Caregiving Series Episode 3: 'Softening the Woah' on When to Ask For Help

Join Allan and Anne in the beginning of their Softening the Woah series, where they explore some obstacles that can come up when taking on the role as caregiver. All humans will experience caregiving in some regard - let us help make it less daunting.

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Transcript

Disclaimer And Accuracy Notes

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The views or opinions expressed in this podcast are for informational purposes only, not intended as legal or professional advice, and may not represent those of Verity Consulting. Although we make strong efforts to make sure our information is accurate at the time the podcast episode was recorded, Verity Consulting cannot guarantee that all information in this podcast is always correct, complete, or up to date. All information in this podcast is subject to change without notice.

Softening The Woe Begins

SPEAKER_04 0:28

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Verity's Caregiving Podcast Series. Happy to be back after a bit of a hiatus. There's some traveling and life and all kinds of things. So we're back in it. It's nice to see you, Alan.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Nice to see you, Ann.

SPEAKER_04 0:49

We're back. We're gonna do, we're diving into some heavier topics today. The first couple of episodes were, you know, getting to know us a little bit better about what we're going to be doing, and now we're doing it. So today is the beginning of our series, Softening the Woe, which was mentioned at the last tail end of our last episode. Um, and today we're going to start exploring the very impossible to answer question of when do you maybe start to enlist some extra help? When are the changes becoming noticeable to where we might need a few extra hands? What do those changes look like? Um, and how to start exploring options and attaining those options. Um Lynn is uh gracious enough to share some of his story for this, what will be part one of at least a couple episodes, because this is there's a lot to talk about here. It's also a very personalized journey. So while we'll be talking about your specific journey today in this realm, know that this involves all kinds of things. So we'll do our best to cover as much as possible. And if there are any questions that are rise or things that you as an audience would like to know more about, please, you know, send us a note. Verityteam.com is where you can contact us. So let's let's get started. Alan, you ready?

SPEAKER_01 2:30

I'm ready.

SPEAKER_04 2:30

Okay. So let's

Warning Signs You Should Not Ignore

SPEAKER_04 2:33

jump off. What are some initial changes that might come up with somebody as we go through life, whether it be a partner, a loved one, a friend, some things that may raise a couple eyebrows, or what I should say came up for you in your journey where you started to see, oh, this is this is a little different.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Yeah, it's it's something that I think most people are gonna have to deal with sometime in their life. Everybody. Everybody will, and it's gonna happen. Obviously, you're gonna have parents that age, you're gonna have friends that age, siblings that age. I mean, it's not just older people. It can be children, it can be just your friends throughout your life. You'll notice things that just don't seem right. And so today, what we're gonna be talking about is that aspect, the aspect of when you see changes in loved ones or friends, what what should you do about that? Sure. You know, you're recognizing the change, and do they need help? And then we'll get into other things in the next couple of podcasts about what happens to caregivers for those people.

SPEAKER_04 3:48

And then a lot happens to everybody involved.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Absolutely. And when when do they need help? Before we jump into this, though, I I like the the term hiatus.

SPEAKER_04 3:58

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

We've been out on a hiatus. I just want to say that's one of my favorite words.

SPEAKER_04 4:04

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

It's my top ten words.

SPEAKER_04 4:06

Is it? You're a word, a wordsmith of sorts, too.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Doesn't hit my top word, which is clandestine, but oh it's a good word. So for those of you that like words, think about your favorite word.

SPEAKER_04 4:19

Yeah, that is a fun game.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

All right. But let's jump in here to looking at issues of friends and loved ones. Yeah. For me, it was my wife Mary developing dementia, and I'll talk a little bit about that. But it could be any number of things. For her, it was memory issues, it was just changes in her ability to do things like drive initially getting lost. Yeah. Things like that that became clues. And I'll come back to that in a minute. But it could be uh any other numbers of things. It could be you notice the person that you love or their or your friends have hearing issues, they have vision issues, things that you know just seem apparent that they didn't have before. Sure. Sleep. Sleep's a big one, and you know, there are changes in how they sleep or how much sleep they're getting. You may see changes in personality. People become depressed. You have friends that seem depressed or angry, irritability. Irritability. What is that? And sometimes that leads to use of alcohol or drugs, some other, I guess what I would call chemical aids.

SPEAKER_03 5:43

That's a good way to put it.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Help them through their problems. So if you start noticing those changes, uh it might be changes in their weight. They're gaining weight, they're losing weight, they just seem to eat differently. That's not usual for them.

SPEAKER_04 6:00

Sure, things we take for granted as just uh everyday happenings.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Right. And if you're around people, uh loved ones or friends a lot, you're gonna start to notice these things. You know, something just doesn't look right. Sure. It could be their mobility, they don't have the balance they had before, or they're complaining about their joints, their knees, their hips, whatever. Uh could be that, could be strength. You notice that people can't seem to do the things they used to do. Yeah, they're not working out like they used to, or getting exercise, or effort is a real is a it's really an effort for them to do things. So those things, pain, people start to complain about pain. Yes, and hopefully they're not addressing pain with their chemical helpers as well. But it happens, it happens, and then you know, over time you'll and people will tell you, or you'll notice other things. It could be physical things that are really stand out, like changes in things like toileting. Yeah people have complained about constipation or diarrhea constantly, bleeding, bruising on their skin, skin changes, uh, things that don't look right on their skin. Um, some of that's from the sun and aging, but there could be other things that make you think that doesn't look right. Sure. I never saw that mole before, or that looks like a funny color. You know? Yeah. It could be shortness of breath.

SPEAKER_04 7:40

Um that's a a definite, more emergent situation. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

So it could be any number of things that lead you to see a change in that person.

Dementia Clues Hiding In Plain Sight

SPEAKER_01 7:52

And I've seen this in my life of my my wife is I've talked about her in the in the first couple of podcasts we did, but I started to notice changes in her. We had two kind of interesting events that didn't really register with me until later. Both events were times when we were meeting up at a at a friend's house. We each had a car, yeah. And when we left at dark, she pulled out ahead of me both times and never put lights on on the car. And I was flashing my lights, trying to get her to put the lights on, and I just thought she'd forgotten. Sure. And later, after the second event, where she also had trouble navigating around the neighborhood to get home, I thought, oh, I guess she doesn't have her lights on, you know, whatever. But looking back, that was not long before she had a diagnosis of dementia. So it was another event that should have clicked in my mind, but didn't. Yeah. So those are the kinds of things you think about. I had a very similar thing with my father who ended up having colon cancer that should have been detected much earlier, but he didn't tell anyone that he was having bouts of constipation and pain, which is not uncommon for us proud humans. Yes. We're gonna talk about that in another context here later on. So, you know, I saw that. I saw it with my brother-in-law, who also started developing, we think, some issues with cognition earlier. Probably should have picked up on that as well. But it's it's those kinds of things that you have to think about is as a friend or a loved one. You know, if you see something, you know, the old thing about if you see something, say something. Sure. It's important. It's important.

SPEAKER_04 9:58

And uh extremely and kind of uh going further into that, a very hard conversation to have.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_04 10:07

What do you have any tips or can drama on how do you address such things? Because, you know, I want to also point out that if your intuition is telling you that something is off it is, as much as we don't like to admit it, how do you then you see something, you say something, how do you how do you say that?

SPEAKER_01 10:28

That is that is tough because no direct answers. There are no direct answers. I mean, these are the conversations that I call the easy, not so easy conversations.

SPEAKER_04 10:40

That's putting it very delicately.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

It is delicate. What I saw with with my wife Mary was I I was starting to see some changes, and unfortunately for her, the changes started to pick up right at the time when COVID hit.

Testing, Diagnosis, And Emotional Fallout

SPEAKER_04 10:57

Right. The timing is never good. That's extra saucy timing.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

It was. And so initially I kind of blew some of it off to the reaction that people were having to COVID, which was you know, we're sitting around, we're bored, we're scared, we're confused. We're scared, we're confused. She was starting to take naps, and which was unusual for her. But I thought, eh, this is just we're home all day. This is the boredom of being home. And I was still working remotely from home part of the day. So, you know, it things were. I I just was kind of, yeah, this isn't a big issue. But then it became more and more apparent to me that things weren't quite right. Well, it just turned out as a as a type one diabetic with a insulin pump, she was having to do quarterly visits to the diabetic clinic. And this was during COVID, and we were going to the clinic, and at that point in time, the clinics were not even allowing a person to go in with you. Sure. Which I usually did, but I had to drop her off, and I dropped her off at the clinic and was sitting out in the car waiting, and time went by. Usually I figured she'd be back in about 30 minutes. Well, and after an hour and a half, I was beginning to get worried.

SPEAKER_03 12:23

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

So when she came out, she looked kind of confused, and I got her in the car, and we were headed home. And so that night I jumped on her My Chart to see what had gone on. Sure. So it was the normal visit, and you know, they'd done checked her pump, looked at the readings, whatever. But her physician said, This, I'm concerned because she could not explain to me how to make changes to her pump, how to set her, you know, her pump for particular boluses, you know, you know, make sure that the right bolus was being given and so forth.

SPEAKER_02 13:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

And suggested that in the chart to her primary care physician that maybe she needed some cognitive testing.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

So after reading that, rightly or wrongly, I said to Mary, let's sit down. You need to look at what your doctor just put in the chart for today. So she read it and was quite upset. Sure. And said, I I I don't know what this is all about. And I said, Well, did you have trouble understanding how to use the pump? And the questions you they were asking. She said, Well, I don't think so, but you know, I don't know. And I said, Well, I think you know, we'll we'll get in to see your primary. We'll get an appointment as quickly as we can.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

So we did. We got and and I give the uh the system a lot of credit, which I don't always do.

SPEAKER_04 14:04

I was gonna say this is a nice occurrence, rarity.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Someone who's worked in the healthcare system for close to 50 years, yeah, might not always see the best. And we've had we've had our ups and downs with it, but they did a great job here. And she saw her primary who started off with a cognitive test that Mary had great difficulty with. And when we left that appointment, she said to me, I was ambushed today, and I said, Well, you yeah, you probably felt that way, but you know, your doctor needed to test you, and you were having problems with it. And coming out of that, of course, was a recommendation to go to the dementia clinic essentially and meet with them, which we did, and that did not go well at all. Yeah, so there was a lot of anger about having to be there and that we're gonna be followed there and so forth. So I'm saying all of this because I'm giving you a classic example of what happens when you open that door. It's not uncommon, not uncommon at all. No, and you have to be ready to talk these things through and as gently as you can, but but it's something you have to keep talking about and expect that you're gonna get some blowback, some anger.

SPEAKER_04 15:34

Yeah, and it's devastating news, and it's gonna come to you. You know, you're the friend, you're the loved one, they're the person who had that, in a sense, has helped open this door, and now you're the face that's there and gonna receive a little bit of wrath, for lack of a better term.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

Absolutely, absolutely. I went through the same thing with my father when he was having some trouble getting any real help from his physician, which I was very disappointed with.

SPEAKER_04 16:09

Yeah, we won't call out the town. We won't call out there. Some towns struggle more than others.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Yes, but it was a situation where we were visiting on a weekend and he was having pain again, and I said, taking you into the emergency room, emergency room physician said, You need a colonoscopy and you need it now. Immediately. So that forced the issue with him. So I've you know, and I've seen it in other situations as well. But just to tell you, I guess, as an audience, be prepared. It's a tough role to take on, you're not gonna feel comfortable doing it.

SPEAKER_03 16:49

No, it'd be very odd if one felt totally cool with this.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Absolutely, but you have to do it. And you know, these are the people that you care about, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:00

So you're gonna have to help guide them gently and still directly. And how I mean, having these conversations with Mary, how did you keep at it despite, you know, there's a lot of blame? And you you like you mentioned, you're the one weathering the uh reaction to someone learning this news that their entire world is is changing and they can't do anything about it. How do you stay strong and also remind yourself of the importance of it? But yeah, there's a the backlash. How do you weather that backlash?

SPEAKER_01 17:42

Well, it's a combination, it's a combination of two things in my mind. Uh, one is you have to give them time to vent, sure, to get out their anger, their denial, all of those things. But you have to keep at it and you have to keep reminding them how much you care about them, how important it is for them to get the professional help they need. And so it's a fine balance of those two things. And it's gut-wrenching at times, but you know, you you have to do it, and all I can say is you just have to stay with it, stay strong, keep reminding them that you love them, you care, you care about them, you want the best thing for them, but then expect that you're gonna have to give them time each time to you know get out their feelings about what's happening to them.

SPEAKER_03 18:41

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

So that's the best I can tell you. Just know that's gonna be difficult.

SPEAKER_04 18:47

It's not linear in the least.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

Not linear in the least.

SPEAKER_04 18:51

Every day is a different who knows, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

And every day is different, believe me.

SPEAKER_04 18:58

Oh, yes. Well, that initial, you know, hard. So now let's say moving on, we're kind of we're past that initial conversation, the assessments, you know that there is something happening.

The Caregiver Role Gets Real

SPEAKER_04 19:13

How do you then start getting the ball rolling on professional help, getting some other building a team of sorts?

SPEAKER_01 19:22

Yeah, that's that that's the first thing. I mean, you got you got to get in for the initial assessment. Usually that's gonna be with a primary care physician, or maybe not maybe end up with a specialist if there's if it's uh something that needs surgery, or if it's a more localized situation or a mental health problem. Sure. You might be seeing a psychologist or a psychiatrist or whatever. So it's gonna be a number of things. And now in your role as I'm gonna call you case manager, case manager, the initial caregiver, you're going to be taking on some new responsibilities and understand what those are. I mean, the first thing is making all the initial contacts and appointments with the system, and know now that you're gonna need to be prepared in your own mind for the frustration you're gonna meet. Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_04 20:20

You know, just getting appointments, and let's face it, we all know now that the healthcare system is overwhelmed and that you have to be a squeaky wheel, you have to advocate for well yourself, but now also this person.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

For this person, then you gotta participate in the appointments. And that's really a dual role. The first is you become for that person the note taker, they're dealing with whatever condition they have, whatever issues they have. That's overwhelming for them to think about. And when they're getting, you know, you know, someone's looking at the the condition, they're doing an assessment, and then talking about what they're seeing. That's that's difficult. If you're you're on that end receiving that news, you're having to absorb that.

SPEAKER_02 21:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

So someone's got to take the notes about what's going on there. Yeah, it's gonna be in my chart, but somebody's got to be listening to this, taking notes, and then asking questions.

SPEAKER_04 21:28

Yes, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

Because they're not gonna be able to ask the questions. So you you need to be the person asking questions because you're now their advocate.

SPEAKER_04 21:38

Yes, very much so.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

Yeah, you're you're doing the advocacy, and you want to know clear you want clarity about the treatments, if they're surgeries, you know what's gonna happen, what's that gonna be like? So, and then you know, the other part of this, I guess there's a third piece, and I call that being a bridge. Mm-hmm. So you're a bridge between the professional people and the person receiving care. And by by that, what I mean is you have to also help the professional people kind of understand who this person is. Sure. And also help that person understand that the professionals really do have their best interests at heart. So you gotta be that bridge.

SPEAKER_03 22:24

So you're that's a lovely way to put it.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Your note-taker, your advocate, and your the bridge. So, you know, those are your roles. Very much so. And you know, thinking about this, I just you know kind of popped in my head. There are there are some kind of side bars to this.

SPEAKER_04 22:44

Let's put it a lot. Oh I have sidebars. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

First of all, if you're if you're dealing with the a woman dealing with issues, we know that the system often they love us.

SPEAKER_04 22:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

No, they don't love you. And women, women's health issues, you know, and it's well documented. I read about it all the time on all of the the uh medical websites that I track. Women's issues are not well researched.

SPEAKER_02 23:16

What?

SPEAKER_01 23:17

They're not well dealt with. What? Yeah, what this past weekend, nice opinion piece by Melinda Gates, Bill Gates' ex-wife, the big flagrist, who's now going to put some money into perimenopause and menopause issues for women.

SPEAKER_04 23:35

Every once in a while the news has something nice.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

Good for her. But that's a great example. So understand that sometimes if you're in a situation where you're an advocate in those situations, uh you might have to think a little bit and how you're gonna handle that with the professionals because there's don't let it don't let them blow this off because they would love to, they don't know enough about it. So and then we can flip it to the male side. There you got a different problem because let's face it, a lot of men don't go to the doctor. If they don't want to go to the doctor, I don't need to go to the doctor, right? Totally. I can just I can work this out, I can fight through the pain or whatever. Sure. So just know that that's going on. And I won't even, we don't have the time now, but there are others like racial equity issues in healthcare, rural versus urban, yeah. The ability to get care in those areas.

SPEAKER_04 24:42

The system is uh uh very biased on and you know you hear it all the time about it's just a little or a lot broken, depending on who you are.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

It can be. And if you know, don't get us wrong, we're not here to trash the entire system.

SPEAKER_04 25:03

No, it's just the need to advocate.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

It's a big complicated system, and that's why you need to be out there advocating.

SPEAKER_04 25:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

Um every time your loved one interacts with it.

SPEAKER_04 25:14

Yes. And being present, like you said, taking those notes, keeping being on the front lines of things so that you can provide the best care and get the best team in place. And there are other things involved in this journey, lots of things. We won't even really get below the tip of the iceberg today. However, um, these things are happening. What would be helpful to have in place prior, you know, to these health changes that are uh, like we said, inevitable for all of us? What is helpful to kind of have lined up? You don't have to then think about it once the ball is really rolling in a new direction.

Plan Ahead Before Crisis Hits

SPEAKER_01 25:58

Yeah, that's that's a great question because I think you know, most of us as we go through our life, don't think about what happens if we have a major medical issue, not just aging, but we have an accident. We have a child that gets some condition or some disease that we didn't expect.

SPEAKER_04 26:21

A natural disaster.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

A natural disaster happens. So most people, I don't think, are really prepared ahead of time. They're not thinking.

SPEAKER_04 26:30

Well, nobody wants to think about that.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Who does? Well, there are a few few fools like me, but that's oh no, no, no. Yeah, but that's because I've been working with the system for so long and have seen it from the regulatory side and the other. Yeah, I done I see what happens to families when big things occur. Yeah, and things aren't in place, and they aren't in place. So I mean, things to think about before anything happens. Obviously, you want to know what your loved ones or friends that you might be responsible for. What are their wishes? If something happens to them, how do what kind of care do they want? Yeah, how far do they want the system to go for them? Those are all you know kinds of issues that you need to think you need to think about. So by by that, what I'm getting to is do they do do they have a power of attorney for healthcare in place? That is huge, or something similar to it, because this varies by state. Sure. So I know that we have people listening in other states. In fact, we have people listening to us in Taiwan in about six countries.

SPEAKER_04 27:41

So it's all over.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

But have something formally in place that says this is what I want to happen to me and under these circumstances, and this is who I want to be the person who makes decisions for me if I can't make those decisions.

SPEAKER_02 27:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:59

And make sure that that's a person that understands what you want done and will do what you want done.

SPEAKER_04 28:08

You betcha. These are not always easy things to execute.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

They're not. So don't pick people that you might like or or are close to you, but will not be willing to do what you want done if it comes to that. So that's that's an important thing. That's the one of the first things. Yes. I would say if you're going this direction, if if you haven't done it, also make sure that things like wills, trusts, and power attorney for finance are also in place. Yeah, these are all important things. Hopefully, you live a nice long life with not many problems. But again, you just never know.

SPEAKER_04 28:54

There will always be some problem that'll come up, guys.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

So you want that, those things in place?

SPEAKER_04 28:59

Just life.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

Everybody knows what you want and how it how it's to be taken care of.

SPEAKER_02 29:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

I think maybe in some future podcasts, we'll try to get some experts on who might be able to talk about some of these areas.

SPEAKER_04 29:12

Oh, yes, that that is definitely on the docket. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

Going along with that, it's also good to have discussions about financial resources. Oh, yes. If you're gonna have to have care, you know, what kind of resources do you have? And that could be, you know, for people who are Medicaid, there may be people look who I'm on Medicaid or might be able to get Medicaid if they need it. Obviously, you say age, there's Medicare, and what does that cover? I think a lot of people don't understand that Medicare doesn't cover a lot of things you might think it covers.

SPEAKER_04 29:49

Oh, yes. So it's a little surprising. Yeah, it is surprising.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

There are people in the veteran system. So, what are your VA benefits if you're a veteran?

SPEAKER_02 29:58

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

And again, there are different kinds of levels of resources available depending on your disabilities that are related to your service. So that's things you need to know. What kind of personal resources do you have? What kind of dollars do you have coming out of your pocket? Can you pull out to provide care? And then what kind of insurance do you have? I'm talking about your health insurance and also if you have long-term care insurance or whatever, what does that really cover?

SPEAKER_02 30:32

Right.

SPEAKER_01 30:32

So be aware of all of those things. And again, those are things you can talk with experts. There are people, uh, resources available in the community, there are attorneys that know this stuff well, financial planners that know it. So rely on those people. And I like I like we said, we'll try to get some some folks on board, some future podcasts that might be able to talk about this.

SPEAKER_04 30:57

And no, there's uh no need to wait on such things because things can be tweaked as you go along, obviously. And yes, I mean, I I'm in my late 30s, and I need I know I need to get on some planning. It's just good to one last thing to worry about. And like you had mentioned at the top of this topic, uh people that don't think about it until it's too late can really make an already tough situation even that much tougher.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

Absolutely. These are decisions you don't want to be making in the middle of the of a crisis. Right. When you're trying to make to say people need decisions made and they need to have their financial stuff in place and whatever. That's not the time to be making these. And as Ann just said, this is something that can be tweaked along the way. I'm on my third, and probably I'll have maybe one or two more times where I'm going to be changing things. And by will and trust, I just made some changes when my wife passed away last year. I'm probably gonna make some additional changes now. So nothing is set in stone, it can be changed. Just keep it up to date and just know where you are in your life and what you want, and make sure other people know what you want too. Right.

SPEAKER_04 32:20

Um one last thing we'll touch on that we we can expand on as well as we continue this softening the woe, especially, you know, kind of when to ask for help portion of our series.

Follow-Up Care And Coordination Checklist

SPEAKER_04 32:34

How do you start in coordinating the follow-up? So you have the information, you have kind of at least a general direction of where you need to go now. How do you start getting those things lined up and then ensure that things are followed up upon?

SPEAKER_01 32:53

Well, if you're going to take on a role of an advocate helping this person through whatever they're they're dealing with, you're gonna have to ensure that the necessary visits, follow-up visits are and appointments are made. Sometimes for those folks, it's hard to do it that are going through this, yeah, whether physically or just emotionally. So you're gonna have to give them support, help them by getting the appointments made. That's an important thing. And ensure that they get the necessary medications. Yes. You may have to be you may have to be the one picking them up and making sure that they're taking them.

SPEAKER_04 33:36

Yes, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

Schedule that's happening. Friendly reminders, friendly reminders, glasses and contacts, getting those done, getting the you know, getting those picked up, hearing aids.

SPEAKER_04 33:49

That's a whole that is a journey in and of itself.

SPEAKER_01 33:54

Getting those the proper ones, getting them set, having follow-up on that. Sleep. If there are sleep issues, they they might have to have a sleep study and go through that process. Do they need mobility aids? Could be anything from crutches to walkers to wheelchairs, whatever, getting those procured, you know, getting the people in who are going to train them, and that jumps to the necessary treatments and therapies. If they need PT, if they need OT, if they need speech therapy, wound care, nutritional stuff, or their diets get altered. Do they need a CPAP for sleep or you know, some something else? Oxygen, if they need oxygen, making sure that's done. Right. So it's it's getting all of these things coordinated and making sure they're delivered on time and that the necessary training is done with the person or with their caregivers about what has to happen.

SPEAKER_02 35:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:04

And again, you're gonna have to be the not only the advocate, but the bridge between you and I mean between the person that's getting the care and the people delivering the care. So that role never ends.

SPEAKER_04 35:20

Never ends.

Key Takeaways And How To Reach Us

SPEAKER_04 35:22

Well, that's a lot to simmer on, isn't it? Um thank you, Alan. This is, you know, extraordinarily important information that not everybody really likes to think and talk about. However, this is an inevitability that whether it happens to you, whether it happens to a loved one, this is not meant to scare anyone. It is meant to kind of help prepare. I love alliteration. Proper preparation prevents poor performance. I like that. Um just as prepared as you can be, why wouldn't you want to be? You know, and this isn't catastrophizing. It's just these are some things to look out for and how to be most helpful, not only for the person who needs the care, but also for yourself, which will dive into that side a little bit more. As you all can tell, this is a very involved situation that has no direct course. However, there are tools that you can utilize and wanting to make sure people receiving care receive the best care, but also that the caregiver themselves can have the support that they need in order to not only provide care, but to keep themselves in mind and keep themselves healthy. Because guess what? It's no good if there's two people who, you know, are needing a lot of help. So is there anything else you'd like to add in this first section here, Alan?

SPEAKER_01 36:56

No, I think we've we've probably covered enough for today.

SPEAKER_04 37:00

That's yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:01

Because you said the people need to let this simmer.

SPEAKER_04 37:04

Simmer minute. If anything does come up for you, audience members, please, please, please visit www.verity team.com, V-E-R-I-T-Y team.com. We'd love to hear from you. Um if anything needs clarification, if you have an idea for either a topic or something else to add within this realm, please reach out to us. Um, and we look forward to continuing the softening the woe series in hopes that it can provide some help, support, comfort, direction as we're all just trying to function in this world, right? So thank you again, Alan.

SPEAKER_01 37:52

Thank you, Ann.

SPEAKER_04 37:53

Thank you, audience. And we will see you next time.