Did you know that today, we have more parents to care for than children? Eldercare has replaced childcare as a leading healthcare issue.

And Thou Shalt Honor documents an exciting new stage in our cultural development. While the huge increase in the number of caregivers in our society can be said to be a result of the success of medical technology, it also represents a breakthrough in our growth as an extended family.

During the second half of the 20th Century, advances in medical technology made it possible for individuals to survive for years with diseases and chronic conditions that would have made a rapid death just a few years before. Though laudable, this created a new population of persons in need of caregiving ... and, therefore, a new population of caregivers.

Many, if not most, of us will be both in our lifetimes -- caregiver and the cared-for. We may slip into these roles so gradually that we scarcely realize it. Or, as the social scientists say, we may not self-identify.

And Thou Shalt Honor examines the various aspects of caregiving in a warm and caring documentary coming to WEDU in May 2008.

Watch a program sample Now

Presented by:



Followed by: WEDU’s Live Town Hall Meeting
Hosted by Cathy Unruh
Watch a program sample

WEDU Identifies Another Longstanding Community Issue—Care Giving!

Utilizing the airing of an award-winning national documentary, And Thou Shalt Honor (on 5/8/08 from 8-10pm), WEDU will introduce a new, live, 2-hour-televised, interactive special called A Town Hall Meeting (on 5/15/08 from 8-10pm). During this event, individuals and community members will come together to change the way we care for our elders.

The statisticians tell us the "typical" caregiver is a woman in her mid-40s who is caring for one or more parents for about 15 hours per week. She has a job and she is also caring for one or more children. But there's much more to the story than statistics.