Hope for the Caregiver Blog
A Conversation With Singer/Songwriter (and caregiver) Gary Chapman
One of my all time favorite songwriters is Gary Chapman. Whenever I hear his songs, I have to stop and listen ...and they continue to stir my heart. Especially TREASURE. Gary is also a caregiver...on several levels. As Gary reflects in this interview, the journey...
“If You’ve Got Your Hair and Your Teeth …You’re Alright!”
Back in the 1970's, a friend of mine in the music business worked with legendary artist, James Brown. Years later, my friend encountered the soul singer again and remarked, "You haven't changed in 25 years! With a huge smile, James Brown responded, "If You've Got Your...
“This is all my hope and peace…” (Bonus Material for Followers)
When producing my CD, Songs for the Caregiver, I knew this song, What Can Wash Away My Sin, needed to be included. Gracie recorded this in our kitchen. Our longtime friend from college (and Grammy winning music engineer) Chris Latham came to the house and set up...
As Caregivers, We’re Not Being Delivered FROM It …but rather, THROUGH It.
So many times, we caregivers cry out to God for us to be "delivered FROM" these challenges. Doing this for 34 years, however, I'm learning that God meets us in it ...and delivers us THROUGH It. In the process, we discover our battle is not with our loved one's...
Stressed Caregiving Daughter’s Mean Mother, Makes Her Want To Resume Drinking!
Dear Peter: I'm caring for my 93-year-old mother. She doesn't have dementia, but she's just mean! I've tried everything I can, but I can't make her happy. I've been sober for 6 years, but she makes me want me to start drinking again. I don't know what to do, I simply...
Videos
Igniting a Nation Interviews On the last Monday of each month, Peter sits down with Rabbi Eric Walker of Igniting a Nation to unpack issues affecting today's family caregiver. Periodically, they both veer off into other areas in these informative and inspiring...
Her 42-year-old Husband had a Stroke.
"Many mistakenly think a stroke happens to the elderly." Sandi Floria quickly moved to intense concern when her 42-year-old husband repeatedly dropped the baby food while feeding their child. The puzzled look on his face signaled more than just clumsy hands, and...
Finding Humor in Dark Places
In an interview with AARP some years back, they mentioned so many people serving as caregivers don’t necessarily see themselves or identify as a caregiver. They asked, “How do people know if they are indeed a caregiver?” The question struck me as hilariously funny,...
A Goal To Cure, A Passion To Care
Reflecting on the 35th Anniversary of Identifying HIV Following three terrifying years since first learning about a then-nameless but virtually always fatal illness, the world held its collective breath as HHS Secretary Margaret Heckler stood at the podium for a press...
False Feeling of Security Signaled by Johns Hopkins’ Immune System Study
In a recent study on caregivers published on March 2019 in the Gerontologist, Dr. David Roth of Johns Hopkins Medical Center detailed the impact of caregiving on inflammation as well as the immune system. The study revealed that immune and/or...
The Mueller Report’s Missing Color
Washington DC insiders and members of the national news media remain consumed with Barr’s redaction colors. Yet one color will be conspicuously absent: ‘Gray’ This color remains heavy on the hearts and minds of millions of an aging baby-boomer population. With 10,000...
“Here’s Your Sign…”
Do we need to change the sign for those with disabilities? Tennessee seeks to mirror New York and Connecticut in adopting a new symbol for handicapped accessible parking spots. Rather than the globally recognized sign of a stick figure sitting straight in the...
Can You Be Both a Caregiver and a Lover? Dr. Phil Says “No.”
An Open Letter To Dr. Phil Your disheartening comments from your March 12 episode about a young couple struggling with quadriplegia and their relationships requires a lot of cleanup. “You’re going to need to make a choice for me, and you’re going to need to make it...
If Health Care Is a Right, What’s Next?
Few laying on a gurney heading to surgery want “lowest bidder government operatives.” One cannot help but admire those who persevere through medical school. For most, the journey begins as teenagers and weighs heavily on young minds as they slog through a difficult...
A LINE IN THE SAND FOR LIFE
From one geographical extreme to another, American state assemblies strode into the viability and quality of life issue in groundbreaking ways during January. Starting with Hawaii’s new Our Choice Our Care Act launched on January 1, 2019, medically-assisted death...
Cargivers and Toxic Masculinity
TOXIC MASCULINITY:The Tweet that Launched a Thousand Razor Burns Apparently, Donald Trump isn’t the only one who can set off a firestorm with a Tweet. Gillette seems to be giving the President a run for his money with this Tweet that launched at least a thousand razor...
Medically Assisted Death and the Family Caregiver
Medically Assisted Death and the Family Caregiver As more states adopt paths for medically assisted death, family caregivers remain virtually omitted from the conversation and care. The lid of this Pandora’s Box is opening wider as Christians flounder in sharing a...
There Used To Be M & M’s
For as long as I can remember, when my father came home from reserve duty in the military, he brought each of my brothers and my sister a pack of M & M’s. Stretching past his military service as a chaplain, he and my mother extended the treats to when...
The Orientation and Disorientation of Caregivers
The Orientation and Disorientation of Caregivers Walking into Waffle House for breakfast, I held the door for two men. The younger man awkwardly helped his older companion with a walker and oxygen tank. No stranger to these things myself, I waited for...
A Deeper Consolation
Yet Another Consolation Opportunity As the news of yet another mass shooting confronted America following the tragedy in Pittsburgh, the frequency of these events may have created an ancillary effect. Where Americans once put our hands over our mouth in horror, an...
