A Call to Care for Parents

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On the growing list of health pandemics – COVID-19, obesity, diabetes, liver disease, dementia, heart disease, and stroke – there is another one. It’s called benign neglect, and it is a product of our times. It happens when children don’t make sufficient effort to help aging parents understand and manage their medications.

There’s a lot of guilt to go around. But that’s not to say this is easy work.

Ask your parents what medications they are taking and why. Better yet, have a close look at the medications in their possession and assess how well they are adhering to prescribed treatments.

Congratulations to those who find all is well. For others, it may be a wake-up call.

Over the past several decades, detrimental trends have punished an aging society. Number one, the pharmaceutical industry has ballooned into a juggernaut of profiteering dealmakers with other powerful industries, not least of which are media platforms that depend on advertising dollars. Unsuspecting consumers are too willing to absorb everything they hear about pills to address problems that are often caused by lifestyle, not bad luck. Easier to pop a pill and enjoy life, like on the commercials, than work on the root issues.