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| The Caring Generation Show |
CONTACT: Pamela D. Wilson 303-810-1816
Email: Inquiry_For_Pamela@pameladwilson.com
Golden, Colorado – March 27, 2021
The Caring Generation® How to Have Patience with Elderly Parents
Golden CO- Caregiving expert Pamela D. Wilson hosts The Caring Generation® podcast show for caregivers and aging adults. This coming Wednesday, March 31, 2021, the topic is How to Have Patience with Elderly Parents
Wilson releases a new podcast in The Caring Generation series every Wednesday, sharing tips and conversations about aging, caregiving, and family relationships to help caregiving families plan for what's ahead. The podcasts are available on Wilson's website and all major podcast sites.
How to Have Patience with Elderly Parents
Wilson empathizes with elderly parents who may feel like a burden to adult children caregivers who provide support. Adult children who juggle work, caregiving and family life often express concerns about being impatient with elderly parents. Many caregivers feel guilty about not being able to do enough and balance life responsibilities.
Insights are offered for family caregivers who may not realize the significant changes that elders experience physically, mentally, and emotionally with age and an increasing number of medical diagnoses. Patience in all life experiences is discussed from various perspectives that include daily nuisances, interpersonal relationship challenges, and life-changing events like a chronic disease diagnosis.
Learning patience poses many benefits, including better decision-making about care for parents, taking the initiative to learn new things, and improved stress management. The realization that impatience may improve by investing in time-saving or planning activities can benefit caregivers and care receivers who may experience impatience working together or with the healthcare system.
Interview with Dr. Joan Monin Yale School of Public Health
Joan Monin is an Associate Professor in the Social and Behavioral Sciences Department at Yale School of Public Health with expertise in research on emotion and relationship processes in caregiving and developing psychosocial interventions for caregivers and older adult care recipients. She joins Wilson to share research about caregiver – care receiver relationships and perceptions about distress and suffering.
Broadly, Monin's research examines how social relationships influence health in older adulthood, emphasizing the needs of family caregivers for older adults with chronic conditions, disability, and dementia. She has had continuous funding from the NIA for more than ten years, with projects examining how gender, stress, emotion, and support-related processes influence cognitive, psychological, and physical health in the context of older adult family caregiving. Monin has published findings in prominent journals (Annals of Behavioral Medicine, Journal of the American Geriatric Society, Health Psychology).
Wilson works with caregiving organizations and corporations worldwide to educate about the role strain that caregivers experience and how to be proactive to plan ahead for health and aging issues. More about Wilson's online courses for elderly care: How to Get Guardianship of a Parent and Taking Care of Elderly Parents, caregiver support, webinars, and speaking engagements is on her website www.pameladwilson.com. Pamela may also be contacted at 303-810-1816 or through the Contact Me page on her website.
Pamela D. Wilson is a former guardian residing in Colorado. Her radio shows and blog posts do contain some valid and useful information. However, they seem to be slanted towards telling family members that elder care is best left to “professionals.” The takeaway from many of her posts is that caregivers are endangering their health by sacrificing to care for elderly parents. Indeed, there is some data that supports her point. As a caregiver myself, however, I find her attitude to be condescending as well as insulting to my cultural and religious values. In addition, I have serious objections to of Ms. Wilson’s defense of the guardianship system. A recent Facebook post regarding “I Care A Lot” maligned people who “fear” guardianship. The post contained falsely reassuring statements that alleged incapacitated persons are always permitted to have their say in court, that AIPs are always represented by an attorney, and that preliminary guardianship hearings are always followed by hearing for permanent guardianship. The Steven Stryker case in Florida illustrates the ludicrous nature of her assertions. Styker’s attorney AGREED to his guardianship, and a permanent plenary guardianship was assigned the day of the preliminary hearing. Stryker was never present. Wilson also ignores the financial devastation experienced by seniors who successfully fight off a guardianship. Finally, Wilson ignores medical data about the overuse of antipsychotics in the elderly population. She encourages doctor shopping to find a physician willing to prescribe antipsychotics to control “behaviors.” One telling quote: “ Medication changes are the next scary truth about guardianship. Communities—especially skilled nursing, have internal procedures that require the reduction of medications—including behavioral medications. Nursing homes will fight you tooth and nail over medications called antipsychotics. Fight back for the good of your parent.” Thus, anyone reading Ms. Wilson’s posts should do so critically and use supplementary information such as that provided by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care in Nursing Homes.
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