Meet family caregiver Caira Benson. Before Caira was a family caregiver she was a thriving non-profit director who loved teaching Art History at her local college. She left it all to take up the most important vocation she had never wanted – caregiver to her husband, Eric, a catastrophically injured veteran. Armed with coffee and a lot of humor, Caira is determined to fight for her family to function somewhat normally despite all their challenges.
In this episode, we talk about how Caira navigated her husband’s health journey with the VA, how she made the choice to not be angry, how her prayers were clearly answered, and which military and inclusive resources have helped all the members of her family, especially her five children.
Episode Sponsor – CircleOf
This episode is brought to you by CircleOf. It can be tough to ask for help when you’re caring for a loved one at home, and often you don’t even know what to ask for! My friends at CircleOf have developed a mobile app that makes it easy to get help from friends and family anytime you need it, and communicate safely in real-time to keep everyone in the loop. CircleOf helps you remove the stress of caregiving tasks so you can spend more time connecting and less time managing with the help of your community.
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Listen to the show: Navigating Military Family Caregiving with Caira Benson
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Words of Encouragement
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Links & Resources Mentioned
- We are grateful for our listeners helping to expand our audience by sharing the podcast and submitting ratings and reviews! It’s easy to do just go to: Podcast Review or Google Review
- No Barriers Caregivers, USA
- Elizabeth Dole Foundation
- Caira’s profile on Hidden Heroes
- Travis Mills Foundation – Rest and Relaxation for post-9/11 Recalibrated Veterans (and their families!)
- Our Military Kids – Apply for extracurricular activity grants
- Folds of Honor – Educational Scholarships for military children to spouses and children of America’s fallen and disabled service-members
- Kid’s Rank – developed specifically for military children. Through the formation of local clubs, Kids Rank engages children in hands-on, skill building projects and volunteer opportunities designed to encourage resilience while supporting their physical, emotional, intellectual and social needs.
- Camp Southern Ground – Summer Camp for Children of Veterans
- Camp Corral – A camp for children of wounded warriors
- PATRIOTlink – a resource database filled with thousands of vetted, direct, cost-free resources tailored to the needs of the military and veteran community
- Sky Blossom
- Previous episodes mentioned: Balancing the Selflessness Sacrifices with Richard Lui
- Connect with Caira:
- Email: cairabenson@gmail.com
- All of the prompts from the lightning round segment of the show are borrowed from Elizabeth’s book Just For You: a Daily Self-Care Journal.
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Favorite moments & quotes from the episode
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