Yesterday’s Fearless Caregiver Conference in Boynton Beach, Florida marked the first event of the thirteenth year since the launch of Today’s Caregiver magazine.  And the day did not disappoint.

The members of the Q and A panel had expertise in nursing, hospice care, depression management, insurance, trusts and personal finances. But as usual, it was the interaction between the caregivers in the room that provided the most magic. The concept of Fearless Caregivers sharing wisdom was in full swing as new networks were being formed between caregivers of children with disabilities, grandparent caregivers and those with senior loved ones. Advocacy was the big topic of conversation, so if you are reading this from Tallahassee or Washington, I would advise you get ready for some educated and motivated constituents to come a ‘calling.

To further illustrate the theme of advocacy, our luncheon speaker was newly minted State Representative, Mark Pafford. Mark gave an overview of the state’s political system and presented a wide variety of hands-on tips for getting responses from the halls of congress. We were proud to present a Community Fearless Caregiver award to Mary Barnes, CEO of Alzheimer’s Community Care for their work over the past twelve years, who left us with the poignant message that seniors in Florida (and by extension, across the nation) should not be ashamed to seek needed support, since rather than costing the state money, they add millions of dollars annually to the state coffers.

While talking about journaling, I read a story I wrote about my grandfather, in which I retold a few of the countless memorable times we spent together. Afterwards, a caregiver came up to me and told me that she had an inspirational thought as I was speaking. She was going to travel with her husband who is living with Alzheimer’s to visit their kids. She wants to have each of their children write a short story about a memorable time they had spent with their dad and then read it to him. She is convinced that this exercise will be as beneficial to her grown children as it will be to her husband. And I whole-heartedly concur.

All in all, not a bad way to enter our teen years.

 

Gary Barg
Editor-in-Chief
gary@caregiver.com