To the Editor:

“On Duty Around the Clock, 27 Days a Month” (front page, Sept. 2) describes the horror of giving and getting care in this country. Working conditions for the caregivers — among the poorest and most marginalized people in the work force — are beyond nightmarish. And the scramble around making impossible decisions about what to give up and where to get the money to pay for care awaits almost all of us.

The caregiver and client in the story are two of the millions trapped in a fragmented, burdensome and failing care delivery system.

We cannot effectively address the issues piecemeal. We must instead look toward integrated, publicly supported, universal long-term care — including a serious examination of proposals like Universal Family Care and the New York Health Act. It is time to give the caring economy its due.

Phyllis Arnold

Brooklyn

To the Editor:

Live -in caregivers and their elderly and/or disabled clients reside together under the same roof, a situation generally reserved for people who have a love relationship or a friendship or are family. Customarily, there are mutual interests as well as a familiarity with each other’s cultural roots, religious observances and shared intellectual pursuits.