Caregiver Help Radio – Elaine K. Sanchez   /     Caregiver Help Radio – Help with Hearing Loss and Online Support for Caregivers

In memory of her mother and in recognition National Caregivers Month and World Alzheimer’s Month, Elaine tells listeners how they can get a free one-year membership to CaregiverHelp.com. This new online, video-based caregiver support program was developed by Elaine and her husband, Dr. Alex Sanchez.

The program is divided into modules – sort of like chapters in a book. Elaine and Alex incorporate a lot of humor and real-life caregiver stories into difficult topics such as caregiver anger, guilt, depression and grief.

The module titled “Dementia Issues” provides strategies for coping with challenging behaviors often exhibited by people who have Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, including the formerly taboo topic of sex and dementia.

Elaine also visits with Dr. Noreen Gibbens about hearing loss. Dr. Gibbens is a clinical audiologist who has worked with patients and their families for over 25 years to decrease the significant challenges that hearing loss can have on their lives.

This is a topic close to Elaine’s heart, because her mother suffered severe hearing loss as a result of the medication she was taking for her heart. Of all of the physical, emotional, spiritual, and financial challenges she faced, Madelyn said the loss of her hearing was the most difficult. She often felt isolated and alone. She said she would have preferred to give up her vision or her ability to walk, because not being able to communicate was like being in solitary confinement.

Dr. Gibbens understands how hearing loss can contribute to serious social, medical, and economic consequences, and in the interview she offers some solutions. She talks about the free hearing health seminars and screenings hiHealthInnovations provides in local communities and how people can purchase high-tech hearing aids at low prices. For more information, you can visit go to hiHealthInnovations or call 855 523-9355.

Elaine wraps up the show by reading from her book, “Letters From Madelyn, Chronicles of a Caregiver”. You’ll have fun listening to her read letters written by her mother during the six-and-a-half years she cared for Elaine’s father following his debilitating stroke. Madelyn’s letters were unflinchingly honest and often uproariously funny. People often say Madelyn had the courage to put into writing some of the things they were ashamed to think about, and they’re grateful to her for giving them the permission to be human. You can order your own copy for $14.95 by clicking on this link: “Letters from Madelyn, Chronicles of a Caregiver”.