Gen X Working Parent — Demographic Reviewer

**Karen Ostrowski** is a 49-year-old IT director at a regional health system in Columbus, Ohio. She has two teenagers, aging parents who need increasing help, and a husband who also works full-time. She is the quintessential sandwich generation — squeezed between the demands of children who need rides, college prep, and emotional support, and parents who need doctor appointments, technology help, and eventually difficult conversations about independence.