Podcast 41: Caring For Dad with Alzheimer’s Disease with MSNBC News Anchor Richard Lui

richard-lui-alzheimers-dementia

Do you have a family member with Alzheimer’s Disease or Dementia? There is little in terms of effective Alzheimer’s Disease conventional medical treatment, but there are many things that you and your family can do to maintain a high quality of life for your loved one and alleviate the stress of caring for someone with dementia or Alzheimer’s. 

MSNBC Anchor Richard Lui talks about his experience caring for his father who was diagnosed with dementia 9 years ago. Richard has been ‘commuting’ from NYC to San Francisco every weekend for the last few years to take care of his father. Richard has been there for his father through all stages of Alzheimer’s Disease, made difficult decisions, and experienced the ups and downs associated with the caregiving and coordinating care between family members.

He has a deep understanding of how to best care for the disease, not only for the person who is ill but also how to self-care.  He talks about how to balance eating healthy food, exercising regularly, and finding joy in the difficulty.

His experience caregiving for his dad inspired him to write his latest book, Enough About Me: The Unexpected Power of Selflessness. Click here to read more

What’s in this episode?

0:00 Better Health

1:55 Meet Richard Liu

2:24 About Richard’s father

4:14 Coordinating caregiver with family

5:14 Difficult Decisions

7:30 Discussion with the person affected about Dementia

8:56 How roles are broken down between family members

12:11 Changing as little as possible

15:03 “Poop and Eating” Phase

17:13 Finding the joy in difficulty

17:54 Belligerent Phase

18:28 Crisis moment

21:47 Nursing homes

23:40 How to decompress

24:55 Eating healthy and exercise

26:30 Balance

28:00 Visual and audio recognition

31:28 Preparing for end of life

33:14 Work life balance and advice

34:11 Find your caregiving community

36:26 Show videos of caregiving 

38:00 Look for signs to help 

38:55 Stay overnight 

What you will learn:

  • Richard’s experience with caregiving for his father 
  • What coordinating caregiving between family members is like
  • Examples of difficult decisions that you may come across in caregiving
  • Possible life changes for people with Alzheimer’s or Dementia
  • Advice from Richard for caregiving for a family member with Alzheimer’s or Dementia

For more about Richard Lui:

https://richardlui.com/

Comments

No comments yet. Why don’t you start the discussion?

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *