Grand Plans

Caring for an aging parent, especially with dementia, is one of the most profound and demanding seasons of life, yet so many families enter it without a roadmap. In this deeply personal and practical conversation, Susanna Barton sits down with author, caregiving expert and coach Rayna Neises to explore what it really looks like to walk alongside a parent through Alzheimer’s disease.

Rayna shares her extraordinary journey caring for both of her parents – including a 14-year experience supporting her father at home with a coordinated caregiving team – while balancing her own family, career, and life from miles away. Together, they unpack the realities of long-distance caregiving, sibling dynamics, in-home care decisions, and the emotional weight carried by the “sandwich generation.”

This episode offers more than encouragement – it provides a framework. From building a caregiving team to setting boundaries, documenting care, and understanding the true cost of staying at home, Rayna offers hard-earned wisdom for navigating this season with greater clarity, intention, and grace.

If you are currently caregiving, or know you may be one day, this conversation is both a guide and a reminder: you don’t have to do this alone, and planning ahead can change everything. 

You can learn more about Rayna, her work and her book at www.raynaneises.com

P.S. (Please forgive the audio glitch midway through, I'm honestly not sure what happened (!!!) so your audio grace is appreciated!)

What does it mean to have a good death—and who can help us prepare for it?

In this episode of Grand Plans, Susanna Barton speaks with Nada Frazier, LCSW, a palliative care social worker, grief counseling specialist, and certified end-of-life doula and founder of The Sacred Servant.

Nada shares how her lifelong experiences with caregiving led her into this sacred work and explains the growing role of end-of-life doulas in supporting individuals and families during the final chapter of life. Together they discuss what a death doula actually does, how families can find one, and how these guides work alongside hospice teams to provide emotional, spiritual, and practical support.

Nada also shares the moving story of one family she accompanied through a six-month end-of-life journey—illustrating how thoughtful planning, meaningful conversations, and intentional choices can bring peace, dignity, and connection at life’s end.

This conversation is both practical and hopeful, reminding us that preparing for death can ultimately help us live more fully today.

Learn more about Nada’s work at thesacredservant.net.

When we talk about planning for the second half of life, the conversation usually focuses on legal documents, finances, and housing decisions. But what about the daily habits that determine how we actually feel as we age?

In this episode of Grand Plans, Susanna Barton sits down with Lindsey LaMaistre, founder of Lindsey Wellness and a national board-certified health and wellness coach trained through the Duke Health & Well-Being Program. Lindsey specializes in helping women understand how nutrition, sleep, stress, and movement influence energy, hormones, metabolism, and long-term health.

Together they explore how stabilizing blood sugar, building muscle, improving sleep, and making small, sustainable changes can dramatically improve quality of life—especially during midlife and beyond. Lindsey also explains how tools like continuous glucose monitors can reveal how food, stress, and even alcohol affect our bodies in real time.

You’ll learn:

• Why blood sugar balance matters for energy, brain fog, mood, and inflammation
• How midlife habits influence mobility, independence, and brain health later in life
• Why it’s never too late to make meaningful changes
• Practical steps anyone in their 40s, 50s, 60s, or beyond can take to age with greater vitality

Because a truly thoughtful Grand Plan isn’t just about paperwork—it’s also about caring for the body and mind that will carry us through the decades ahead.

To learn more about Lindsey’s coaching and workshops, visit LindseyWellness.com.

One in four Americans is a caregiver — yet many are quietly operating in crisis mode, assuming they’ll plan for their own future “someday.”

In Season 4, Episode 5 of Grand Plans, Susanna Barton sits down with Susan Stern, caregiver coach, Board-Certified Life Coach, Certified Dementia Practitioner, and former dementia caregiver to her own parent. With more than 20 years in healthcare leadership and lived experience on the front lines of family caregiving, Susan helps “over-givers” set loving boundaries so they can give from overflow — not depletion.

Together, they explore:

• Why caregivers often delay their own health and financial planning
• The critical importance of durable power of attorney and legal paperwork
• How dementia changes communication, expectations, and relationships
• The hidden health risks of chronic caregiving stress
• Why presence over pressure leads to better conversations
• How small, steady steps can transform overwhelm into forward movement

Susan shares practical tools, mindset shifts, and real-life examples of how early conversations can create peace instead of panic.

If you are caring for someone, anticipate that caregiving may one day be part of your story, or simply want to protect your future capacity to love and live well — this episode is essential listening.

Planning ahead isn’t pessimistic. It’s generous.

To learn more about Susan Stern and access her free self-care recharge resource, visit springtolifecoaching.com. Also enjoy this link to her free Self-Care Recharge Ideas: https://subscribepage.io/RQCpAe

What happens when “a little extra help” suddenly becomes 24/7 care?

In this episode of Grand Plans, Susanna shares a deeply personal story about serving as primary caregiver and financial power of attorney for friends’ aging parents — and the overwhelming reality of figuring out how to pay for round-the-clock care.

Sitting at her kitchen table reviewing bank statements and home equity documents, she explored every option — including reverse mortgages. While that tool wasn’t ultimately used in that particular situation, the experience reinforced something we talk about often on this podcast:

You need to understand your financial options before you’re in crisis mode.

Joining the conversation is Carol DeMarco, Branch Business Development Specialist with Fairway Home Mortgage in Jacksonville, Florida. Carol explains:

• What a reverse mortgage (HECM loan) actually is
• How it can help older adults age in place
• What it means for heirs and estate planning
• The risks and misconceptions
• Why proactive planning beats reactive panic

With 70% of Americans projected to need some form of long-term care and in-home care averaging $34/hour, understanding the financial tools available to you isn’t optional — it’s essential.

Whether you're caregiving now, planning ahead, or simply trying to age more mindfully, this episode equips you with clarity — and clarity creates calm.

Connect with Carol Demarco

To learn more about reverse mortgages or request Carol’s educational resources:

Carol Demarco
Branch Business Development Specialist
Fairway Home Mortgage
📧 Email: [email protected]

Be sure to ask about her educational materials and consumer guide to reverse mortgages.

As always, share this episode with someone navigating caregiving or retirement planning — and keep designing your next chapter with intention.

In this inspiring international episode of The Grand Plans Podcast, Susanna sits down with Joanne Hickox, Executive Director of Seniors on a Mission and visionary behind the groundbreaking G3 Village concept in Northeast Florida.

Broadcasting from snowy Canada (in the middle of a February storm and a caregiving journey of her own), Joanne shares the deeply personal story that sparked G3 Village — a 20-acre, purpose-driven, faith-centered agricultural community designed for adults 50+ who want more than just a place to live. They want to matter.

With 40 zero-entry, age-in-place homes surrounding a working farm and learning hub, G3 Village reimagines independent living. Residents contribute 10 hours of service each week — not because they have to, but because they need to. As Joanne puts it:

“Older adults don’t want to be the needy — they want to be needed.”

In this conversation, we explore:

• Why traditional senior housing often misses the mark
• The overlooked “middle market” older adults priced out of care
• Designing communities without elevators — and without loneliness
• What 30 years of working with seniors has taught Joanne about purpose
• The caregiving lessons that changed her own approach to aging
• Why community must be created intentionally — not assumed

This episode is about more than housing. It’s about unity over isolation. Service over stagnation. Love over loneliness.

If you care about aging well, aging faithfully, or aging with purpose — this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

Learn more at:
 G3Village.org
 SeniorsOnAMission.org

Because aging isn’t about shrinking your life. It’s about expanding your impact. 🌱

In this episode of Grand Plans, host Susanna Barton sits down with lifelong friend Brian Levy, Chief Relationship Officer of Cambridge Caregivers and Manchester Homes, for an honest, behind-the-scenes conversation about what quality caregiving really looks like — and why planning ahead makes all the difference.

Brian shares his unexpected path into the aging services field, shaped by personal experience with his grandmother and a baptism-by-fire entry into elder care. From there, the conversation dives deep into one of the most common (and risky) assumptions families make: that hiring an independent caregiver is always simpler, cheaper, or safer. Brian explains why professional caregiving agencies — with trained, insured, and background-checked staff — provide not only better care, but greater protection against fraud, exploitation, burnout, and inconsistency.

Together, Susanna and Brian explore:

• The real risks of unvetted, informal caregiving arrangements
• Why training, retention, and caregiver support directly affect quality of care
• How professional caregivers can help protect older adults from financial scams and exploitation
• Why caregiving decisions should never be made in crisis mode
• What families should be asking when evaluating home care, care homes, or assisted living options

The conversation also offers a fascinating look at Manchester Homes’ boutique residential care model — often described as the “Ritz-Carlton of care homes” — which blends high-touch, personalized care with a true residential feel, challenging the institutional norms of senior living.

Finally, Brian turns the lens inward, sharing how he’s planning for his own future — practicing exactly what he preaches by organizing information, having hard conversations early, and making sure his children won’t be left guessing someday.

This episode is a must-listen for adult children, caregivers, professionals, and anyone who knows that aging well doesn’t happen by accident — it happens by design.

🎧 Learn more at cambridgecaregivers.com and manchesterliving.com
📘 And yes — even caregiving experts need a Grand Plan.

Caregiving doesn’t start with a crisis—and it doesn’t end with a checklist.

In this powerful Season 4 opener of Grand Plans, host Susanna Barton sits down with Jeanette Yates, a Jacksonville-based author, lifelong caregiver, and advocate who has spent more than four decades navigating what it really means to care for others and yourself.

Jeanette’s caregiving journey began in childhood, long before she had language for burnout, boundaries, or “self-care.” In this deeply honest conversation, she dismantles the myths that so many caregivers internalize—especially the idea that yoga, gratitude journals, or “just pushing through” are enough to sustain you through years (or decades) of caregiving.

Together, Susanna and Jeanette explore:

• Why most self-care advice fails caregivers—and what actually helps
• How guilt quietly drives burnout, especially for sandwich-generation families
• Why “we’ll figure it out when the time comes” is one of the most dangerous myths in aging
• How to reframe safety, autonomy, and dignity when planning for later life
• The role thoughtful communication plays in reducing family conflict and caregiver trauma
• And how AI, used wisely and ethically, can become a practical tool for overwhelmed caregivers—without replacing human judgment or compassion

Jeanette also shares insights from her book From Guilt to Good Enough, revealing how healing childhood patterns, redefining responsibility, and returning to the fundamentals of care can change not just caregiving outcomes—but entire family systems.

If you are caring for a parent, planning for your own aging, or simply want more honest conversations about what caregiving really requires, this episode offers clarity, relief, and a much-needed reframe.

This is not about doing caregiving perfectly.
 It’s about doing it well enough—and together.

Happy New Year! No better time than the start of 2026 to relaunch Grand Plans the Podcast. This episode gets into our plans for the season to start the hype! So here’s your small, powerful action step for today—this week, not “someday”:

1. Tell one person where your key documents are—or where they will be.
2. If you don’t have advance directives, put it on the calendar.
3. And if you’re caring for someone else, or you know you’ll be, start building your plan while you still have choices.

Because earlier planning gives you more options. Later planning gives you fewer choices. And never planning… that’s when GeriDrama shows up. I’m so glad you’re here for the 2026 relaunch of Grand Plans. If this episode made you think of someone—text it to them. That’s how we change the culture. I look forward to getting more real talk about aging going in 2026. Let's make a Grand Plan together with help, guidance and reassurance from professionals in the field.

How exciting to launch the first episode of the new Grand Plans podcast, "GeriTales" with two awesome senior living professionals, Sarah Dymond and Kari Bell from River Garden Hebrew Home for the Aged in Jacksonville, FL. This podcast is going to be much shorter and sweeter than Grand Plans and focus more on the lessons we can learn from each other. In this episode, Sarah and Kari will share personal and professional stories about caregiving and what they've learned from them. Thanks for joining us!