FAMILY CAREGIVING AS A PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE
A Panel Discussion
On Thursday, Sept. 20th, YANA and the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) combined forces to highlight the unmet needs of family caregivers, drawing inspiration from the report, “From Insight to Advocacy: Family Caregiving as a Public Health Issue.”
Valerie Martinez (Class of ’99, SOM) set the tone for the meeting, sharing her frustrations as she tries to meet the needs of her aging parents. Running into one obstacle after another, Valerie humorously described numerous instances of maddening procedures in well-meaning hospitals, clinics, and MD offices. Joan Monin, PhD (Associate Professor, YSPH) engaged a panel of experts to comment on Valerie’s challenges, calling upon the expertise of Rebekah Azaylia Alexander, MPA, Family Caregiver and Friend of YANA; Josh Chodosh, MD, Professor of Geriatric Research, NYU School of Medicine; Rich Marotolli, MD, Medical Director, Dorothy Adler Geriatric Assessment Center, Yale-New Haven Hospital; and C. Grace Whiting, JD, President and CEO, National Alliance for Caregiving.
We were honored that Sten H. Vermund, MD, PhD, Dean of the Yale School of Public Health, came down from New Haven to open this forum, sharing his own experiences caring for his aging parents.
Planning for this forum led to the creation of YANA’s Family Caregivers Resource Guide (co-authored by Peg Graham and Rebekah Azaylia Alexander), designed to provide new Family Caregivers with an overview of the many and diverse challenges they are about to face.
***
Joan Monin, PhD (moderator)
Associate Professor, Yale School of Public Health
Rebekah A. Alexander, MPA (panelist)
Family Caregiver, Co-Author of “Family Caregiver Resource Guide”
Joshua Chodosh, MD, MSHS (panelist)
Professor of Geriatric Research, NYU School of Medicine
Richard Marotolli, MD (panelist)
Medical Director, Dorothy Adler Geriatric Assessment Center, Yale-New Haven Hospital
Valerie Martinez, MBA (panelist)
Family Caregiver, SOM ‘99
C. Grace Whiting, JD (panelist)
President and CEO, National Alliance for Caregiving
Co-Hosted by the Yale School of Public Health & the Yale Alumni Nonprofit Alliance