This is our final episode for Season 1!  In this episode, Mindy interviews Karen Wasserman, a national elder care expert, and the Director of Your Elder Care Experts.  Karen responds to a series of important questions and comments listeners sent in through voice and email messages. These include: how to help a loved one in need who is resisting support; where to find community-based resources to help navigate the care system; the role of aging life care managers, where to find support for caregivers; and how to negotiate care with siblings.

This episode explores homophobia in elder care, and features several people, including Dale Mitchell from Ethos and the LGBT Aging Project; Rebekah Levit, the Executive Director of Rogerson House, who brought in training via the LBGT Aging Project to sensitize her staff to issues facing LGBT elders; and Laura Barr, who reflects on her concerns about how Jean may be treated as a lesbian living in a long-term care institution.

This episode is an update to Laura Barr's story, in which her wife, Jean, has moved to a skilled nursing facility.  She talks frankly about Jean’s decline, and the impact it has on her. And she talks about creative ways she’s coping. We include a teaser from Dale Mitchell, the (now) former CEO of Ethos, and the founder of the LGBT Aging Project, a unique program at Ethos which serves LGBT elders.

This episode features Laura Barr talking about caring for her wife, Jean, who has Alzheimer’s Disease. Laura tells the story of Jean’s diagnosis and decline and reflects on the decisions she has had to make along the way around Jean’s care. This episode also brings listeners into the world of institutional care, as Jean moves into Rogerson House, a dementia facility in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston. We also meet Dr. Adam Burrows, the Medical Director of PACE, a program designed to support frail elders so they can remain in their homes, but also supports people if they require institutional care. And Miss Lygia Angel, a Recreation Assistant at Rogerson House, has a cameo, reflecting on the activities she runs that engage residents.

This episode features Rick Surpin, founder of Cooperative Home Care Associates, who shares disturbing stories from his childhood that drives his passion for supporting person-centered care. Rick talks about why it’s so important that care workers are paid well and respected on the job, if they are to provide quality care to frail elders. He also makes the distinction between care work provided through agencies versus through independent networks. The episode also features Tutu, a veteran care worker, who began as an agency worker, and now has her own business providing care to elders and their families. We include a teaser from Laura Barr, who is featured in Episode 4. Laura is caring for her wife, Jean, who has Alzheimer’s Disease.  

This episode features Ai-jen Poo, Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and Sarita Gupta, who co-directs Caring Across Generations with Ai-jen. These powerhouse activists lay out an agenda that addresses the lack of a comprehensive and coherent caregiving policy in the U.S.  They also share their own challenges they’ve faced caring for elders in their families, as well as juggling caring for parents and a child, in Sarita’s case. At the end of the episode, you'll hear a “teaser” from Episode 3, with Rick Surpin. Rick founded Cooperative Home Care Associates, the first worker-owned home care agency, based in NYC.

This episode features Laurie Sheridan, who speaks candidly with warmth and humor as she describes what it’s like caring 24/7 for her husband, Ira, who has Parkinson’s Disease. Rick Surpin has a cameo in this episode. Rick is the Founder of Cooperative Home Care Associates, a worker-owned home care agency in New York City. At the end of the episode, we hear a “teaser” from Ai-jen Poo who is featured, along with Sarita Gupta, in Episode 2. Ai-jen directs the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and Ai-jen and Sarita Co-Direct Caring Across Generations.

The Shape of Care explores the world of caregiving. In this series, we look at who does the caregiving in the U.S. and why it’s so important. You’ll hear stories of caregivers and the people they care for, and from experts and activists tackling these issues, trying to improve conditions for workers and the care they provide.