Episodes

What is a Long-Term Care or Nursing Home Care Resident Ombudsman? Who do they serve? How can they help you, if your mom or dad reside in a facility where they’re NOT getting the proper care needed? Knowing how to get help from an independent outside authority can give you the support you may need or help with deciding what to do if you’re concerned about their safety. With over 15,000 nursing homes in the US and nearly 66,000 long-term care facilities, the demand for care workers in these places...

Top 10 Ways To Reduce The Burden Of Being Cared For : It can be tough to avoid becoming emotionally involved in and impacted by an aging parent’s needs. But, what about when YOU become that aging parent? Well, there are things you can do, now, to reduce the likelihood of becoming that caregiving ball-and-chain around your kids’ necks. Here are 10 ways to start setting things up so that you and those who may help care for you, get on the right path from the start. Identify who can and will take r...

Listen in to this important show. If you’re a Veteran or caring for one, the US government has a ton of benefits available to help you . Listen in as my guests from the US Veteran’s Administration share information on some incredibly valuable benefits, that you may not know of, that are available to you, your mom, dad, or spouse. Here are a few examples: Additional pension and financial support (based on need and service) Respite care for caregivers of a veteran for up to 20 days per year Free ...

How do you prepare for a natural disaster emergency if you’re caring for an older person? Natural, weather-related, and other disasters happen -- they're often difficult to avoid. Yet, you can prepare, in advance, so that you and your loved ones stay safer. In this episode, I review how you can make sure that your parents are safe in their own home, in a care facility, and even in a hospital, during a weather-related disaster. First, and foremost, if you’re told to evacuate, listen carefully t...

Watching one’s spouse or other loved one suffer from dementia may be one of the toughest things ever . In this episode, we listen to how a social worker and home health aides recommended that their client's husband move out of their primary home in order to ease the anxiety and anger of his afflicted wife. While this was emotionally difficult, he wanted to be supportive and make sure his wife received the best possible care. So, he moved out and into their country home. Now he misses the love o...

Did you know that as many as 1 in 4 people who have Parkinson’s Disease are misdiagnosed? Even worse, those with the disease may have seen a doctor three or more times before receiving an accurate diagnosis. Too often it’s diagnosed as Alzheimer’s in older patients. We all need to be aware of this, for ourselves and those around us. In this episode, our guest expert, Dr. Michael Okun , is a leading expert in the research and treatment of Parkinson’s disease (bio details at the end of these sho...

Finding good aides, or a health care agency isn’t easy. In this episode, I disclose some key points to make your caregiving life easier, especially when it comes to hiring aides as well as knowing when and how to let them go -- even if they’re with an agency. While I’m at it, I recommend that everyone in your family and all those caring for your parents learn CPR . Below is a link to where you can find a local program. When checking these out, make sure that the course instructor covers CPR f...

Many of us as caregivers often feel isolated and alone. When this happens it may be tough to overcome, even when surrounded by those who care about us and want to help. It’s tough enough to deal with this ourselves. It’s even tougher when we try to shield others from that sense of emptiness, we sometimes feel or let them think they’re being ignored or abandoned by us. Loneliness and all the other emotions of caregiving have gotten increasingly sharper these past few years, especially as travel...

What happens when your mom or dad thinks their jewels have been stolen? It’s frightening when one of your parents believes that a wedding ring, piece of jewelry, or something precious was stolen. Unfortunately, some of our loved ones, with fading memories, will sometimes accidentally toss away or accidentally lose a family heirloom or keepsake. Hands and fingers can shrink with age, or swell with l arthritis, weight gain, or water retention, making wearing precious things uncomfortable. Yet t...

What are Death Panels ? Are they real? Decisions to provide, or not provide life-saving care to an elderly patient, while not specifically publicly called “Death Panels,” happen far more often than many realize. I’ve had a number of discussions with healthcare professionals who have shared how and when such decisions on who they try to save, and who they choose not to. These decisions are often made by medical groups, but sometimes by others, and seem to become more visible during disasters, e...

This episode is about how to get your parents, or a frail spouse, to give up driving . This is a sticky subject for many families and such conversations often erupt in anger. Trust between you and your parents can wind up strained and your own frustrations and doubts pushed to the limits. Some families resort to lies, big and little ones, to get their parents to stop driving. However, once they discern that you’re lying, or trying to, that bond of trust between you all may never recover. As a ...

How do you know if you’re heading into a Burnout? Some professionals say there are three stages leading to burnout. Here, you’ll learn there are really 12 stages. Each shows we’ve sunk a little deeper toward the bottom. Surprisingly, knowing whether you’ve reached your limit might not be obvious. Learn how to identify if you’re facing burnout and when it’s too late to get out without needing medical help. As caregivers we’re often exhausted at the end of a day: the emotional and physical stra...

“Final Wishes” conversations don’t always have to be difficult. Some people believe such discussions create “bad mojo” or push the inevitable forward. However, they can be somewhat fun, especially if turned into a travel-type game. In this episode of Summer Shorts , I dive into some easy ways for you and your loved ones to lay things out for when that time comes. Sharing your wishes, and outside legal documents, can make caregiving a bit easier, when you know what, how, and when to make such d...

Do people with dementia see the color white? The other day a professional caregiver friend of mine told me that those with dementia have difficulty with the color white. Although skeptical, this statement piqued my interest. However, with some research, I found out more about this, and although there’s some truth there, it isn’t exactly correct. Over time changes occur in the brain of those afflicted with dementia. Some become more challenged than others in detecting shapes of the same hue. In...

Have you ever worried about taking a road trip with a loved one suffering from dementia? If so, this show is for you! You don’t have to restrict outings with them just to doctor visits. Always staying in can be tough on you and even more so for those you’re caring for. Trust me on this one! This episode’s tips come from one of our listeners: Polly. She shares her stories about how she takes her husband, who’s suffering from Leukodystrophy (a rare form of dementia) on special road trips. Alth...

Protein Drinks. Here's how to make your own, that taste better, and costs less! In this episode, we discuss how to make a home blended protein drink that tastes better and costs less to make than those big brand-name protein meal replacement drinks. Its protein content is also higher and there’s less processed sugar (unless you add another sugar-based ingredient). The cool thing with this is that you should enjoy the recipe too. I certainly did! You can substitute any extra ingredient or mix ...

Caregiver burnout is real. It’s something to be taken very seriously. It can cause you physical harm. In this episode, my guest, Cait Donovan, and I discuss burnout. She has a ton of information to share that will help all of us who are responsible for the welfare of someone. Burnout doesn’t only happen to family caregivers; it happens to those in the profession of healthcare and caregiving, too. Few are immune. Knowing what to do to recognize burnout’s symptoms is important to keep them from...

What happens when you find out that your lonely, long single parent suddenly has a new, (perhaps secret) love interest? Far too many times, questionable characters who don’t have the best intentions, steal the hearts, and destroy the lives of vulnerable seniors, in ways that can’t be repaired – financially, emotionally, and yes, even medically. It’s so sad that we must be both vigilant and suspicious about who befriends our aging parents. As we age, we naturally become more trusting, and more ...

How do you fight what you think is an outrageous bill ? How common are medical billing errors ? How do you stop out-of-network charges ? How can you avoid getting an unexpectedly large medical bill ? What’s the No Surprises Act and how does it help us? Why should you g et a price upfront , for a procedure that you, or someone in your family, needs? Believe it or not, medical billing errors are quite common these days. Even though we’ve moved to electronic medical records, the coding process that...

"If you lead a good life, you’ll never really die ." Native First Nations Saying. If you care for someone you love long enough, chances are you’ll be there as they go through the process of dying. All cultures, communities, and tribes have their rituals for helping those through their final breath, including how to treat the remains and placate spirits after passing. This is the first in a series of shows I’ll host over the course of the year about cultural rituals and rites for the dying, and t...

How many times have you trusted those who appear to have greater authority over our major life care decisions – be they personal or for another family member? It’s surprising just how quickly a medical professional is forced to make life saving, or potentially threatening decisions – yes it’s often less than 10 seconds!One friend, now sadly gone, battled sloppy decisions with her doctor. Literally, as she was facing the end of her life, her doctor told her not to worry about the hospital bill, he’d make sure it was taken care of! Seriously?Yes, an egregious consequences happened due to “trusted” decisions. This doctor fought the issue until she had all the details lined up – with insiders sharing the truth, and stories of how frequently this doctor made “mistakes.”The key here is that the doctor was lying to her the entire time, about what had happened. That was until the last few weeks of her life. That doctor, BTW, is still practicing and has a positive …

The funeral business is a business- something important to keep in mind. In this second episode, my friend Paulette Hamel, and I dig (pun intended) further into the funeral industry and highlight some key issues you should know, right now. There’s so much that we hold in until the final farewell, the wake and/or funeral, and the following celebration of life (for those who chose to do so). Yet many of us don’t plan for those final moments. It’s hard enough to stand in front of a group of peopl...

Those final days right before your last breath aren’t the time to plan or hope that you’ll be sent off to the great beyond with special fanfare. You can, however, get that, and more, such as being set adrift at sea in a beautiful handmade paper flower box (environmentally friendly, of course). If you want to spend eternity with the fishes, you can even become part of a coral reef that’s being created on the ocean floor to look like the city of Atlantis. However fun and even quirky these ideas...

Medicare can be a confusing to anyone. When we need to help our parents out, many trip up along the way. Worse, the more we age the more we seem to trust. Such trust often leads well-intentioned folks to switch policies because their older TV actor “friend” said they’ll save a “boat load of cash” by using the policy they know and trust. Switches get made and many believe they’ve made the right choice, without checking any further. After all, they made many good choices in the past, including...