Latest / Cyrus Webb's tracks / Scott Parrish of Visiting Angels shares tips for caregivers on Conversations LIVE

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Scott Parrish of Visiting Angels shares tips for caregivers on Conversations LIVE · Cyrus Webb's tracks

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  Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Conversations Live. I'm your host,
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  Speaker 1: Cyrus Webb. Glad you all could join us once again.
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  Speaker 1: For a radio audience tuning in at WYED 94.1 FM
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  Speaker 1: and WYEDonline.com, we're glad that you all can be with us. Also,
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  Speaker 1: join us online worldwide via our podcast at iHeartRadio and
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  Speaker 1: Amazon Music. We're glad you all could be with us
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  Speaker 1: as well. This is part of our music and youth
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  Speaker 1: segment here at WYED, and today we're talking about some
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  Speaker 1: help for caregivers. For millions of Americans, becoming a caregiver
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  Speaker 1: happens suddenly because bringing emotional and practical challenges that they
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  Speaker 1: may not be expecting. New survey findings explore the often
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  Speaker 1: overlooked emotional toll of caregiving, including guilt, mental load, and
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  Speaker 1: the difficult tradeoffs of balancing aging parents, children, careers, and
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  Speaker 1: personal well-being. Here to talk to us more about the survey,
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  Speaker 1: as well as to offer some tips and advice from
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  Speaker 1: other caregivers, we're excited to welcome Scott Parrish to our
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  Speaker 1: broadcast today. Scott is the president of Visiting Angels. Scott,
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  Speaker 1: thank you again for stopping by. I really appreciate it.
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  Speaker 2: It's great to be with you. Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: This is an important topic, Scott, one that's near and
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  Speaker 1: dear to my heart. I had the privilege of being
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  Speaker 1: my grandmother's caregiver for the last decade of her life,
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  Speaker 1: so this is something that I definitely am excited to
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  Speaker 1: be able to share with our audience. When it comes
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  Speaker 1: to the survey, though, Scott, what percentage of caregivers say
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  Speaker 1: their mental load is at maximum capacity when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to dealing with everything they have to deal with?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, the survey showed that 67% of family caregivers say
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  Speaker 2: they're at their mental limit in a typical week. You
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  Speaker 2: cared for a loved one, so you know it can
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  Speaker 2: be very stressful trying to manage family life at home
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  Speaker 2: and also caring for a senior.
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  Speaker 1: Now, one of the things that comes up in this conversation, Scott,
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  Speaker 1: that our audience may not be familiar with the term
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  Speaker 1: is the sandwich generation. What exactly is that, and how
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  Speaker 1: does caregiving stress differ for people also raising their own family?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, the sandwich generation refers to adults who are sandwiched
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  Speaker 2: between caring for a senior loved one and also raising
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  Speaker 2: kids at home. And it's a growing concern. According to
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  Speaker 2: an AARP report, 63 million Americans are family caregivers. That's
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  Speaker 2: a 45% increase in a decade. And of those, 50
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  Speaker 2: and under half are also caring for their kids at home.
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  Speaker 2: So it involves real tradeoffs when you're doing that, as
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  Speaker 2: you know. You take less time for your other family.
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  Speaker 2: You take less time for your friends. There's less time
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  Speaker 2: for your own mental health. The survey showed that, that
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  Speaker 2: people felt that they were unprepared financially, mentally, and emotionally
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  Speaker 2: to take on that role. So preparation for it is
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  Speaker 2: so important.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so let's talk about the preparation because, again, in
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  Speaker 1: my particular situation, Scott, my grandmother, when she was diagnosed
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  Speaker 1: with kidney failure, of course, she had to go on dialysis.
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  Speaker 1: So someone had to be able to take her to
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  Speaker 1: dialysis three times a week, help her with meals, medicine,
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  Speaker 1: that sort of thing. So it's something that, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: we had a little bit of time to kind of
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  Speaker 1: figure out who was going to be able to do
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  Speaker 1: what in my situation allowed me to be able to
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  Speaker 1: do it. What are the top steps for families, though,
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  Speaker 1: to consider when it comes to preparing for caregiving responsibilities?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it sounds like you did a good job of
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  Speaker 2: what I'm about ready to say, but start the conversation
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  Speaker 2: early with your loved one. Find out their wishes and
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  Speaker 2: what kind of support that they feel they might need,
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  Speaker 2: where they want to live. Do they prefer to remain
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  Speaker 2: at home, or is that an optional thing that maybe
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  Speaker 2: can be looked into? Then know your resources. Gather all
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  Speaker 2: the information you can about local resources that might help
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  Speaker 2: you support your senior loved one. And then create a
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  Speaker 2: plan for the whole family. You don't have to do
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  Speaker 2: it alone. You probably can't do it alone. So see
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  Speaker 2: if there's others in their family that can help provide
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  Speaker 2: and split up some of that support that's needed. It's
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  Speaker 2: not failure for a family caregiver to ask for help.
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  Speaker 2: That's a big message.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's such a big thing, and I
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  Speaker 1: know they don't have to go through it alone. Scott,
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  Speaker 1: this is important information. I'm so glad that we could
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  Speaker 1: have you on to talk about this. Again, everyone, Scott
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  Speaker 1: Parrish has been our guest. Scott is the president of
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  Speaker 1: the Visiting Angels National Franchise Organization. They provide care and
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  Speaker 1: support to older adults at home. And we're so excited
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  Speaker 1: he could talk to us about the survey, but also
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  Speaker 1: offer some tips. Scott, where can our audience go for
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  Speaker 1: more information?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, please visit visitingangels.com slash sandwichgeneration to find out more
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  Speaker 2: about the survey's results. And also there's great resources for
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  Speaker 2: people caring for seniors on that site. And please visit
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  Speaker 2: the Visiting Angels podcast, Real Talk on Aging. You can
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  Speaker 2: find that wherever you listen to podcasts. They had a
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  Speaker 2: recent episode that talked about the sandwich generation.
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  Speaker 1: Love it. Scott, thank you again. Really appreciate it. Looking
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  Speaker 1: forward to having you back on the program again.
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  Speaker 2: It's great to be with you. Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: I appreciate it. All right, and we thank your audience
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  Speaker 1: for tuning in to another great segment of Conversations Live. Again,
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  Speaker 1: part of a news segment here at WYAD. Until next time,
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  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Cyrus Webster. As always, enjoy your day,
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  Speaker 1: enjoy your life, enjoy your world. Thank you for being
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  Speaker 1: with us here at Conversations Live, and let's go make
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  Speaker 1: today amazing. Take care.