by Bethany Ao, Updated: December 3, 2019
When Sophath Chum was 15, his mother suffered a stroke.
His father decided to put her in a nursing home in West Chester. But during follow-up visits, Chum noticed bruises on his mother’s body.
So three years ago, when his father began needing more care due to post-traumatic stress disorder from fighting in the Cambodian Civil War during the 1970s, Chum immediately ruled out putting him in a nursing home.
“There’s no trust,” he said. “It’s just not something that Asian families do.”
As the baby boom generation ages, 10,000 Americans turn 65 daily. This population is driving a rising demand for family caregivers, along with the high cost of senior living and in-home care. Millennials are stepping in to fill that gap, and in many cases, make sacrifices to do so.
Newsletter on Children & Families Journalism 