Episode 171 – A Grief That Has No End: Dr. Pauline Boss on Ambiguous Loss
Pioneering educator and researcher Dr. Pauline Boss coined the term “ambiguous loss” to describe a form of grief that is common in caregivers of family members with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. It’s marked by a never-ending grief...Episode 170 – Military Caregiver Jill Armijo
We celebrate this Memorial Day with the story of a military caregiver whose husband returned from active duty alive but mentally wounded. Jill Armijo’s husband, Joe, served in the Navy as a machinist and was deployed to a ship in the Persian Gulf just before...CareGiving.com Founder Denise M. Brown
Chicago native Denise M. Brown founded CareGiving.com at a time when Google, Twitter, Facebook and Wikipedia didn’t even exist. Everyone told Denise she was wasting her time. No one would be interested in a website like CareGiving.com. She launched the site...Episode 169 – Choosing Joy: How One Couple Reframed Alzheimer’s
A few months after their 50th wedding anniversary, Helene Berger’s husband Ady was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. When the doctor gave him the news, Ady replied, “I don’t want to live anymore.” From that moment on, Helene vowed to...Sky Dylan-Robbins: How Will Millennials Care For Their Parents?
In the next fifty years the population of Americans over age 65 will double. Where do millennials fit in? That’s the question posed by filmmaker and visual journalist Sky Dylan-Robbins in her documentary short for NBC Left Field titled, “Millennials Stepping...Episode 168: Gayle Kirschenbaum on her film “Look At Us Now, Mother!”
If you’re having a hard time caring for a family member or friend, chances are there are lingering wounds in the relationship. But choosing the path of forgiveness can heal even the most fractured bonds. Take it from filmmaker Gayle Kirschenbaum, whose emotional...Episode 167: The Best Seven Years of My Life
George and Carol Shannon were on their last night of vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico when Carol had a stroke. A day later, in a hospital back in their hometown of Pittsburgh, PA, a million questions went through George’s mind. He was still working....Episode 166 – Medication Overload: America’s Other Drug Problem
UPDATE: Shannon Brownlee stepped down from her leadership role at the Lown Institute as of April 1, 2021. We hear a lot about how the opioid crisis is destroying families and communities. But the scope and impact of medication overload is much bigger: in the last two...Episode 165 – Brian LeBlanc: Living Well with Alzheimer’s
58-year-old Brian LeBlanc is an international Alzheimer’s advocate who speaks at conferences, workshops, symposiums, and even on dementia-friendly cruises. He’s got a sense of humor that will knock you over. But don’t call him an...Ronni Bennett: Time Goes By
No one knows what it’s like to be old until they get there. That’s the view of Ronni Bennett, a former radio producer in her 70s who also spent over two decades as a writer and producer in network television in New York City. These days Ronni is busy with her...Episode 164 – Kalisha Bonds: African Americans and Dementia
Much of the research on dementia in the United States has overlooked African Americans, but the prevalence of dementia in this population is more widespread than you might think. PhD candidate Kalisha Bonds is doing a deep dive into the subject as a student at Oregon...Recommended Podcast: Don’t Act Your Age
Did you know there are over 660,000 podcasts floating around in the world? Yep, you read that correctly: over half a million podcasts, eager for your ears. So how do you find that needle in the haystack? Well, here’s a podcast I recommend, hands down, for...Episode 163 – When Caregiving Is Rejected: A Mother and Her Son’s MS
Wanting to care for your child is a basic instinct for most mothers. All the more so when that child has a chronic condition, like the son of today’s guest—a Wisconsin mother who asked that we not use her last name. Carol’s adult son has Multiple Sclerosis (MS), but...Episode 162 – Kristi Horner: Supporting Mental Health Caregivers
In the U.S., as many as 8.4 million people act as caregivers to adults with emotional or mental health conditions. That’s according to a recent report co-authored by the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC) and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). ...Tamesha Keel: This Is What Normal Looks Like
Brooklyn-born attorney and empowerment guru Tamesha Keel was riding high in her career when her father died and she took on the role of sole caregiver for her mother. Years earlier her mother had survived a massive brain hemorrhage. She couldn’t live alone, so she...Episode 161 – Katherine Summers: From the Heart
Florida native Katherine Summers stumbled into her career as a paid caregiver. She had some time on her hands, and friends from her childhood began asking if she could check in on their aging parents. Katherine found she liked being around the elders, and...Episode 160 – Alzheimer’s Advocate Lori La Bey
Alzheimer’s Speaks founder Lori La Bey is driven to help people with dementia and their care partners live positive and purpose-filled lives. The work of her Minnesota-based advocacy group has been recognized by Oprah Winfrey, Dr. Oz and Sharecare and Alzheimer’s...Episode 159 – John Leland: Happiness Is A Choice You Make
In 2015, award-winning journalist John Leland set out on behalf of The New York Times to meet members of America’s fastest growing age group: people age 85 and older, or what gerontologists often refer to as “the oldest old.” What John discovered during his...Episode 158 – The Candia Shuffle
Candia, New Hampshire residents Kathy and Ray MacDonald vowed when they got married that neither mother-in-law would ever live with them. Then Kathy’s mother Simone developed Alzheimer’s disease. The working couple now juggles caring for 78-year-old Simone with...Episode 157 – Kate Schutt: Nothing I Won’t Bear
Singer/songwriter, guitarist and producer Kate Schutt was packed and set to leave for a gig in the Middle East when she learned that her mother had stage 3c ovarian cancer. Kate broke her contract, moved in with her mother and became her primary caregiver for the...Episode 156 – Journalist Paula Span on The New Old Age
Veteran journalist Paula Span has had personal experience with many of the issues explored in her twice-monthly column for The New York Times, “The New Old Age”—the only dedicated real estate at the Times that talks about aging issues and caregiving. On the show,...Dr. Nicole Rochester: Your GPS Doc
Dr. Nicole Rochester has known she wanted to be a pediatrician since she was about eight years old. A Washington, DC native whose dad was a Redskins season ticket holder, Dr. Rochester has advocated for her own family members and given medical care to children in the...Episode 155: Steve Burrows and Ilan Arboleda on “Bleed Out”
When Steve Burrows’ mother, Judie, fell into a coma after a routine hip surgery, he was afraid she would never wake up. Questioning Judie’s care during surgery, Steve discovered his mother was one of an alarming number of patients in the US who are harmed by medical...Episode 154 – Lois Perelson-Gross: Reimagining End of Life
Talking about death can be difficult. But Lois Perelson-Gross believes people are eager to find a way in and begin to feel comfortable talking about the inevitable, so she helped launch Reimagine End of Life, a not-for-profit whose mission is to publicly explore...Scattered
Scattered: My Year As An Accidental Caregiver is available in paperback and eBook at
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