All Home Care Matters

All Home Care Matters and our host, Lance A. Slatton (@lanceaslatton) were honored to welcome Andrew Karesa CEO and Founder of @bluebellvillage as guest to the show. About Andrew Karesa: Andrew Karesa is a member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation and a proud husband and father of two young sons. After witnessing how his family coped to support his grandmother with her Alzheimer's diagnosis, Andrew realized he needed to take action. This inspired the creation of blueBell Village, aimed at Restoring the Personhood and Independence of those living with dementia™. With blueBell, Andrew has seen lives transformed for both individuals living with dementia and their caregivers, and he is passionate about fostering a world where care is tailored to each individual's needs. Additionally, he is pursuing his doctorate at the University of Calgary, where his research explores Indigenous entrepreneurship in the health sector, with a particular focus on the role of data in new venture creation. Andrew also holds an MBA from the University of Alberta. Before founding blueBell Village, he worked as a practicing engineer in the energy sector. About blueBell Village: blueBell Village is a health innovation company rooted in Indigenous values, dedicated to transforming the dementia care experience for families and caregivers. Founded in Canada, blueBell Village focuses on bridging clinical best practices with cultural and community-based knowledge to improve quality of life for people living with dementia—particularly in underserved and Indigenous communities. Its flagship tool, blueBell Connect, is a digital support platform that helps care teams deliver personalized, culturally appropriate, and clinically grounded care. Unlike traditional caregiver tools, Connect doesn't just share information—it guides action. It enables caregivers to coordinate with one another, share updates in real time, and receive recommendations that are tailored to the specific needs, routines, and cultural contexts of the individual they support. With a focus on inclusion, personalization, and dignity, blueBell Village is building tools that meet people where they are—and helping communities take care of their own.

The Caregiver's Journal hosted by Lance A. Slatton with Cindy (PT) & Christina (ST) Hardin-Weiss.

The Caregiver's Journal is the show where we are sharing the caregiving experiences, stories, and wisdom of family caregivers.

Chapter 15 - "Caregiving Love":

About Mary Whitehead:

Mark & I have been partners in life since our first date, a Heart concert, in 1978 followed by our marriage in 1979. Together we raised two children, and along the way we helped care and provide for parents & grandparents throughout their illnesses and aging in place or in senior living centers. I call myself a care partner vs. caregiver because Mark does not need my assistance for everyday tasks. We both use our strengths that complement each other on this path with Parkinson's and several other chronic illnesses he lives with.

My late mother was my inspiration. In my mid-teens I watched her, over the course of two years, lovingly care for my dying father (lung cancer). I could not have had a better, in-home example of someone who did everything, including care for him, with love. I am married to the most wonderful man who insisted that my mom live with us for what totaled the last 12 years of her life so that she could have a comfortable life with no expenses and be cared for by us after having a massive heart attack two years before she passed away.

When Mark was 47, as we became empty nesters and were poised to live out some dreams that were not feasible during our first 2+ decades together, a diagnosis of young onset Parkinson's Disease brought our hopes, plans, and his career to a screeching halt. But it couldn't completely stop this incredible human being, artist, musician/composer, man of many hobbies and a higher math maniac. I like to tease him about trying to share multi-page equations with me for discussion. Side note: he even took an online math course through MIT and I insisted that he buy one of their hoodies to wear proudly. There is so much to Mark that we could never cover in one conversation but rather than dwell on the PD, he prefers to pursue and concentrate on what he CAN do.

We cultivate humor and wit in our relationship. That's where "Tenacious M" - my care partner/gansta moniker comes from. I combine it with my Cornermam enthusiasm to encourage Mark's boxing workouts (excellent for PD) and – like a beagle in a brush pile - I pursue every challenge face head on, whether it's an insurance or pharmacy snafu, etc. Together, we face every aspect of living with PD. And we are both are dedicated PD research participants at Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO, also the location of Mark's neuro, Dr. Joel Perlmutter (definitely the top doc). I, along with two of our friends are in the non-PD control group. We all have pledged to donate our brains at the end of our lives for PD research.

In 2013, inspired by a Parkinsons Foundation resource kit, we created a PD Awareness & Research fundraising blitz, raising nearly $3k for Dr. P's research. Friends, family & my coworkers held Pancakes for PD, Dine-out nights, a proclamation by our city mayor, and, among many other activities, we raffled a beautiful quilt that Mark & I designed, and I did the hand-embroidery.

Like the motto in our Parkinson's & Dystonia private FaceBook group, we will never give up.

And I'd like to credit the group's founder/lead admin, Erika, for creating a safe and supporting space for people with PD and the caregivers & care partners.

All Home Care Matters and our host, Lance A. Slatton are honored to welcome Kimberly Anderson as guest to the show. About Kimberly Anderson, Director of Business Development at QuickChange Wrap for Men by UI Medical : Kimberly Anderson is the Director of Business Development at UI Medical, makers of the QuickChange® Wrap—a urine management device for men. With over 20 years in the medical field, she spent the last eight traveling nationwide to educate healthcare providers on QuickChange, previously serving as UI Medical's Director of Clinical Education. Kimberly is passionate about restoring dignity for men with incontinence and supporting caregivers through education on alternatives to traditional devices, helping to prevent UTIs, dermatitis, and pressure injuries. About UI Medical the Makers of the QuckChange Wrap: UI Medical LLC is a California-based company dedicated to improving the lives of less mobile individuals through innovative, easy-to-use solutions. We manufacture the QuickChange® Wrap, a Class I medical device designed specifically for men who are wheelchair users, bed-bound, or have unique incontinence needs. Proudly made in the USA, the QuickChange Wrap is available through major distributors like Medline Industries, as well as online retailers including Amazon and Walmart. Our patented design serves a distinct yet underserved population—approximately 15% of incontinent men—and we're committed to supporting both users and caregivers with a product that brings comfort, dignity, and convenience. UI Medical holds international patents and complies with CE and UKCA standards. We are registered in the U.S., EU, UK, Australia, and many other countries. Our ISO 13485–certified manufacturing facility in California ensures high-quality production and minimizes supply chain risks. A list of our institutional clients can be found on their website at www.quickchange.com.

All Home Care Matters and our host, Lance A. Slatton were honored to welcome Natalie Black as guest to the show. About Natalie Black Chief Executive Officer, Comfort Keepers, North America: Natalie joined CK Franchising, Inc. in October 2023 as Chief Executive Officer. She is a passionate and highly intuitive leader with professional experience across the healthcare, financial services and entertainment industries. Natalie joined Sodexo in 2015 as Director of Strategy and Franchise Business Development and later served in leadership roles including CFO of Worldwide Home Care and COO of Worldwide Home Care at Sodexo. Natalie earned a Bachelor of Science in Financial Mathematics and Statistics from University of California Santa Barbara and a Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine Graziadio Business School. About Comfort Keepers: For 25 years, Comfort Keepers® has been Elevating the Human SpiritSM through its in-home care network for seniors and other adults by empowering them to maintain their independence and realize joy in the everyday moments. Comfort Keepers operates a franchise network that has grown to more than 600 locations in the U.S. and Canada, serving hundreds of thousands of clients since 1998. The company's nationwide network employs thousands of caregivers, also known as Comfort Keepers®, who deliver joy through interactive caregiving by continually communicating with, involving, and engaging with seniors in everyday tasks and activities.

All Home Care Matters and our host, Lance A. Slatton were honored to welcome Deanna Gerstel Harris as guest to the show.

About Deanna Gerstel Harris:

Deanna Gerstel Harris is a writer, director, producer, board-certified holistic health practitioner, and former creator of digital content for children with developmental disabilities. She was featured in Redbook Magazine's "Heroes: 10 Moms Who Are Changing the Face of Autism." A caregiver for over 20 years, Deanna has served as a Fellow with Caring Across Generations, a national organization working to transform the way we care in this country. An experienced manager of Broadway, film, and television talent, Deanna's projects are deeply informed by her lived experience as both a caregiver and care recipient, as well as her passion for centering caregiver resilience and uplifting underrepresented voices and experiences.

About When We Care:

When We Care is an upcoming animated short film that explores the profound and urgent intersection of the climate and caregiving crises. With an Academy Award-winning animation director and a celebrated Disney composer, the film uses stunning animation and evocative music to tell a moving story of connection, resilience, and shared responsibility. At a time of deep societal polarization and ecological instability, When We Care offers a poetic reminder of the beauty that emerges when we care for one another—and for the environments we call home. Written and directed by Deanna Gerstel Harris and co-produced with Monica Lund and Marian Yeager, the film is deeply rooted in the personal experiences of its creator, who is among the 105 million caregivers impacted by America's growing care crisis.

As caregivers and global citizens, Deanna and the When We Care team bring a rare, authentic lens to a story that is both intimate and universal. Their creative vision underscores the growing urgency of two converging global challenges—how we care for people and how we care for the planet—and the opportunity to build a more compassionate and sustainable future.

Inspired by real-life events surrounding a beloved cherry blossom tree affectionately known as "Stumpy," the film draws on both natural symbolism and lived experience to explore themes of care, interdependence, grief, joy, and endurance, and resilience.

When We Care is not only a visual and emotional experience—it is a call to action, urging audiences to rethink how we define compassion, strength, sustainability, and community in the face of overlapping crises. With its compelling narrative, artistic excellence, and social impact potential, When We Care explores finding resilience amidst the caregiving and climate crises through the challenges associated with sandwich generation caregiving, aging with dignity, pediatric cancer, the unhoused and homelessness, preserving our environment, and care of our veterans, while inviting viewers to imagine a world in which care, for each other and the Earth, is not a burden, but a shared value that binds us together and helps us all to thrive.

All Home Care Matters and our host, Lance A. Slatton were honored to welcome Michael Ellenbogen as guest to the show.

About Michael Ellenbogen:

Michael Ellenbogen was diagnosed with Young-Onset Alzheimer's Disease at the age of 49. Prior to his diagnosis, he was a network operations manager for a Fortune 500 financial institution. Difficulty with work-related tasks eventually led to his early retirement.

As a world-renowned International Dementia Advocate & Connecter, he has been featured in nationally syndicated TV, radio and other media outlets. He has written for blogs, newspapers, journals and websites and shared his personal perspective as a guest speaker. Michael served on the PA Alzheimer's Disease Planning Committee and other advisory councils. He testified before the government, and has three letters published in the U.S. Congressional Record.

He was a regular speaker at NAPA and was featured in the ADI's 2012 World Alzheimer's Report. He represented the U.S./World for people living with dementia at the World Health Organization in Geneva. He is interested in motivating those with Alzheimer's to raise their voices and reduce the stigma surrounding the disease. Michael wrote about his journey with the disease in his book entitled "From the Corner Office to Alzheimer's."

The Care Advocates is brought to you by the All Home Care Matters Media team and focuses on providing family caregivers and their loved ones with support, resources, and discussion on the issues facing them in the matrix of long-term care.

The Care Advocates are honored to welcome, Eryn Elder as guest to the show.

About Eryn Elder:

Eryn Elder, MA, is the author of Blooming Through Loss: Tending to Grief with the BloomPathTM. She is a certified grief and loss support specialist and an ICF-trained life coach and coach trainer who helps adults navigate the difficult journey of loss. Eryn is also the creator of the BloomPathTM, a practical tool designed to help grievers find hope and start to heal authentically.

Through her one-on-one coaching, group sessions, workshops, and trainings, Eryn helps people rebuild their sense of self and purpose after loss. She co-hosts the podcast Coaching as Benevolence, where she shares thoughts on personal growth and living with compassion.

Eryn resides in Longmont, Colorado, with her husband and two children while honoring the memory of her first-born daughter.

About Roots and Wings Grief and Loss Coaching:

At Roots and Wings Grief and Loss Coaching, I help people rebuild their lives after loss—gently guiding them through purposeful healing, authentic growth, and hope that lasts. My work offers comfort in the pain and clarity for what comes next. I am an advocate for interdisciplinary approaches to understanding grief and healing with grief and loss, and to reimagine a world grounded in compassion and healing.

Conscious Caregiving with L & L is "Tackling the Tough Conversations."

The topic of this episode is "Holistic Wellness & Seniors" featuring hosts Lori La Bey and Lance A. Slatton with guest, Dr. Shawn A. Weiss, PT, DPT, CDP, CADDCT, FPS.

About Dr. Shawn A. Weiss, PT, DPT, CDP, CADDCT, FPS:

Dr. Weiss is a powerhouse speaker, renowned Doctor of Physical Therapy, and Health Strategist with over 27 years of clinical mastery across the healthcare spectrum. A former healthcare executive turned visionary founder of The Senior Health and Wellness Group and Rockstar Health, Dr. Weiss has become a trusted voice for transformative aging.

She doesn't just speak about wellness—she lives it, igniting stages and lives with her bold mission: to help individuals reclaim their energy, restore their health, and rise stronger through life's hardest seasons. Her approach is unapologetically holistic, grounded in science, and driven by purpose. In her electrifying keynote, "Strong Body. Sharp Mind. Bold Spirit: Aging Doesn't Mean Slowing Down," Dr. Weiss fuses clinical precision with lived wisdom, unlocking a new narrative around aging—one that's vibrant, powerful, and full of possibility.

Just Look Up—Your Health. Your Power. Your Comeback.

Conscious Caregiving with L & L is hosted by Lori La Bey & Lance A. Slatton.

Visit the Official Website for Conscious Caregiving with L & L: https://consciouscaregivingll.com/

All Home Care Matters and our host, Lance A. Slatton were honored to welcome back the team behind the film "No Country for Old People"

About "No Country for Old People":

A filmmaker chronicles her mother's last 6 months in a 5-star nursing home exposing what is a national systemic, deadly, profit-over-people business model. No Country For Old People; a Nursing Home Exposé is a scorching documentary posed to set the long-term care industry, policy makers, and the country ablaze. Shining a much-needed light on what is truly a national human emergency.

No Country for Old People; a Nursing Home Exposé is a 3-part documentary that exposes the dark realities of neglect and abuse in nursing homes and throughout U.S. long-term care industry.

The film answers four questions:

1. What happens.
2. 2. How does it happen?
3. 3. Why does it happen?
4. 4. And how do we fix it?

The film highlights a systemic crisis - the result of corporate greed - that has been taking a devastating human toll within the walls of our nation's long-term care facilities for decades.

The film weaves personal loss with journalistic rigor, exposing a pattern of abuse that is enabled by profit-first models that include chronic understaffing, undertraining, and financial exploitation.

PERSONAL STORIES AND EMOTIONAL IMPACT:

The filmmaker's own experience with her mother along with other emotional testimonies emphasize the human cost of systemic failure and illustrate the severe consequences of poor nursing home care.

The film is both deeply personal and widely resonant — amplifying voices too often silenced and inviting viewers to confront uncomfortable truths about aging, policy, and accountability in America.

About Susie Singer Carter:

Susie Singer Carter is a multi-award-winning, Oscar qualified filmmaker, writer, director, producer, actor, podcast producer, host, and Caregiver Advocate. She is best known for writing, directing, and producing the 2018 Oscar qualified short film, My Mom and The Girl starring Valerie Harper in her final performance, writing and producing "Bratz the Movie" for Lionsgate, and co-producing "Soul Surfer" for Sony.

Susie also produces and hosts the podcast Love Conquers Alz – awarded BEST PODCAST 2020 by New Media Film Festival and is #4 on Feedspots' 2022 25 Best Alzheimer's Podcasts list. Susie is also the co-creator, co-writer, co-star, and director of the outrageous horror/comedy narrative podcast I Love Lucifer, nominated Best Audio Fiction 2023 by Indie Series Awards.

Susie wrote the screenplay, "RUN", based on the book "Plain Jane" and is attached to direct in spring 2024. She is currently writing, producing, and directing a docuseries, No Country For Old People, which centers on the Nursing Home Neglect and the systemic healthcare crisis responsible for it. She is also a host of the Writers Guild of America West's 3rd & Fairfax Podcast.

About Rick Mountcastle:

Mr. Mountcastle is the former United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia (2017-2018) and is a retired award-winning federal and state prosecutor. He led the prosecution of Purdue Pharma for fraudulently marketing OxyContin, as portrayed in the Emmy-nominated limited miniseries "Dopesick" (streaming on Hulu).

He also led the criminal and civil prosecution of Abbott Laboratories for fraudulently marketing the anti-epileptic, Depakote, for use as a chemical restraint for dementia patients in nursing homes, resulting in Abbott's guilty plea to a felony and payment of $1.5 billion, at the time the largest penalty against a pharmaceutical company for misconduct related to a single drug.

Mr. Mountcastle spent his career prosecuting healthcare companies and executives who exploited vulnerable patients for profit, and brings his passion to change a system that allows such exploitation to this project.

About Don Priess:

For over two decades, Don Priess has shunned sleep in order to become a highly sought-after, award winning writer, producer, director and editor. He co-founded Modern Media, now one of the top marketing and infomercial production companies in the world.

After six years and hundreds of TV and radio commercials, Don decided to spread his wings and since his credits include projects for CBS/Dic Entertainment, Nickelodeon, Buena Vista, American Movie Classics, Lifetime, Hanna-Barbera, Playboy Entertainment and more.

While continuing to work on a wide variety of entertainment projects, Don teamed with the highly energetic and talented Susie Singer Carter as part of Go Girl Media. Together they were the writers and Co-Executive Producers of two series for CBS, "CAKE" and "DANCE REVOLUTION", SURVIVING HAWKING, and "SILVER LININGS" for Fox Television Studios.

All Home Care Matters and our host, Lance A. Slatton were honored to welcome Kitty Norton as guest to the show.

About Kitty Norton:

In 2016, Kitty Norton left her job as an NBC assistant editor in Los Angeles, for her hometown of Portland, Oregon, to walk, stumble, crawl with her dementia mother to death's door. While doing so, she authored the dementia caregiver blog Stumped Town Dementia, writing tales of dementia life which resonated deeply with readers around the world.

When her mother, Gloria, moved on to her next adventure in March of 2021, Kitty created and directed the dementia family caregiver documentary Wine, Women, & Dementia, to celebrate family caregivers and let them know they are worthy of been seen, heard, and honored alongside their person living with dementia.

About "Wine, Women, & Dementia":

Wine, Women, & Dementia tells the tale of dementia life through the lens of these family caregivers who strive to accept the beauty and the brutality, the hilarious and the horrific - for themselves and their dementia person. And in a system that offers few resources or support, they find community, champion each other, and learn what it means to celebrate LIFE on the long road to death.