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Mother’s Day, Coronavirus Edition: A New Kind of “Self-Care”

By Rosemarie Day

Rosemarie Day book with flowers

This piece appeared originally on MomsRising.org.

As Mother’s Day approaches, this year feels different. In a time of coronavirus, we need more than flowers and a day off. We need more than traditional self-care. We need recognition, deep and lasting recognition, that the work we do as caregivers is invaluable. We need recognition from society as a whole, not just our families. The pandemic has shown everyone that we are essential—women make up over half of the workforce deemed “essential,” including 77% of healthcare workers. Our lives are on the line as frontline healthcare workers: the CDC reports that 73% of healthcare workers who have contracted coronavirus are women. On top of all of this, our stress is through the roof with the roles we play at home: women were already making 80% of the healthcare decisions in families, and now, as at-home caregivers, we are juggling even more, with home-schooling added to our paying jobs. 

 

Read more at MomsRising.org.

 

About the Author 

Rosemarie Day is the founder and CEO of Day Health Strategies, which helps to implement national health reform. She’s been working in healthcare and related fields for more than 25 years, including as the founding deputy director and chief operating officer of the Health Connector in Massachusetts, where she helped launch the award-winning organization that established the first state-run health insurance exchange in the state. She also served as the chief operating officer for the Massachusetts Medicaid program. Rosemarie lives in Somerville, MA; Marching Toward Coverage: How Women Can Lead the Fight for Universal Healthcare is her first book. Connect with her @Rosemarie_Day1 or at rosemarieday.com.

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