Latest / Holding It Together (Kinda) / #8 Companion Caregiver Myths, Real Limits
Transcript
- 0:00Michael Mackniak: Hey everybody, welcome to this midweek unpack for Holding It Together Kinda.
- 0:05Michael Mackniak: I'm Michael McNak.
- 0:07Michael Mackniak: On our full weekly episodes, we bring on experts, advocates, frontline workers to break down the heavy stuff, the legal mazes, the medical systems, the messy realities of caregiving.
- 0:20Michael Mackniak: On these shorter midweek sessions, it's just going to be you and me because I want to review with you some of the topics that were talked about and give you a chance to download our companion worksheets.
- 0:33Michael Mackniak: I want to talk about uh one of the episodes that we had a while back about caregiver misconceptions.
- 0:42Michael Mackniak: And my friend Victoria Cure came on to guest host with me.
- 0:47Michael Mackniak: And in that episode, we dismantled five major myths surrounding HIPAA, guardianship, uh capacity, incapacity, medication timelines, and things along those lines.
- 1:00Michael Mackniak: So looking back at that conversation, the thing that really stood out to me is relying on simple legal catchphrases or surface level no's creates false expectations and very often leaves families more stranded than when they began with.
- 1:20Michael Mackniak: But back when we did this, guys, we didn't have these caregiver companions.
- 1:24Michael Mackniak: Uh, I'm sorry, these episode companions.
- 1:27Michael Mackniak: So I just wanted to make sure that you had this and could go back to listen to the episode with this companion.
- 1:34Michael Mackniak: This is not about homework, it is not about giving you something else to do.
- 1:40Michael Mackniak: It's just an another item to help you to process and put pen to paper and maybe understand what relates to you or what you relate to within the episode.
- 1:51Michael Mackniak: So let's look, for instance, at the at the companion, where we do break down these misconceptions, and it forces us to slow down and replace shortcuts with real questions, right?
- 2:03Michael Mackniak: And we do that right out of the gate.
- 2:06Michael Mackniak: We want to, as we do in the companion, kind of look at what's a baseline versus what's a crisis.
- 2:16Michael Mackniak: Where is our individual loved one actually living?
- 2:20Michael Mackniak: Where what is their normal level of functioning?
- 2:23Michael Mackniak: What do they like to do on a daily basis versus what does it look like when they start to decompensate?
- 2:30Michael Mackniak: Uh, we get into a little bit about HIPAA.
- 2:34Michael Mackniak: Um, you know, listening is not disclosing.
- 2:36Michael Mackniak: Let's just leave it at that.
- 2:39Michael Mackniak: But we also basically set up a big premise that that really nails it for you.
- 2:47Michael Mackniak: Families may be blamed for missing paperwork or failing to control an outcome that no document or legal role could ever guarantee.
- 2:58Michael Mackniak: So when I sat down with myself this week, I thought about how much guilt caregivers have when a legal role like a guardianship doesn't magically solve every problem.
- 3:10Michael Mackniak: So knowing what the real life boundaries are, what the real limits of these titles are, is invaluable.
- 3:21Michael Mackniak: It and it's not just throwing your hands in the air, it's how you can protect yourself from false promises.
- 3:30Michael Mackniak: So go back and check out the episode with this new tool in your hands, and especially if if parts of it resonated with you or if you have questions or had questions that maybe this episode helped to resolve, and make sure you take some notes and keep this, keep those notes in this companion with you.
- 3:50Michael Mackniak: You can find uh the link to it in the uh description of this episode.
- 3:56Michael Mackniak: So be sure to grab it, go back and check it out.
- 3:58Michael Mackniak: And until next time, just you know, as we like to say, keep on holding it together, even if it's just kinda.