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Jul 1113 min read

Caregiving 2.0: Love and Responsibility in a Changing World

Updated: Oct 21




This week we discuss a personal and pressing topic: the future of caregiving. As the care crisis deepens, we explore innovative solutions--from wearable sensors revolutionizing at-home care to the evolution of pet benefits in the workplace. We discuss groundbreaking developments in early Alzheimer's detection and what they mean for families and caregivers. Beyond tech, we grapple with questions like: How do we redefine family and care in the 21st century? What does the future hold for those of us who are child-free? Join us for a heartfelt conversation about the challenges and opportunities in caregiving, as we imagine a world where care is more accessible, flexible, and compassionate for all.





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Episode Transcript:

Lana: Welcome to Signal Shift, by Horizon Shift Lab. We're your hosts, Lana Price, Raakhee Natha, and Sue Chi. Each episode, we explore the latest signals in technology, culture, and society, uncovering insights that will impact our daily lives in the future. Join us as we shift perspectives, explore possibilities, and delve into real changes in our world. Curious to learn more? Go to horizonshiftlab.com.


Welcome to another episode of Signal Shift. Today's topic is really personal and top of mind for me and for a lot of people I know, and this is the future of caregiving. Millions in the US are caught in a deepening care crisis. As our population ages and chronic conditions increase, the demand for care services is soaring, yet we face a critical shortage of caregivers. The imbalance is restraining both paid and unpaid caregivers. There's a huge social toll and an economic one, too.


Caregiving is fundamentally human. It is love. We're talking about providing care to individuals who need assistance with various daily tasks. So from childcare to elder care and supporting those with disabilities, everyone deserves and requires care. Yet our current systems are failing many of those in need.


So today we're going to explore what the future could look like because it's clear that the status quo is not very sustainable. So I'm curious to hear who wants to open and share their signal about care.


Raakhee: It's such a big topic. It's, I think, Lana, the word you use, crisis. The more you learn about it, yeah, you realize how quickly this crisis is going to be upon us. And there's so many avenues to take this with, you know, from housing, there's so many.


So I kept it simple, and I looked at things happening right now in my own life that I think point to something that we'll see in the caregiving space. 


And I'll share this personal story first without disclosing who it is, but somebody in my life who is about 78 years old, active, relatively healthy, but has been struggling with some stuff recently, wasn't doing so well. And then suddenly they were feeling better and taking their meds. And they went out to the golf course. And after playing a couple of rounds of golf, this individual passed out on the floor for a couple of minutes, was unconscious. But they did something not good in the sense that the individual then got up, didn't call anyone. You know, whoever was around came to see if he was OK, that he was fine. He got in his car and he drove back home.


And so naturally, his family was really upset. Like, he shouldn't be doing that. You're risking other people. But you have no idea at your age what that could be. And on the other hand, you're trying to have empathy for the fact that as people age, it's even harder to say -- oh, help me or something is wrong with me. And you're really trying to fight that narrative in your own life, right? Thinking it may be possible that you could have a stroke or a heart attack or so was actually really, really likely.


So yeah, that was something that happened. And it was just an interesting incident that left, I think, a few of us in my family with a lot of questions around that kind of scenario. 


But my signal is around something I'm using in my life. So something that I'm using in my life and I realized actually why it's going to become critically important. And that's sensors, sensors that we have on our bodies. And the importance of that's going to become integral, right?

And Apple kind of was smart on that in picking up their technology with when your phone sort of drops out of your hand or whatever that call to emergency services. It'll happen automatically, which I think will help a lot of people. 


But I think it's just the proliferation of sensors. And I'm using this particular device right now. It comes from a company called Sword Health. It's a startup company that does digital physical therapy. And so I put on these sensors. And they're really simple. You just strap them on. And there's like a little iPad that you work with. And I'm using the iPad and your sensors to do these physical activity exercises on the screen. And you don't have to be recovering. You can just be improving your posture or your ankle or your knee or whatever it is.


And it's so awesome. It works as effectively as physical therapy and the amazing thing is how effective these sensors are. Like they do the job because they are picking up their motion and my range. And so yeah, I just want to highlight that that's actually going to be really, really important.


And I think with caregiving, I think it'll help take a certain type of load off. Is that caregiving before, whether it's your family or a paid worker, you have to be present. You have to be observing the person, that sort of thing. And that's like one side of the load, right? Like I can't leave the house, I can't do this. Not because I'm doing anything, but because something might happen and I won't know.


And I think the power of that kind of technology, things like sensors and that within the house, on the individual, I think it's going to help hopefully maybe shift some of those parameters of how people give care whether its family or paid assistance or even a robot who's helping. But I think in terms of that surveillance and vigilance, I think the sort of data and signals we'll get from the technology on the person, I think that's a good thing. And I think that's going to help with some of the burden around caregiving that somebody may not have to necessarily be in that environment with the person all the time, monitoring them, seeing them, that sort of thing.


But yeah, just if sensors were on this individual that fell down and this whole situation happened, maybe somebody in the family could have immediately been called. And even though nothing happened, it still could have been a better way to handle that situation. So that was my signal on caregiving this week.


Lana: That's great. I love to hear your enthusiastic review. And I'll just say, we're not paid reviewers. And so it's a very genuine endorsement of this product, which I'm going to look up immediately. Good, Sue, how about you?


[7:06]


Sue: The signal that I have been focused on is actually a whole other class of caregiving to add on to the already existing burden that many caregivers have. And that is the recognition that a lot of people who own pets consider them as family members that they also give care to. 


And I was curious about this because I've heard over and over that pet ownership surged in the United States during the pandemic. And actually, the ASPCA had a survey that said almost one in five Americans adopted a dog or a cat between 2020 and 2021. And last year, the Pew Research Study actually showed that 97% of people surveyed that have a pet consider them as family members. And more than half say that they consider them as much a family member as a human family member.


And so I was thinking, OK, well, if they consider them that much of the family, then caring after them can also take a toll, whether it's financial, emotional, physical toll. So with this surge in pet ownership, I saw recently that news outlets reported that companies in an effort to continue to recruit and retain their talent are offering more pet-related benefits to their employees. And so Lana, you had talked about paid and unpaid caregiving. A lot of pet owners, they are unpaid caregivers.


And so the big headline actually started last year. There was an HR conference that had a lot of especially tech companies there and talked about the rise of pet benefits for companies. And it was going to be the next trend, especially as Gen Z feels very strongly about their pets. 


And so I know it started like tech companies had things like bring your dog to work kind of policies. But now there's more. They're offering subsidies for pet health care insurance. They're offering flexible time-off for vet appointments, pick up drop off from, let's say, doggy daycare. And then in addition, companies are now offering what they're calling a “paw-ternity leave” or a “pet-ernity leave,” as well as bereavement leave for people going through some of the grief around having to say goodbye to a pet.


And what was surprising was it's not just in the United States where this is happening. Actually, this past week, there was an article around a company in India that made headlines for issuing paw-ternity leave. 


And so for me, I felt seen here because as the primary caregiver for two furry family members, there's so much to think about and juggle around and balance between that and work and other obligations. And so I feel lucky because in the past where I did work, it was flexible enough so that if there was an emergency with my pet, I could leave and go and tend to them. And I know that's not the case at a lot of companies. And so I think this might become more and more of a trend as Gen Z gets more and more into the workforce especially and what that might mean as an overall HR benefit policy.


And I'm curious because I know this caregiving is a contentious topic, at least here in the US.

There's so much, like you mentioned, Lana, we need to do to actually give care to humans, whether it's for the young or the elderly or the ailing. So I would like to imagine a world where in the future all of these things get combined. 


And for me, what's driving this is the recognition that there is a role for our furry family members that are actually household members and the validity that belief will have in the rest of our culture.

And so I'm really curious to see where that's going to show up. 


I think for me, I immediately went to different employer websites and their HR benefits to see, yeah, and there are definitely some now that have a whole pet page for their benefits for employees. So that was my signal for the week.


Lana: That's amazing. I do know someone who has recently suffered a loss of an important animal family member and then also went through an adoption process. And so, yeah, I think that it's true. Like, I think that impacts us, our ability to focus. We need to take the time off for those things and have that recognition and validity, as you said. So that's very, very cool. 


And I love that we all took a very different approach to this, and I think it's because the theme is so broad, and there's so many different ways to look at the subject.


[12:22]


I guess the signals that I found were related to, I guess, recent innovations in detecting Alzheimer's. And so I was kind of focused on this, thinking about dementia, and specifically Alzheimer's, because this is definitely a growing epidemic, not just in the US, but globally. 


And so over 55 million people worldwide are living with dementia, and this might be an underestimate. And because of the way that it sort of destroys memory and thinking skills, and then eventually the ability to carry out simple tasks, it has a distinct impact on caregiving, because it's very sort of expensive to care for, and it requires a lot of this specialized care that evolves over a long period of time.


And so the two signals are related to recent innovations in detection. So first, researchers at UCSF, San Francisco, have developed a smartphone app that's capable of detecting early signs of frontotemporal dementia. And so this app performs cognitive tests, tests that are sensitive enough to pick up early dementia signs in individuals with a genetic predisposition. 


And then across the pond in the UK, there's a trial going on that involves a simple blood test capable of detecting Alzheimer's by identifying specific proteins linked to the disease.


And so I think for me, this is positive in that getting these early and accurate diagnosis really can help everyone in not just managing the disease more effectively, but supporting caregivers and planning and preparing for what we know is going to be the progression. And so this early detection opens the door for enhanced treatment options, and then also for people and their families to make informed decisions about finances, legal planning, and long-term care, as well as preparing emotionally and otherwise.


And so that is what I was looking at. And I guess I am curious. We have a couple of different ways of thinking about caregiving. What is coming up for you all as you think about what this means to you in your own life, either as a caregiver or as one who anticipates receiving care?


[15:45]


Raakhee: Being childless, you do, at a certain age you do start wondering about it, right? And you can be like, OK. And I think in line with what you are saying, Lana, I think the focus, just with the way the health industry is and the messages out there and that sort of thing, I think it's not just about longevity. I think for a lot of us, it's not that, oh, I want to live to 100 or whatever. It's I want to have a good lifespan. It's health span, not lifespan. And I think there is definitely an increased focus with people who are entering middle ages now on like, OK, that we need to be more proactive about it.


And I wonder how it is knowing that underlying to like, hey, I don't know who is actually going to take care of me in the future. Or where that burden goes, will I be able to afford it when everything is so expensive? Those realities, like knowing that you have to be really self-sufficient, independent, and taking care of yourself as well. So that definitely comes up. And I think the preventative tools that you're speaking about, the management, like using things like sensors. And then companies being really flexible in their policies, like, hey, it may not be, it might be my pet that I need to care for. But we need to rethink those relationships because relationships and who we have in our life is so different now.


Sue: Raakhee, I was thinking, as you were saying that the evolution of some of the HR policies and benefits first extended to yourself, to your biological children, then it extended to adoption. I know in some states now they have bereavement for miscarriage. Like, they're recognizing all these other ways that you are caring for yourself or other people. Now they cover fertility. Now the definition of family has expanded to pets as well. What you're saying makes me think in the future they will have to extend some type of policy for childless families, individuals, couples, aging, as they think about what those next steps are. Because the way we all look into the future is so different and varied that, yeah, the HR departments will also have to figure out what are policies that can be inclusive for all types of families, individuals, households. So that's making me wonder what those policies will look like in the future.


[18:18]


Lana: I was thinking along very similar lines to what you were saying, Sue. And for what it's worth, I prefer child-free as opposed to childless, but yeah, I think that's right. And I think that what you're talking about in terms of redefining family, not just socially, but legally, and what we will be eligible for and incorporating care into, I guess, companies and employers seeing that their employees have real needs and real responsibilities and providing those accommodations, I think that's definitely in the next frontier.


And yeah, even as I was thinking about the sensors, if as we get older or as people that we care about need assistance, maybe it's just as friends, right? We're tuned in to each other just like you would leave your keys with a neighbor. Maybe you have a couple of folks who are checking on your sensors every now and then, making sure you're doing OK. I think we've talked about this idea of individualism and what it means to have collective care. And so yeah, I think that's part of this bigger picture, redefining who cares for whom and how.


Raakhee: Spot on a lot. I love that. Like friends checking in on each other. And I guess we'll get to choose that, right? Is that's where we'll make those choices, which will look a little bit like we have already now, but with technology layering it differently. So OK, my friend has got this app, and they're checking on my sensors. Or maybe you don't want to live in an assisted facility, so you're just in a normal apartment building. But we spoke about the digital twin when we spoke about real estate in the past and the building having these sensors and that sort of thing. And so maybe in the leasing office, there's somebody who is checking in on the resident's data for the ones who are over a certain age, right? And somebody who is monitoring, like that's an amenity. That's a service. So I think there'll be those sorts of choices that the technology will allow.


Sue: Yeah, and what you're talking about is this combination between whether it's the data around the Alzheimer's or the sensors and these relationships, they all have to work together. The tech is only good if people use it, right? So I was thinking of the story I saw this week of this French NGO that works on reducing social isolation, especially among the aging population. And they partner with volunteers who know them for a long time. And having some type of sensor like this for every time there's a heat wave, for example, they know exactly who they need to go to first. Those things could be immensely helpful, even in more of these informal voluntary networks that are occurring to make sure exactly that this can be scalable to a lot more people.


Raakhee: This is a great topic. I mean, there's so much, I think, and so much we want to share and talk about. And I think we'll explore sub-topics here, definitely more in the future.


Lana: OK, great. Well, this will be something that's to be continued as we continue this conversation. But thank you both so much, and thanks to everyone for listening. And hope you'll join us on our next episode of Signal Shift. Bye for now.


[22:28]

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