HAVANA, April 24, 2007
Getting Old In Cuba
Portia Siegelbaum On How Extended Families Care For Island's Elderly
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Laura Clark, 74, right, with her daughter Marisol, who says, "I can't imagine not living with her." (CBS)
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Laura Clark, right, with her daughter Marisol and granddaughter, sixth-grader Rachel, who depends on Laura to be there when she gets home from school. (CBS)
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Fast Facts
Cuba
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Castro Turns 80
The ailing leader has low-key 80th birthday celebration while the rest of Cuba honors their president.
Fidel Castro, 81, is not the only Cuban who is aging.
Thanks to the socialist island's free health care system — which emphasizes preventive medicine — Cubans enjoy a very high life expectancy. The average life span in Cuba is 77.08 years. As a result, the island's population is one of the oldest in the Americas, surpassed only by Uruguay.
Just who will shoulder the burden of caring for this burgeoning group is one of the questions being probed by sociologist Marlen Diaz Tenorio.
Cuba's economic woes, housing shortage and a lack of institutional facilities for the elderly mean that most of those over 60 either live with relatives or alone, says Diaz Tenorio.
"Less than one percent of those in the Third Age live in old age or assisted-living facilities," she says — meaning that either family or neighbors have to step in.
In 2005, 15.8% of Cuba's population was 60 or over. Specialists say that by 2025, that group will include one out of every four Cubans.
The latest statistics show that 28.4% of Cuban families have at least one elderly relative, usually a parent, living with them.
"We've had to turn our lives inside out because my father-in-law, Victor, who lives with us, suffers from advanced Alzheimer's," Matilde Velazquez, 54, told CBS News.
Velazquez and her husband both work, as do their two grown sons and one daughter-in-law, all of whom live in the house with them — along with a grade school-age grandson. Because there are no fancy gadgets, no electronic monitoring systems to be had on this island, the family had to come up with a "Cuban solution" five years ago when Victor first began to show signs of memory loss.
"We hung a handmade sign around his neck with his name, address and phone number on it. Strangers and neighbors were always bringing him home," she explains. "People who lived in the neighborhood began to recognize him and would invite him into their homes, then call us."
But as her father-in-law's condition worsened, her husband retired and then took a job as an airport security guard working the night shift. Velazquez got a job as a secretary in a night school. They use their meager savings to pay a neighbor to watch Victor when everyone has to be out of the house. The emotional strain on the family is great.
Fortunately, Cuba's universal, free cradle-to-grave health care system means Alzheimer's patients do not add an additional financial burden to the family. But the shortage of state-and church-run facilities for the elderly mean there is no relief for most families confronting this situation.
Diaz Tenorio speaks about the plight of the elderly not just as a sociologist, but as a daughter. Her 83-year-old mother is blind, a consequence of her diabetes. The bulk of responsibility for her mother falls on Diaz Tenorio’s sister, who sought a job that allows her to work at home.
"Before her eyesight went, we used to lock the gate from our garden to the street because my Mom loved to escape and buy ice cream — deadly with her diabetes. Now she sits on the porch and listens to boleros (a romantic genre of Cuban music) and neighbors stop to talk to her when they walk by," Diaz Tenorio says. She notes that Cubans have a highly developed sense of community and voluntarily pitch in to help each other.
As for what she can do, "I try to find a way to go there once a week so that my sister can get some rest, sleep or get away to the Malecon [Havana's seafront drive] where she can sit and relax," says Diaz Tenorio.
"We look for alternatives, a neighbor who helps out in the morning. My Dad's 80, but he helps out in the afternoons. My uncle who lives there also; we take turns,” she concludes.
According to Diaz Tenorio, there is no such thing as a typical Cuban family. But she admits that Cuba's difficult socio-economic conditions tend to run counter to what is known as the "empty nest syndrome," where children grow up and leave home. "We have what we call the 'full nest,' and not an empty one, because children get married and continue to live at home," she says.
This, she says, can be a positive — with older parents and grandparents playing an important role in holding the family together and transmitting values.
"Those who are 60 or older do not play a passive role in the family, nor are they marginalized from family activities," points out Diaz Tenorio. "Older persons in Cuba fulfill multiple tasks that help the family function — taking care of household tasks, providing childcare for grandchildren.”
The sociologist, who heads a family study group at the Psychological and Sociological Research Center in Havana, says that while they have found isolated cases of persons who have been sidelined or excluded from family life, the predominant trend is for even those at very advanced ages to be integral and useful, productive members of the family.
©MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Posted by ajaxrose1 at 05:22 PM : Apr 24, 2007"
People DO NOT live long in misery! DUH!
Misery SHORTENS life!
The Cubans may be poorer; but their relatively good socialization and family life keeps them young, less stressed and HAPPY at heart, compared to the increasing dysfunctionality in American families, which destroys life!
You are so dense and materialistic; you prolly can't wait to get to the grave? LOL