Suzette Graham, Founder and CEO of Patriot Angels (Advocate, Veterans Benefits Expert)
Open Door Policy - with Jimmy Bryan and Lon Kieffer (Formerly The Caregivers)
Release Date: 11/08/2019
Dr. Daniel C. Potts
Open Door Policy - with Jimmy Bryan and Lon Kieffer (Formerly The Caregivers)
In this episode of the Caregivers Podcast, Lon sits down to discuss all things caregiving with Dr. Daniel C. Potts! Coauthor of A Pocket Guide for the Alzheimer’s Caregiver and one of Maria Shriver’s Architects of Change, neurologist Daniel C. Potts champions life-affirming care for those living with Alzheimer’s disease/Dementia and their care partners. On staff at Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center, Potts also is Founder and President of Cognitive Dynamics Foundation through which is channeled inspiration and hope born of caring for his father, Lester, who became an acclaimed watercolor...
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Joe Tanner (Personal/Family Caregiver; Virtual Caregiver Influencer; Comedian)
Open Door Policy - with Jimmy Bryan and Lon Kieffer (Formerly The Caregivers)
Joe Tanner is a natural! He is the middle child of 8 that together maintained a rigorous schedule of visiting their mom while she was a resident in Senior Living. So that he could remember his mom he started doing videos with her; to encourage and support others he started a Facebook page group for Caregivers called "You'll Always Be My Mama" that gained a worldwide following. You have to listen to the podcast to learn why I have come to think of him as the Forest Gump of Caregivers because his Caregiver Personality keeps finding him successes on many different...
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Mike Williams (Professional Caregiver; SeniorLiving CEO/Co-Founder)
Open Door Policy - with Jimmy Bryan and Lon Kieffer (Formerly The Caregivers)
Mike is a 3rd Generation Professional Caregiver who tells the story of his youth growing up and around "Caring" environments. He shares his Entrepreneurial efforts in other industries before returning to his roots of SeniorLiving and helping other organizations operate successfully before stepping in a CEO/Co-Founder of English Meadows, a small struggling Assisted Living community only to grow it into a successful company and "family" serving more than 500 Seniors all across the Commonwealth of Virginia.
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Anastasia Valentino - Millennial Caregiver/Registered Nurse
Open Door Policy - with Jimmy Bryan and Lon Kieffer (Formerly The Caregivers)
Anastasia Valentino is a Millennial Caregiver/Registered Nurse and that was the topic I planned to discuss but that's not how this episode played out. Anastasia works as an Intensive Care Unit nurse and as it turns out, she is truly a Corona Warrior as she gave me a lesson on what it is like to be on the forefront of Caring directly for people that have been affected by the Coronavirus Pandemic.
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James Hamilton, CDP (Certified Dementia Practitioner; Person with Vascular Dementia)
Open Door Policy - with Jimmy Bryan and Lon Kieffer (Formerly The Caregivers)
James might disagree, but he is a Caregiver. His background is too complex to summarize here but suffice it to see he has been a lifelong leaner and student, an educator, a professional stand-up comedian and now, he is an Certified Dementia Practitioner and person living with Vascular Dementia. You may never hear a more honest, positive and eloquently expressed perspective of what it is like living with dementia... and having an imaginary Hippopotamus!
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Kay Frances (Personal/Family Caregiver; Speaker/Author; Funny Motivational Speaker)
Open Door Policy - with Jimmy Bryan and Lon Kieffer (Formerly The Caregivers)
Kay is one of my favorite people and she means a lot to me, even though we have only met in person twice! Widely known as "America's Funniest Stressbuster" Kay earned her chops from real life. As a successful (and self absorbed) professional touring comedian she returned home for her father's funeral and saw that her mother was also failing in health. She became her mother's Personal/Family Caregiver for 7 years and was forever changed. Now she is a successful touring and "Funny Motivational Speaker" and she once rescued me when I felt like an impostor... and she did...
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Val Howell (Personal/Family Caregiver)
Open Door Policy - with Jimmy Bryan and Lon Kieffer (Formerly The Caregivers)
Val was recommended to us as a guest because of her true Caregiver Personality and sense of humor from a previous guest of the podcast. Val is "just" a Caregiver... and that may be one of the greatest compliments I could pay a person because she offered some incredibly insightful and helpful commentary on what it is like to truly Care for others!
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Pam Brandon (Personal/Family Caregiver; Founder of Age-u-Cate Training Institute)
Open Door Policy - with Jimmy Bryan and Lon Kieffer (Formerly The Caregivers)
Pam brings over 20 years’ experience in family and professional caregiver education. Having engaged and trained thousands of care-partners and organizations, she is passionate about helping others embrace positive change. She is privileged to lead and direct a fast-growing company providing programs such as Dementia Live™ a high impact, dementia simulation experience that immerses participants into life with dementia, resulting in a deeper understanding of what it’s like to live with cognitive impairment and sensory change.
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Ann T. (Personal/Family Caregiver; Domestic Engineer)
Open Door Policy - with Jimmy Bryan and Lon Kieffer (Formerly The Caregivers)
Ann shares her personal journey loving her husband Bill both before and 20 years after a tragic accident left in a ventilator dependent quadriplegic with five kids and a "Domestic Engineer" wife. Ann tells a touching story of how their love has changed and in many ways intensified and exhibits grace, and humor while also disclosing her age, height and weight. We both enjoyed this so much that we had our first callback on the podcast!
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The Cuddlers (My Sisters; Personal/Family Caregivers)
Open Door Policy - with Jimmy Bryan and Lon Kieffer (Formerly The Caregivers)
Growing up my two sisters made up 67% of "my three mothers" as they and my mother were extraordinarily influential women in my young life in a household where I was essentially the only male. As a child I respected my older sister Genna and competed in classic sibling rivalry fashion with my younger sister Meghan but today, I am extremely grateful to have them both in my life and proud of their volunteer work as "Cuddlers" to hospitalized infant children.
info_outlineOur guest started as a little girl helping to feed the homeless in Alaska, Later she would be recognized by the Governor with a "Heroism Award" for advocacy for foster children and in her spare time she also served as "Mrs. Alaska" before founding Patriot Angels in 2012 providing funding solutions and Veterans Administration benefits navigation to veterans, widows, families, Caregivers and communities.