Brain drain leaving even bigger vaccum in care of elderly Greeks

The 8,000 kilometers that separate Michigan in the United States from Thessaly in central Greece is no easy distance to cover, yet 52-year-old financial consultant George Papadopoulos has become accustomed to the long journey. It's been 30 years since he left his homeland to study in the US, where he stayed on to build a family and a successful career. His mother still lives in the city of Larissa, though, and she is never far from his mind. Is she OK? What if the phone rings and it's an emergency?

"All of the Greeks who immigrated abroad and left their parents back home live with the guilt of not being able to take care of them as they'd like," Papadopoulos, who makes the trip regularly, tells Kathimerini. "It's become much worse since my mother was left alone following the death of my father 11 years ago and it only gets harder as time goes by because her health is...

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