Perpetual Care Research Articles

Automating adult social care in the UK: Extracting value from a crisis

The UK appears fixed in perpetual care crisis propelled by austerity-driven funding cuts and the country’s intensifying care labour shortage. Austerity in the UK has generated an operating environment that has accelerated privatisation and incentivized and necessitated private innovation. In this writing, we examine how the infrastructure and delivery of social care in the UK is being radically reimagined through technology. Promising to deliver critical efficiencies and cost savings, new automating technologies are being tested and introduced to reorder how and where care is managed and delivered. Drawing on a series of interviews conducted with local authorities in the UK and the executives of private companies, our task is not to assess the efficacy of new technologies; rather we examine how these public-private partnerships raise difficult questions: Who will deliver caring futures in the UK? Who is absorbing the fiscal risk of technological innovation? Who is profiting? And what are the limits of technology as a response to our care crisis?

Problematising the emergence of outbreak science in the governance of global health: making time for slow dis-ease

ABSTRACT There is growing investment in the development of new methods, networks, and infrastructures of knowledge coordination to prepare for disease threats to come. ‘Outbreak science’ is an emerging field that proposes to improve epidemic preparedness and precautionary response. But what are the effects of framing and governing ‘outbreaks’ in this anticipatory mode? What ways of knowing and doing preparedness and response does outbreak science open up and foreclose through its promise of fast, actionable information in situations of uncertainty? We consider how ‘outbreak’ is made governable through its evidencing, with profound, and unevenly distributed, social and material repercussions. We focus on one problematisation intrinsic to outbreak science, that is, the need for speed. Drawing on work in Science and Technology Studies (STS) on pollutants and the slow burn of environmental harms, we argue that constituting ‘outbreak’ as a problem to be managed with immediacy and speed obscures the long-enduring temporalities and complex ecological relations of disease. We suggest ‘slow dis-ease’ in conjunction with ‘perpetual care’ as alternative modes of problematising outbreak. There is a practical difference made possible by making time for slow dis-ease, a time that is currently lost by the rapid, anticipation and short-term event focus of outbreak science.

“Why are we asking for a seat at the table that our ancestors created for us?” The importance of cultural landscapes and power in urban planning

ABSTRACT In 2017, despite ongoing efforts from the descendent community, the EnRichmond Foundation a white-led organization, purchased Evergreen and East End cemeteries, two Black cemeteries in Richmond, Virginia. Citing the decline of the cemeteries and its importance to national history, the Foundation focused on bringing resources to the space. However, the foundation’s before-after narrative of an elite home to luminaries and a lack of perpetual care leading to its deterioration put the fault on Black Richmonders themselves, instead of the decades of exclusion and violation of public and private actors. This paper centers “place” as a way to examine the role of the context and meaning—specifically that of Black joy and celebration and racialized violations that must be interrogated and addressed for meaningful state and private planning to occur. We assert that Evergreen and East End merely make clear the ways that planners move forward, regardless of intention, in ways that ignore the meanings of space, the ways that conditions are produced and the importance of community-based power in determining the future of these spaces. We argue that planning practice needs to engage with the meaning of space and understand it as deeply woven into planning practice.

Structural violence and the nature of cemetery-based skeletal reference collections

The sourcing of cadavers for North American skeletal reference collections occurred immediately after death and targeted the poor and marginalised. In Europe, collections sourced bodies that were buried and unclaimed after some time in cemeteries with no perpetual care mandate, and may have also targeted the underprivileged. The relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and abandonment was examined in a sample of unclaimed remains (603 adults and 98 children) collected from cemeteries in the city of Lisbon, Portugal, that were incorporated in a collection. Results demonstrate that low SES individuals are not more likely to be abandoned nor to be incorporated in the collection than higher SES individuals. Furthermore, historical data indicate that the poorest were not incorporated into the collection, because of burial practices. Although the accumulation of collections in North America was facilitated by structural violence that targeted the poor and marginalised, this phenomenon seems largely absent in the Lisbon collection.

Beyond remediation: Containing, confronting and caring for the Giant Mine Monster

Mine remediation entails long-term risks associated with the containment and monitoring of dangerous materials. To date, research on mine remediation in Canada has focused primarily on technical fixes; little is known about the socio-political and colonial aspects of remediation. Using the Giant Mine in Yellowknife (Northwest Territories, Canada) as a case study, this research investigates the story of the Giant Mine ‘Monster’, how it was defined, how it has changed and how nearby communities will care for the mine in the future. Using a mixed-methods approach, this research combines literature reviews, archival analysis, key informant interviews and participant observation in analyzing the multiple experiences, practices and stories of the Giant Mine Remediation Project. Directed by the frameworks of ecological restoration, Indigenous environmental justice and science and technology studies theories of care, this research reveals that, by focusing on the technical containment of arsenic trioxide pollution, the Giant Mine Remediation Project sidelined community objectives for compensation, independent oversight and a perpetual care plan. However, through the ongoing activism of the Yellowknives Dene First Nations and community allies, the Giant Mine Monster is being creatively reframed as something to care for and live with for generations to come – a responsibility for mining wastes that settlers across Canada have yet to meaningfully reckon with. I argue that the Giant Mine case points to a critical reconceptualization of environmental remediation as an anti-colonial mechanism to (re)structure, or (re)mediate, relationships with both land and people. Without a community objectives based approach to remediation, such projects risk continuing systems of colonization, marginalization and environmental injustice.

‘The largest volunteer life saving corps in the world’: centering child caregiving in histories of U.S. human security through the Little Mothers’ League

In this article, I explore the relationship between youth, security, and caregiving through a study of the U.S. Little Mothers’ Leagues, an initiative which began in New York City in 1910 with the aim of reducing infant mortality by training young girls to properly care for their infant siblings. Critical approaches to caregiving view security and insecurity as relational, drawing attention to contemporary power arrangements in the global caregiving industry and the contemporary crisis of care. However, in treating children as perpetual care recipients, it fails to provide a robust framework for understanding youth and children in historical and contemporary concerns related to human security. The history of the Little Mothers, largely children of European ‘non-native white’ immigrant families, illustrates the importance of children in securing population-wide well-being and the nation’s status in the global competition to reduce infant mortality. When set in contrast to the eugenics-inspired Mothercraft movement, the case reveals how children and youth become enlisted into projects of national human security, and how their ambiguity as caregivers – too young according to modern childhood, yet effective lifesavers – intersects with race and gender to further obscure their status as caregiving agents

Planning, provision and perpetuity of deathscapes—Past and future trends and the impact for city planners

Cemeteries present somewhat of a planning conundrum. They are considered an essential piece of social infrastructure, a sacred and permanent fixture in the landscape. Cemeteries also have the capacity to incite substantial community and political opposition when proposals arise to construct a new facility or to expand or extend the use of existing spaces. The social relevance of cemeteries is being tested by lower visitation rates and changing interment practices such as ‘no service’ cremations, often linked to the emergence of cremation factories, and informal burials. Renewable tenure of individual burial sites and wholesale cemetery renewal is potentially a pragmatic land use outcome to accommodate an ever-increasing demand. However, cemetery renewal as a societal choice has been proven too socially and politically controversial. This has meant the land provided for cemeteries is locked up in a ‘perpetual care’ obligation, and sites are often subsequently abandoned. This paper examines how the private and public sectors undertake cemetery planning in Sydney, Australia. It explores the role and impact of legislative reform, how this intersects with strategic land use planning and emerging trends that may influence the direction for this sector.

Post-closure care of engineered municipal solid waste landfills.

Post-closure care is divided into perpetual care (PPC) and long-term care (LTC). Guidelines for post-closure care and associated costs are important for engineered municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills. In many states in the USA, landfill owners are required to set aside funds for 30-40 years of LTC. Currently there are no guidelines for PPC, which is also required. We undertook a pilot study, using two landfills (note: average landfill capacity 2.5 million MT MSW waste) in Wisconsin, to establish an approach for estimating the LTC period using field data and PPC funding need. Statistical analysis of time versus concentration data of selected leachate parameters showed that the concentration of most parameters is expected to be at or below the preventive action limit of groundwater and leachate volume will be very low, within 40 years of the LTC period. The gas extraction system may need to be continued for more than 100 years. Due to lack of data no conclusion could be made regarding adequacy of the LTC period for the groundwater monitoring system. The final cover must be maintained for perpetuity. The pilot study shows that although technology is available, the financial liability of maintaining a 'Dry Tomb' design for landfills is significantly higher than commonly perceived. The paper will help landfill professionals to estimate realistic post-closure funding and to develop field-based policies for LTC and PPC of engineered MSW landfills.

ACT OF NATURE

1 1 5 R A C T O F N A T U R E E D M U N D K E E L E Y At my wife’s grave I found the headstone soiled by droppings from the single branch stretched above it, the grave site chosen for that branch to honor what lay below it. I asked the supervisor why the headstone couldn’t be cleaned more or less regularly under my contract for perpetual care of this site I’d bargained for. Those droppings, he said, were a simple Act of Nature not covered by the contract, besides, he said, next time if you’re lucky enough you might find a blossom fallen on the headstone from that very branch. I went home unhappy. But as I thought about it, the urn in that grave carries acts of nature from the beginning and the end as will the other beside it 1 1 6 Y no time at all in the future waiting for its stain or blossom as the great gods of nature in their capricious wisdom choose to mark that grave. ...

The Doctor-Patient Relationship

(Reprinted with permission from Simon RI, Shuman DW: The doctor-patient relationship, in Clinical Manual of Psychiatry and Law. Arlington VA, American Psychiatric Publishing Inc. 2007; 17–36)

Author fees for online publication

Like the journals themselves, AGU publication fees have been restructured to accommodate the new online, publish‐as‐ready approach. The new fee structure is based on authors' providing electronic files of their text and art in acceptable formats (Word, WordPerfect, and LaTeX for text, and .eps or .tif for digital art). However, if you are unable to supply electronic files, you can opt for a higher‐charge, full‐service route in which AGU will create electronic files from hard copy. All authors for AGU journals are expected to support the journal archive through fees based on number as well as size of article files. The revenue from these fees is set aside for the “Perpetual Care Trust Fund,” which will support the migration of the journal archive to new formats or media as technology changes. For several journals, excess length fees remain in place to encourage submission of concisely written articles. During this first transition year, most author fees are based on the number of print page equivalents (pdf) in an article; in the future, however, charges are expected to be associated with file size. The specific fees for each journal are posted on AGU's Web site under Publications‐Tools for Authors.

Gold Achievement Award. A comprehensive treatment program helps persons with severe mental illness integrate into the community: MHA Village, Long Beach, California.

Gold Achievement Award. A comprehensive treatment program helps persons with severe mental illness integrate into the community: MHA Village, Long Beach, California.

Perpetual Care in Cyberspace: A Portrait of Memorials on the Web

This study describes memorials in the newly created “virtual cemeteries.” Web memorials ( N = 276) from three cemeteries were coded for demographics about the deceased, characteristics of authors, and issues of content, audience, and theme. While memorials were extremely varied, they were written frequently for the young ( M age = 47, SD = 24) and for more males than females. Most deaths were recent, but 7.3 percent had occurred more than twenty years prior to the posting of their memorials. Authors included family members, friends, and others who were typically younger or from the same cohort as the deceased. Most memorials were addressed to the community, but 28.3 percent were written to the dead. The majority of memorials were written as stories or celebrations but other primary themes included: grief/missing the dead, retelling the circumstances of the death, and guilt. Web memorials are discussed as a resource to the bereaved and researchers alike, providing the bereaved with an opportunity to create a public memorial regardless of their relationship to the deceased, time elapsed since the death or message content and allowing researchers better access to personal writings undertaken during bereavement.

AGU Council makes major commitment to the future of electronic publication

The establishment of a “perpetual care trust fund for AGU's electronic archives,” which was done at the December 1996 meeting, is perhaps one of the most far‐reaching actions ever taken by the AGU Council. The Union recognizes that it has a responsibility to the scientific community to assure that AGU publications are available in the future. Without the careful protection and upgrading of the files developed for AGU's electronic publications, there could be a hiatus in the archive of the body of knowledge. The costs associated with the maintenance of the electronic archive for these publications will be a continuing obligation of the Union, one that may be too large to be absorbed in the annual operating budget. Thus, the Council at the recommendation of the Publications Committee set up a trust fund to help ensure that AGU has the financial resources to maintain an archive of the material included in its electronic publications, to refresh these files on a regular basis, and to migrate the material in the archive to new formats and media as the technology for electronic publishing changes.

The nature conservancy or the nature cemetery: Buying and selling “perpetual care”; as environmental resistance

The nature conservancy or the nature cemetery: Buying and selling “perpetual care”; as environmental resistance

Compacted Soil Barriers at Abandoned Landfill Sites are Likely to Fail in the Long Term

AbstractAt innumerable sites in the USA and around the world, buried waste has been isolated from the environment by barriers constructed entirely or in part of compacted soil. The chief concern in barrier design has been to isolate the waste in the short term by preventing movement of water into and through the waste. However, in the long term a variety of mechanisms can act to compromise this isolation. The mechanisms of long‐term failure include initial flaws in barrier construction, shrink‐swell cycles, freeze‐thaw cycles, erosion, subsidence, root intrusion, and animal intrusion. Evidence for action of all of these mechanisms is summarized. The likelihood of long‐term failure suggests that either perpetual care must be provided for buried hazardous wastes, or the waste sites must be designed to withstand long‐term threats to barrier integrity.

Perpetual Care: The Role of Engineers in Management of Toxic Waste

Public concern for the management of toxic wastes has grown with the unprecedented release of chemical compounds into the environment and the growth of scientific knowledge regarding their unintended as well as intended effects. As awareness of possible risks increased, government began to regulate the commercial use of toxic materials, but their disposal as waste was left largely to local political jurisdictions and unregulated private firms. A series of environmental disasters (e.g., at Love Canal, NY) alarmed the public and led to creation of the Superfund and numerous state measures to bring the toxic waste problem under control. Efforts made to date have not matched the magnitude of the issue. The engineering professions—and especially civil engineers—have a major role to play in the design and management of systems to abate the problem. No single method may suffice; recycling, detoxifying, and neutralizing are among the alternative solutions. Major ethical problems are involved in the care and custo...

Charities: Bequest to Town on Condition of Perpetual Care of Burial Lot Valid

Charities: Bequest to Town on Condition of Perpetual Care of Burial Lot Valid