilight years. It was an honor to help them transition beyond the veil of the living.
(FYI: I am 1st generation Chicana, my parents were born in Mexico)
You’re very welcome!
Great topic! My abuela lives with my father’s brother (mi Tio) in his home, and before that, her mother, my great-grandmother lived with them as well. In fact, there are two other “abuelas” that have lived there during my lifetime (these were essentially friends who just became part of the family). I’m still fairly young, but I often think about how I will help care for my parents or in-laws if need be. I can tell you now that “putting them in a home” has never crossed my mind. I want to help care for them if they can no longer live alone.
The biggest difference is that in Latin America, there is always someone at the house. In this country, in many instances, both the men and the women work so it’s a much different dynamic. Sadly as we assimilate more, we’ll soon see more senior citizens in our community live in “homes.”