THE BALLERINA, THE SURGEON AND AMERICA'S CAREGIVING CONUNDRUM

摘要

Mom was a ballerina. Dad was a pre-med student in the audience. In the middle of the performance he noticed she had lost one slipper, then the other. He decided he had to meet her. Not long after, at a bowling alley in South Bend, IN, they had their first date. It was 1949. Of course, this story is about more than just my mom and dad. It's about your mom and dad, too. Or your brother or your neighbor. Or your old friend from college. It's about all of us. America is growing old. Every day some 10,000 baby boomers turn 65. That's going to be the case for the next 25 years. The fastest-growing US demographic today is people 85 and over, a group whose numbers, currently at about 5.8 million, are expected to more than triple by 2050. Nearly half the adult US population has at least one chronic illness.