Senior Care in the United States

As my wife’s Parkinson’s Disease and PD Dementia worsen, I’ve become more familiar with senior care in our country.

What I find continues to surprise me. In that I thought we were…better.

But we’re not.

I’ve written a personal experience paper that I’d like to share with you, hoping it will help you better understand our situation.

One that we ALL will eventually be facing.

As a follow-up, there is a 3-part documentary produced by Susie Singer Carter about a short care journey with her mother, which is a must-watch on this topic. To me, it’s heartbreaking and alarming. It also nicely illustrates our current “situation” in long-term senior care. It’s entitled—No Country For Old People - A Nursing Home Exposé.

Prepared to be shocked, disappointed, frustrated, horrified, and potentially…fired up!

Everything I learned about Resilience, I learned from PD Caregiving

Many people talk a good game about becoming or being resilient. I always wonder if they really understand everything around that idea. I certainly don’t.

My wife has Atypical Parkinson’s Disease with Lewy Bodies Dementia. I was talking to a group of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) caregivers in a support group the other day, and I likened my day to a rollercoaster. Each day. Every day—

  • There were ups and downs.

  • Twists and turns.

  • Moments of joy, laughter, bittersweet memories, and sadness.

  • Moments of fear, nausea, and uncertainty.

  • Perhaps even the occasional scream.

Nearly all of them saw themselves on the same ride as me.

Here’s a short video that explains Atypical Parkinson’s Disease or Parkinsonism—

https://share.vidyard.com/watch/RGzc8Aok7BKT2pkhda65JZ

which is the journey we’re on…

Welcome to Caregiving

I’ve been in a caregiving role for my wife, Diane, for the past few years.

As I’ve navigated this journey, it struck me that many others are navigating the same waters.

So, I’ve decided to share my learnings, challenges, opinions, and insights on caregiving on this blog, in the hope that it will help others navigate the same journey.

It will also be a bit of a soapbox for me to share the challenges we aren’t facing all that well as a nation.

In the end, I want to help some and challenge the status quo of others.

Please share this blog in your networks, communities, and families. As this quote alludes, caregiving is something we all should CARE about—

“There are only four kinds of people in the world: those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers.”

– Rosalynn Carter, Institute for Caregiving

https://rosalynncarter.org/

Looking forward to sharing with all of you.

Bob Galen