Don and I began podcasts in January of this year, 2023 around the topic of The Sandwich Generation: caring for aging loved ones while also raising our families. We are building a new program to focus on communication, resources, information and support for juggling self-care, raising children and caring for an aging loved one.
Don and I are in this stage of life with a 14 year old at home, continuing to support and assist our 21 year old as well as always parenting all three children and helping my parents who are now 79 and 81. My mom is the primary caregiver for my dad who has Parkinson’s Disease along with having had 2 back surgeries for continued issues with spinal stenosis. Her biggest challenge is managing his dementia which was minimal before the pandemic of 2020. COVID-19 led to isolation, reduced activity level and an acceleration of his impaired cognition. I live less than an hour from my parents and am the go-to person to support them.
As an Occupational Therapist who has worked in adult and geriatric rehab for 30 years, I have seen first hand the challenges of caring for aging parents/ loved ones and in particular the challenges of dementia. I bring my professional as well as personal experience to this topic. Don has worked with people of all ages in his practice as a Mindfulness Coach, using EFT, “tapping”, to help individuals get past their own self-limiting beliefs and past experiences that affect their current function in life.
On January 26, we aired the wonderful interview we had with Leah Maul. Leah has worked professionally helping individuals with aging loved ones and also is now juggling the demands of caring for her aging aunt while raising her own children. Be sure to check out these podcasts and share them with anyone you know who finds themself in this position of living in the sandwich generation.
We would love to hear from you as we grow this program and aire our podcasts. Let us know what has been the most helpful to you as well as what your biggest challenges in caring for yourself, your family and aging loved ones. If you are interested, we can send you the short survey we created. Stay tuned for more information, resources and services we will be offering.
Remember: How you speak to your children today, shapes their future as well as your own.
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