Meet former family caregiver and professional family caregiver advocate Lenore Tracey. Lenore has cared for a family member for most of her life. She was first exposed to caregiving with her dad who was a brittle diabetic. Most recently, Lenore cared for her mom who had Alzheimer’s. In this episode we talk about sharing the care with siblings, how they got mom to cease driving, how they dealt with all of mom’s stuff when she downsized, and offer tips on how caregivers can arrange communication or visits with loved ones during the corona-virus pandemic.

Listen to the show: Caregiver Spotlight – Lenore Tracey

Words of Encouragement

Each episode starts off with a few words of inspiration or motivation that is pulled from the Happy Healthy Caregiver Jar.

When we engage in self-care — going for a walk, connecting with a friend, saying “no” more often — we are physically and emotionally healthier, better able to care for the people around us, more relaxed, less anxious, less…

Click To Tweet

Links & Resources Mentioned

As a child, Lenore helped care for her dad who had Juvenile Diabetes and her dad was called a brittle diabetic.
Choosing an Assisted Living Community and having courageous conversations. Some communities offer short term respite for caregivers or trial rental periods.
7 phases of the Alzheimer’s disease
Keeping Us Safe offers tips to get your aging family members to discontinue driving or determine if they are safe to drive.
Lenore and Elizabeth discuss the desire to have less to take care of.
Torchlight is a platform that employers can purchase to offer their employees as a benefit for either parents of children with special needs or employees who are caring for aging parents. The platform includes videos, articles, webinars, podcasts, and coaching for caregivers.
Elizabeth facilitates the NW Atlanta Daughterhood Circle but you can find out if there is a group near you by visiting Daughterhood.org.
Elizabeth shared a presentation with her sister on the topic of ‘Sharing the Care’ at a previous National Caregiving Conference. Watch the replay.
We spoke more about long distance caregiving in the podcast episode with Deb Hallisey.
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.

To connect with Lenore and learn more about Torchlight visit https://www.torchlight.care/. You can also find Lenore on LinkedIn.

Favorite moments & quotes from the episode

As a child, I grew up with a dad who had Juvenile Diabetes. we learned about how to take care of my dad if he happened to go into a diabetic shock. #diabetes

Click To Tweet

For me I needed to make sure when I was caring most intensely that I had some time out with nobody talking to me and no music or sound. #lenoretracey #selfcare

Click To Tweet

She had a body that wouldn’t quit! Which is theoretically an advantage but it meant for her that she went through the entire course of #Alzheimers. Which is heartbreaking. #lenoretracey #dementia

Click To Tweet

We had a month long opportunity to rent in an assisted living facility and we could assess how it was working for her. She liked it. For a while it was just the right thing. #assistedliving

Click To Tweet

You have this category of stuff that you want to want but you don’t really want. You feel guilty. It’s not in the trash pile or goodwill pile. #moving #agingparents #downsizing

Click To Tweet

There are the end of life situations where a person cannot be with their loved ones or be able to perform their cultural faith based rituals. #endoflife #coronavirus

Click To Tweet

Television doesn’t do the trick. You need other human beings. #isolation #seniorliving

Click To Tweet

We have an aging population and we have a smaller demographic of working people. There is a significant % of people who are employed full or part time are also taking care of someone. @torchlightcare

Click To Tweet

You don’t leave your family when you walk in the door at work. @torchlightcare #workingcaregiver

Click To Tweet

Learn to say no (to doing more). Learn to say yes (to receiving help). #lenoretracey #caregivingtip

Click To Tweet

Stay in touch

Instagram: HappyHealthyCaregiver
Join the Happy Healthy Caregiver Facebook Group and our Facebook Page
Twitter: @HHCaregiver
Subscribe to the Happy Healthy Caregiver newsletter to stay up to date on the latest posts & events.
Email Elizabeth with questions or comments about the show or to request information about sponsoring the show.