An article in Fortune entitled Nurses on strike are just the tip of the iceberg. The care worker shortage is about to touch every corner of the U.S. economy, discusses the challenges that careworkers in the US face. The article states “Thousands of nurses recently went on strike in New York City to push for better staffing as hundreds of nursing roles remain unfilled, stretching nurses to their limits. This staffing shortage hurts patients and reduces the quality of care. And while New York City is facing hundreds of unfilled nursing positions, nationally we are talking about a shortage of more than 200,000 nurses.”
“Care workers–physicians, home health aides, early childhood care workers, physician assistants, and more–face critical challenges as a result of America’s immense care gap that may soon touch every corner of the American economy.”
And, this issue affects people worldwide. One of our stories discusses how a mother of a child in Nigeria is forced to quit her job to care for her child who was diagnosed with Autism. Another mother of a child in Nigeria, who was also diagnosed with autism, experiences mental health issues.
The Caregiving Crisis impacts the economy too. Check out this article, Solving the $290 Billion Care Crisis, for more information and research. It states “It took COVID-19, a deadly global pandemic, for the US to wake up to the gaping fault lines in the “care economy.” What is the care economy? It is a vast ecosystem where families, employers, and institutions—from daycares and nursing homes to schools and hospitals—come together to support the young, the old, and the sick. This support is necessary for the functioning of a healthy society, and this work underpins every part of the economy. We can ignore it no longer.”
Read more: Care Work Crisis [Barrier: Health Care Professional Shortage, Care Work Challenges]
HEALTH CONVERSATIONS: When Aware We Care 