Knowing a person’s background, preferences, and priorities can help families and other caregivers most effectively care for a loved one or client. Person-centered planning is a process for better understanding a loved one’s background and preferences as well as determining services and supports that may be needed and involves the person receiving the care in a key role in the conversation. Host Frances S. Hall – Founder & Executive Director, ACAPcommunity is joined by Dr. Jane Everson,...

Breathing is essential for our survival. In difficult times, such as caring for a loved one, our breathing may become shallow and not provide the restoration our bodies need. In this episode, host Frances Hall is joined by Charlotte Bayala, a certified Yoga instructor, and coach. Through this podcast, learn how to breathe in a way that will help reduce stress and restore your body.

Sometimes, needed conversations with aging loved ones can be difficult. Knowing how to approach topics such as retiring from driving, moving from the home, allowing someone else to manage finances, etc., can be key in successfully making decisions. Host Frances S. Hall, Founder and Executive Director of ACAPcommunity welcomes Dr. Cheryl Greenberg, The Age Coach, to help us unpack strategies for how to make these conversations and decisions as productive as possible for all.

As people age, most will need some sort of additional support. When considering residential facility placement for an older adult loved one (or ourselves), what do we need to know? What should we look for? What questions should be asked? Join Lee Syria, President and CEO of EveryAge, and Frances Hall, ACAP Founder & Executive Director, to learn more about what to think about and look for when considering residential placements. This episode of The Caregiver Community is made possible by...

Journeying with an aging loved one is a continual “dance” of taking the next steps. But, knowing what the next step should be, when the “next step” is needed, and how to take that “next step” can be difficult. In this podcast, Frances S. Hall, Founder and Executive Director of ACAPcommunity welcomes Dr. Corinne Auman, gerontology educator and practitioner. Dr. Auman will help caregivers better understand the dynamics involved in determining when the “next step” is needed and how to truly help...

This podcast addresses issues specific to 20-, 30, and early 40-year-olds who are primary caregivers for their parents or grandparents or are trying to learn strategies and resources to help their parents care for their parents. Balancing home, work and caregiving can be particularly challenging for younger caregivers who may be at the beginning of their careers and have children still at home.

This podcast offers a general overview of eligibility requirements and VA benefits available for older veterans or their surviving spouses. While the podcast will provide basic information and guidance, all situations are individual. If you believe you or a family member may be eligible for benefits, contacting a Veterans’ Services Officer is strongly recommended.

Caring for an aging parent or loved one can be a great privilege, giving us the opportunity to give back to our parents. Caregiving also, however, is often challenging, particularly when the view of need is different between the adult-child or caregiver and the parent or loved one. This podcast explores those differences to gain a better understanding of why this happens and offers strategies that make it easier to find common ground where solutions emerge. In this episode, hosts Frances...

Dementia is at an all-time high in America. A lot of children are starting to notice declines in their aging parents. In this podcast, we learn about ways that we can help prevent these declines in our older adults.

Today we have more health information at our fingertips than ever before, but how do we take that information in and make sense of it? Today’s discussion looks at health information delivered by broadcast, online, and in print. In this episode, host Frances Hall, Founder and Executive Director of ACAPcommunity, Adult Children of Aging Parents is joined by Dr. Mary Tucker-McLaughlin and Ms. Karen Summey.

Research affirms the importance of staying active as we age and how detrimental isolation is, but Covid has made efforts to keep older loved ones engaged particularly challenging. Cheryl Greenberg, a life coach for seniors and their families at The Age Coach, and Bruce McReynolds, an executive director for Griswold Home Care, join Frances Hall, founder and executive director of ACAP, to talk about “Isolation and Social Engagement” related to older adults. Thank you to Pace @ Home in Hickory,...

As we provide care for an aging loved one, we encounter lots of terms and abbreviations that can be confusing. This podcast will help listeners understand some of the “Alphabet Soup of Caring for an Aging Adult.” Jill Lillie, an experienced consultant and long-term care administrator, and Vince Bartlome, a seasoned long-term care and hospice/palliative care professional, join Frances Hall, founder and executive director of ACAP, to unpack the most frequent terms and abbreviations. Thank you...

Providing care for an older loved one can be challenging, at best. When the relationship between the caregiver and care recipient has a difficult history, caring for and advocating for your care recipient becomes even more difficult. Join Dr. Jane Everson, Ph.D., University of South Carolina Medical School, and Frances Hall, Executive Director, ACAPcommunity, as they explore the ups and downs of caring for an older loved one with whom one’s relationship has been difficult. Thank you to...

There are more than 5 million people in the US who have some form of dementia. More and more, research is showing the positive impact of music in lessening anxiety and depression among those with dementia as well as helping redirect challenging symptoms. Dr. Cassandra Germain, Assistant Professor, NC Agricultural and Technical State University, discusses the latest findings with Frances S. Hall, Founder and Executive Director of ACAP, and offers tips on how family members and others may...

Host Frances Hall of ACAPcommunity and co-host AJ Kerley of Pace @ Home, Hickory, NC welcome Mary Remmes, Caregiver Coach as they discuss “What’s Fueling You as You Care for Your Aging Parent?” Caring for an aging parent or loved one can be extremely challenging. When we’re a caregiver, we are consumed by our loved one’s day-to-day needs and our stresses, and we rarely think about what may be “fueling” our actions. Understanding our motivations, goals, and emotions is critical in how we...

In this episode host, Frances Hall of ACAPcommunity and co-host Lee Syria welcomes Ashley Tate from Penn State University. Religious practices and spirituality have been identified as coping resources among older adults for over 30 years. As a result, there is growing interest to understand how religious practices, and spirituality, can directly, and indirectly, influence psychological health among caregivers of older adults. Thank you to Pace @ Home in Hickory, NC for sponsoring this episode!

Although we often hear about “caregiver burden,” there also is “caregiver Joy.” In this podcast, Dr. Corinne Auman discusses ways to look for, find, and cultivate joy in the caregiving journey. Dr. Auman is an experienced educator, researcher, and entrepreneur who received her doctorate in developmental psychology with a specialty in adulthood and aging from North Carolina State University and did post-doctoral training at the Duke University Center for Aging. She is President of Choice Care...

In this episode of The Caregiver Community, Dr. Amy Lorek, Assistant Research Professor at Pennsylvania State University's Center for Healthy Aging and Interim Director for the Women's Leadership Initiative in the College of Health and Human Development helps us understand the importance of leisure activities and how the activities help us connect with others, remain engaged in life, at least maintain cognition, and increase happiness, particularly as we age. Dr. Lorek also describes various...

Social support networks are important to the well-being for each of us and are even more important during challenging times such as when we are providing care for a loved one. Research has begun to recognize, though, that there are some important differences in supportive networks among African Americans as compared with other races. Dr. Althea Taylor Jones, retired professor and Gerontology Program administrator at Winston-Salem State University; Alexis Richmond, gerontology major at...

There are lots of options for the long-term care for a loved one (or ourselves), whether additional services are brought into the home or the loved one moves into a congregant living community such as a continuous care retirement center (CCRC), skilled care, or memory care facility, but the costs associated with each can be alarming, and raise all sorts of questions. This podcast helps listeners become aware of the various care options and strategies for paying for ongoing care. Jenna L....

In this episode of The Caregiver Community, we discuss “Downsizing Dilemmas: When Stuff is in the Way”— how family members may lovingly and respectfully help an aging loved one create a safer environment in their home or help them downsize, move, and/or de-clutter, even when there are lots of possessions with which to deal. Bridget Donnelly, founder of Donnelly’s Estate Liquidation & Appraisal Services in State College, PA, talks with Frances Hall, Founder & Executive Director of...

This episode of The Caregiver Community offers important information and insights into the “how to’s” of managing medications, whether it’s helping an older loved one or for yourself. In this conversation, listeners will learn what it means to “manage medications,” reasons medication management is important, ways to ensure medication safety, and strategies for helping encourage a loved one to take their meds, even when not inclined to do so.

Family dynamics are built on decades of history between parents and children as well as between siblings. Care for an aging parent sometimes prompts unresolved family issues to the surface. While taking care of mom and dad is a wonderful idea, collaborative caregiving can be a minefield of implicit and explicit expectations, assumptions, and history within the family. This podcast will help listeners explore ways to establish a more balanced family unit and learn strategies for strengthening...

This episode of the Caregiver Community shares insight about current technology that is helpful for seniors and their families. Listeners will learn about “low tech” and “high tech” resources and devices that are helpful for seniors and their caregivers, in general; technology that can be particularly supportive for those caring for a loved one with dementia; strategies for encouraging seniors to become comfortable with the resources; and ways to learn about technology applicable to one’s...

Dr. Mary B. Berge a Licensed Clinical Psychologist joins this episode of The Caregiver Community. Dr Berge talks about how to stay sane during COVID-19, with tips on how to manage this and other stressful times in your life.