Sandwich generation navigating work, elderly parents and kids at home
Broadcaster and author Sarah Macdonald is part of a growing army of silent unpaid workers, coping with the consequences of a housing crisis and a broken aged care system.
The "sandwich generation" in Australia is an increasingly prevalent demographic, comprising over 1.5 million individuals aged around Kylie Minogue's age. They are caught in the middle of caring for both their elderly parents and their own children. Janelle, for example, is a nurse who treats a patient at home – her partner's 93-year-old father Ernie – while managing her full-time job and being a soccer mum for her teenage sons.
She juggles tasks efficiently, from managing appointments and care routines on a color-coded desktop to checking on Ernie via a closed-circuit TV. This demanding lifestyle has led to carer stress, with many sandwich carers experiencing burnout, emotional exhaustion, sleep issues, and financial strain. Despite their efforts, the system is unable to keep up; for every 13 carers who receive help, 800 are turned away.
Gohar Yazdabadi, head of the Council on the Ageing in NSW, now advocates for both older Australians and the sandwich generation, recognizing that their social contract with the government has been broken. The inequity in care resources and support threatens to overwhelm the entire system, highlighting the urgent need for better policies and resources to support this often-underestimated group.
Written by urgent.news from ABC News AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
