Front and Center: The Essential Work of Caregivers
They have always been there – health care professionals in hospitals; nursing aids in long-term care facilities; and family members at home – but COVID-19 has allowed us to witness the contributions of caregivers as never before. Regardless of their place of caregiving, these are unprecedented times for health care workers. The sacrifices are enormous; the stress, almost unimaginable. But the victories – each and every one – are incredibly rewarding. What’s it like to be a frontline health provider during the pandemic? What is the mental and emotional impact on those caring for the sickest and most vulnerable patients? How do we ensure that the recognition and support these caregivers are now receiving carry on once the crisis has abated?
Join Aspen Ideas: Health to hear Ai-jen Poo, Executive Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, in conversation with Lucy Kalanithi, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford University.
Speakers:
Ai-jen Poo
Executive Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance; Co-Director, Caring Across Generations
Ai-jen Poo is an award-winning organizer, social innovator, author, and a leading voice in the women’s movement. She is the Executive Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Co-Director of Caring Across Generations, Co-Founder of SuperMajority and Trustee of the Ford Foundation. Ai-jen is a nationally recognized expert on elder and family care, the future of work, gender equality, immigration, narrative change, and grassroots organizing. She is the author of the celebrated book, The Age of Dignity: Preparing for the Elder Boom in a Changing America. Follow her at @aijenpoo.
Lucy Kalanithi
Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, Stanford University
Dr. Lucy Kalanithi is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford University and an advocate for culture change around healthcare value. She is the widow of Dr. Paul Kalanithi, author of the New York Times-bestselling memoir When Breath Becomes Air, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and for which she wrote the epilogue. A graduate of the Yale School of Medicine, the University of California-San Francisco’s Internal Medicine Residency and a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford’s Clinical Excellence Research Center, Lucy is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha national medical honor society and an honoree of Mass General Cancer Center’s “the one hundred.” Her new podcast, Gravity, explores narratives of suffering and is in development. Lucy lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her kindergartener, Cady. Follow her at @rocketgirlmd.