我的丈夫布鲁斯·威利斯患有痴呆症。这让我明白了一些残酷的现实。

几乎我们每个人都会照顾他人，或者需要他人的照顾。我们现在的应对方式将决定照顾者是独自承担这份责任，还是最终获得他们应得的支持。

艾玛·海明·威利斯和史蒂夫·施瓦布 | 专栏撰稿人

2 小时前 2026年2月18日

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2026/02/18/bruce-willis-dementia-caregiver-emma-heming/88645190007/

照顾他人很少会轰轰烈烈地到来。它悄无声息地改变着日常生活。

对许多家庭来说，照顾他人意味着丈夫被诊断出患有痴呆症——这种疾病有很多种类型，从阿尔茨海默病到额颞叶痴呆（FTD），我的丈夫布鲁斯·威利斯就患有这种疾病。

我（艾玛·海明·威利斯）正在照顾患有额颞叶痴呆症的配偶。史蒂夫·施瓦布十多年来一直致力于倾听和提升全国各地军人和退伍军人照护者的声音，他们中的许多人都在照顾患有阿尔茨海默病和其他类型痴呆症的亲人。

我们走过不同的路，却有着共同的感悟。

照顾痴呆症患者不仅仅是完成一系列任务。它还包括管理药物、协调预约、应对那些并非为照护者设计的系统，以及每天适应记忆力衰退、性格变化、睡眠紊乱和难以预测的行为等无形的劳动。

除了身体上的照护，它还需要时刻保持警惕。它意味着在精疲力竭时如何坚持下去，即使感觉无比艰难，也要出于爱一次又一次地出现。

杰西·杰克逊二世：照顾我的父亲杰西·杰克逊牧师让我真正体会到了照护的代价 |观点

照护的隐性成本：为亲人无偿付出的艰辛劳动

布鲁斯·威利斯和艾玛·海明·威利斯于2019年在纽约市出席了电影《布鲁克林孤儿》的首映礼。

根据兰德公司最新的全国代表性调查，超过1亿美国成年人为有健康或功能障碍的成年亲属或朋友提供无偿照护。同一项研究估计，在这1亿人中，约有1430万美国人正在照护受伤、患病或残疾的现役军人或退伍军人。

各种类型的痴呆症在照护领域日益占据重要地位。近三分之二的阿尔茨海默病患者是女性，而无偿照护痴呆症患者的人中也有约三分之二是女性。

仅在2019年，家人和朋友就为患有痴呆症的人提供了约186亿小时的无偿照护——价值约2440亿美元。这是支撑家庭、医疗保健系统和经济的重要劳动——却大多不为人知，也得不到任何补偿。照护是至关重要的基础设施，但它却常常被忽视。

布鲁斯·威利斯生日：好莱坞偶像的职业生涯回顾

布鲁斯·威利斯迎来了他的70岁生日。让我们回顾这位《虎胆龙威》明星在好莱坞聚光灯下的四十年辉煌历程。

对我们中的一员来说，照护意味着要面对这样一个现实：我们的文化在支持那些正在应对额颞叶痴呆症（FTD）的家庭方面准备不足。FTD是一种鲜为人知的痴呆症，但却是60岁以下人群中最常见的类型，而且往往在人生的黄金时期发病。

FTD会给患者的沟通、行为和行动带来深刻的变化。照护中蕴含着深沉的爱，但也伴随着悲伤、疲惫和恐惧——为失去的一切而悲伤，也为不断变化的一切而悲伤。

了解痴呆症的5个早期征兆至关重要 | 观点

痴呆症照护者承受着巨大的心理和生理压力

痴呆症照护是一项全天候的责任，缺乏支持，休息机会也寥寥无几。

通过伊丽莎白·多尔基金会，我们看到军人和退伍军人照护者面临着类似的困境——在照顾患有阿尔茨海默病、与创伤性脑损伤相关的痴呆症以及其他认知能力下降的亲人的同时，还要应对经济压力、工作中断以及长期慢性压力带来的健康影响。

2016年，艾玛·海明和布鲁斯·威利斯出席了在纽约无线电城音乐厅举行的“托尼·贝内特90岁生日庆典：未来可期”活动……显示更多

研究和照护者健康数据显示，相当一部分痴呆症患者的家庭照护者承受着严重的心理和生理压力：30%至40%的痴呆症患者家庭照护者出现抑郁症状，约59%的人表示承受着高度或极高的情绪压力，38%的人表示承受着高度或极高的生理压力。

照护甚至可能危及生命。《美国医学会杂志》发表的一项研究发现，与非照护者相比，承受着巨大压力的照护者死亡风险显著增加。

“我感到孤独”是照护者最常说的话之一。

然而，尽管承受着生理、情感和经济上的压力，几乎所有人都愿意伸出援手。

近半数痴呆症照护者表示，这段经历意义非凡。爱与使命感与疲惫和悲伤并存。

观点提醒：通过《今日美国》应用程序，直接在您的设备上获取您最喜爱的专栏作家的文章以及专家对热点问题的分析。还没有该应用程序？请从应用商店免费下载。

然而，爱不应要求无私奉献而缺乏支持。

14年来，伊丽莎白·多尔基金会一直致力于提升照护者的声音，推进切实可行的政策解决方案，并促使雇主更好地支持照护员工，特别是那些照顾受伤、患病或残疾退伍军人的员工。

照护者理应被认可为英雄，但如果没有切实有效的支持，仅仅获得认可是不够的。

没有实际行动的认可显得空洞无物。

他们需要行动。

他们需要灵活的工作环境，将其视为必需品而非福利。他们需要将照护者视为医疗团队重要成员的医疗保健系统。他们需要民选官员理解，支持照护者能够增强家庭凝聚力、稳定劳动力市场并降低长期医疗保健成本。

观点：我的第三人生是成为一名照护者。我知道我无法独自承担这一切。

照护并非小众问题。它考验着我们作为一个国家的本质，塑造着我们的人口结构、医疗保健体系和经济。

在人生的某个阶段，几乎每个人都会成为照护者或需要照护者。我们现在的应对方式将决定照护者是继续孤军奋战，还是最终获得他们应得的支持。

预计到2050年，全球痴呆症病例将增加近三倍。如果不做出实质性改变，数百万个家庭将独自承担这份重担。我们不能再继续忽视照护工作。

如果我们愿意正视照护者——包括那些正在应对阿尔茨海默病、额颞叶痴呆和其他认知衰退的照护者——并给予他们切实的支持，我们就能构建一个未来：没有人需要默默地为照顾所爱之人而苦苦挣扎。

这份责任属于我们所有人。

查看 | 25 张照片

艾玛·海明·威利斯与布鲁斯·威利斯的爱情故事及事业历程（图集）

艾玛·海明·威利斯始终与丈夫布鲁斯·威利斯并肩前行。通过照片了解她的生活、事业以及他们之间的爱情故事。

艾玛·海明·威利斯是一位护理员、母亲、妻子，也是《纽约时报》畅销书作家。史蒂夫·施瓦布是伊丽莎白·多尔基金会的首席执行官。

您可以在《今日美国》观点版头版、X（原推特）、@usatodayopinion 以及我们的观点新闻简报中阅读我们专栏作家和其他作者的各种观点。

My husband, Bruce Willis, has dementia. It's taught me hard truths.

Nearly every one of us will provide care or need it. How we respond now will determine whether caregivers shoulder this responsibility in isolation or are finally met with the support they deserve.

For many families, it arrives with a diagnosis of dementia – a condition that takes many forms, from Alzheimer’s disease to frontotemporal dementia, or FTD, which my husband, Bruce Willis, lives with.

I (Emma Heming Willis) am caring for a spouse with FTD. Steve Schwab has spent more than a decade listening to and elevating the voices of military and veteran caregivers across the country, many of whom care for loved ones with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

We've been on different journeys, but with shared truths.

Caregiving for someone with dementia is not simply a set of tasks. It is the invisible labor of managing medications, coordinating appointments, navigating systems not designed with caregivers in mind and adapting – daily – to memory loss, personality changes, disrupted sleep and unpredictable behavior.

It is vigilance layered on top of physical care. It is learning how to keep going when you are exhausted, showing up again and again out of love, even when it feels impossibly hard.

Jesse Jackson Jr.: Caregiving for my father, Rev. Jesse Jackson, showed me real cost of care | Opinion

Hidden costs of caregiving: Essential, unpaid labor for loved ones

Bruce Willis and Emma Heming Willis attend the premiere of "Motherless Brooklyn" in 2019 in New York City.  

ANGELA WEISS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

According to RAND’s most recent nationally representative survey, more than 100 million U.S. adults provide unpaid care to an adult relative or friend with a health or functional need. That same research estimates that of this group, roughly 14.3 million Americans are caring for a wounded, ill or injured service member or veteran.

Dementia, in its many forms, is a growing and significant part of that caregiving landscape. Nearly two-thirds of Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease are women, and about two-thirds of unpaid dementia caregivers are women as well.

In 2019 alone, family members and friends provided an estimated 18.6 billion hours of unpaid care to people living with dementia – care valued at roughly $244 billion. This is essential labor propping up families, health care systems and the economy – largely unseen and uncompensated. Caregiving is essential infrastructure, yet it remains largely invisible.

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For one of us, caregiving has meant confronting how unprepared our culture is to support families navigating FTD – a lesser-known form of dementia yet the most common for people under 60, often striking in the prime of their lives.

Knowing 5 early signs of dementia may make all the difference | Opinion

Dementia caregivers experience serious psychological, physical stress

Dementia caregiving is a 24/7 responsibility, with little support and few opportunities for rest.

Through the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, we have seen military and veteran caregivers facing similar realities – managing financial strain, workforce disruption and the long-term health impacts of chronic stress while caring for loved ones with Alzheimer’s, dementia linked to traumatic brain injury and other cognitive decline.

Emma Heming and Bruce Willis attend "Tony Bennett Celebrates 90: The Best Is Yet To Come" at Radio City Music Hall in 2016 in New … 30% to 40% of family caregivers of people living with dementia experience symptoms of depression, while about 59% report high to very high emotional stress and 38% high to very high physical stress.

Caregiving can even be life-threatening. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that caregivers experiencing high levels of strain face a significantly increased risk of mortality compared with non-caregivers. 

“I feel alone,” is one of the most common refrains among caregivers.

And yet, despite the physical, emotional and financial strain, nearly half of dementia caregivers report that the experience is deeply meaningful. Love and purpose coexist with exhaustion and grief.

Still, love should not require self-sacrifice without support.

For 14 years, the Elizabeth Dole Foundation has worked to elevate caregivers’ voices, advance practical policy solutions and engage employers to better support caregiving employees, particularly those caring for wounded, ill or injured veterans.

Recognition without meaningful action rings hollow

They need action.

They need workplaces where flexibility is a necessity, not a perk. They need health care systems that treat caregivers as essential members of the care team. They need elected officials who understand that supporting caregivers strengthens families, stabilizes the workforce and reduces long-term health care costs.

Opinion: My third act is that of caregiver. I know I can't do this alone.

Caregiving is not a niche concern. It is a defining test of who we are as a nation, shaping our population, our health care system and our economy.

At some point, nearly every one of us will either provide care or need it. How we respond now will determine whether caregivers continue to shoulder this responsibility in isolation or are finally met with the support they deserve.

By 2050, global dementia cases are expected to nearly triple. Without meaningful changes, millions more families will shoulder this responsibility alone. We cannot afford to keep treating caregiving as invisible.

If we are willing to see caregivers clearly – including those navigating Alzheimer’s, FTD and other forms of cognitive decline – and support them deliberately, we can build a future where no one has to battle in the shadows to care for the people they love.

That responsibility belongs to all of us.

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Emma Heming Willis' relationship with Bruce Willis, career in photos

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Emma Heming Willis is a caregiver, mother, wife and New York Times best-selling author. Steve Schwab is the CEO of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation.