LETTING GO Nancy Gag Braun points to a small urn holding the ashes of her late husband, Steven Braun, in her Mankato, Minnesota, bedroom on May 13, 2024. After caring for Steven at home became too much for her to handle, he was at the hospital while they waited on a long-term care placement. “I cried many nights,” Braun said. “I felt so guilty.”


Older Americans Not Prepared for Long-Term Care


BY BRIAN AROLA S


even tough weeks passed with her husband in the hospital before Nancy Gag Braun found long-term care


for him. From 2019 up until that point in


2022, Braun had cared for Steven at their home in Mankato, Minnesota. A traumatic brain injury in February 2019, followed by his progressive dementia, eventually led to the need for professional help and the hospital stay. By then, there were episodes when


he didn’t recognize that the woman trying to care for him was his wife. He started showing fear and aggression toward this person he thought was a stranger in his home. “I knew that wasn’t him; it was the


disease,” Braun said. “It was very sad that he had to go through all this.” Not knowing where to turn, she


began calling long-term care facilities,


one after another. But his advanced condition made it difficult to secure a spot. She eventually got him in at BridgeWater, a skilled nursing, memory care, and assisted living facility in Janesville. While she’s grateful for the care he


received there, it wasn’t the long-term stay she expected. Steven died at the age of 78 on Nov. 23, 2022, six weeks after coming to the facility. But Braun’s scramble to find long-term care for a loved one is an experience shared by many families. And many of them are unprepared for what can be an emotional, costly, and guilt-inducing process. Advance planning helps, but


an AP-NORC poll in 2021 showed most Americans don’t discuss the possibility of long-term care, let alone prepare for it. Braun, a retired county worker,


was aware of select resources for people in her situation and had some savings to go toward this care. Still, during that fraught time, she said she wishes there had been more help available. “I don’t think there’s enough


information out there for people so they do know,” she said. The resources Braun found


helpful included a social worker at her healthcare provider, Mankato Clinic, who put her in touch with the


Not knowing where to turn, Nancy Gag Braun began calling long-term care facilities. But her husband’s advanced condition made it difficult to secure a spot.


JULY 2025 | NEWSMAX MAXLIFE 87


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