The Forgettable Half Hour

After waiting a week for me to recover from my second covid bout, Megan and I have got a cracking podcast for you this week as we introduce a friend and much respected colleague within the Aged Care services industry, Shelly Fletcher. Shelly is Head of Person-centred Design and Research at Integrated Living, an in-home aged care service provider here in Australia.

In this thought-provoking and idea filled podcast, we'll discuss how person-centred care holds the potential to transform our whole approach to ageing at home.

This week's episode was entirely inspired by a question sent to us by a retired nurse just hours before we sat down to record this week's podcast. Sharon told us she's been faced by so many families and partners-in-care conflicted and confused about what level of effort should be employed to create memories for those living with dementia. Was it all worth it? Would they recall it anyway? Would they even remember the visit? We thought that was a terrific hot potato to throw into this week's recording, so here goes!
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For anyone (anywhere) keen to watch Oma's full feature-length documentary, here's the link to access a rental for the next 2 weeks only.

How do you ever adjust from being a full-time Carer to a hands-off Care Advocate role if your loved one enters a Care Home? Megan and Jason speak frankly about how they coped with their changing care roles around Oma, what was hardest and what helped most when it counted.

And as promised in this episode, here's a global link for viewing our feature length documentary 'Everybody's Oma', available for streaming for a limited time only: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/everybodysoma

Megan and Jason return to the microphone after 14 months of life, death and movie making. They discuss - for the first time - how Oma's life ended and their mental health around losing her in February of this year.

Of course there's also lots of information about how to enjoy watching 'Everybody's Oma' - the documentary film being released for 2 weeks globally from September 21, plus Jason answers some of your questions too.

To find a way to watch the film, visit the Everybody's Oma Screenings page.

We thought our last podcast was our own Everest... little did we know a few weeks later our whole world would up-end and Oma would be in respite care. It's the first time Oma hasn't slept under our wings anymore in almost 4.5 years... and in this raw, unfiltered conversation we open up about the feelings it's unearthed, plus we try hard to answer YOUR QUESTIONS about Oma's new circumstances as well.

Tears, lack of sleep, delirium and the whole messy shebang of life. There's been huge changes in Oma's situation these past few weeks and we felt compelled to record this podcast conversation to help draw context around why we've been so absent from our Oma's Applesauce community, and why we haven't been able to publish recent videos of Oma too. Buckle up friends, this one goes deep...

A week ago our world turned upside-down with another hospital admission for Oma. In this podcast, Megan and I chat through the challenges of intersecting the realities of Dementia Care with Emergency Medicine. How can we best navigate a safe, helpful journey for our loved ones living with dementia, their emergency carers and their everyday carers?

In this episode, Megan and Jason chat candidly about what it's like in the home when either of them leave the house... for hours or a day or two. What impact does a missing family member have on Oma's routine day-to-day?

Caring for someone living with dementia means an unending juggle between actions and intentions. In this podcast, Megs and Jason discuss their feelings and coping mechanisms around good intentions gone bad. When you plan the perfect outing or event for your loved one with dementia and it all falls apart, how do you pick up your pieces again?

Megan takes the reigns of this week's episode and discusses the feelings, actions and processes that often lead to carer guilt. In a week when the van Genderen family household had to flex and change, guilt and shame crept into our minds a little more than normal. How do you process carer guilt?