Hope for the Caregiver

Hope for the Caregiver broadcast February 2-2019.  

Text from Peter's Blog at www.hopeforthecaregiver.com 

From one geographical extreme to another, American state assemblies strode into the viability and quality of life issue in groundbreaking ways during January. Starting with Hawaii’s new Our Choice Our Care Act launched on January 1, 2019, medically-assisted death marched closer to being considered ‘normal.’  Before January ended, New York legislators applauded the new freedom extended to the state allowing late term abortions via the Reproductive Health Act.

A common thread weaves through the move by both states.  An ambiguity, one could say an arbitrary line in the sand, presents itself through both actions regarding viability.  Hawaii allows patients deemed to die within six months to end their life with medical assistance.

Who sets the date?

Yet why six months? What group decided that six months is the cut off for a life to possess meaning rather than, say, seven months and thirteen days? 

In New York, the health of the mother is a factor. A Virginia legislator already introduced the dialogue of health applying to mental health. New York allows non-physicians to perform abortions.  Will those non-physicians assume responsibility for evaluating the mental health of the mother?

Troubling Questions About Viability

These and other unsettling questions indicate a rush to an agenda rather than to medical reality. If government can designate life as ‘qualified to terminate’ if less than six months remain, when will they adjust that line? If a child is deemed unable to exist outside the womb without care at 8 months and 28 days, can that line be moved to 9 months.  What about ten months?

Listen to the podcast ...and read the rest of the article. 

Noise bombards us every day.  From 24-hour cables news, to traffic, to our mobile devices, we are inundated with a wall of noise that seems to keep so many of us in a state of agitation.  For Caregivers, taking a moment to sit quietly and settle our hearts down …seems nearly impossible …but it’s critical for us to just that.

You see, if we don’t take time for stillness …we’re going to have to make time for illness. The constant state of anxiety, stress, and sensory overload we experience as caregivers will eventually make us sick.  Stress kills.  The way we push back on this ….is to carve out some time where we can just be still and quiet.  Prayer, meditation, or just clearing our frenetic thoughts …it all helps re-boot our minds and hearts …and allows us to be a little calmer in the caregiver storm we navigate.

Brought to you by: 

Seven years ago, Standing With Hope launched a program - the only one of it's kind in the world - where inmates helped disassemble donated used prosthetic limbs in order to recycle the parts. Standing With Hope is the presenting sponsor of HOPE FOR THE CAREGIVER.  Founded by Gracie and Peter Rosenberger, Standing With Hope has two program areas:

1. A prosthetic limb outreach to amputees in Ghana, West Africa
2. An outreach (HOPE FOR THE CAREGIVER) to family caregivers ( world-wide)

CoreCivic manages and owns private prisons and detention centers around the country, and hosts many faith-based programs within those facilities.   Standing With Hope is one of those programs located at the Metro Davidson County Detention Centers ( Nashville)

Chaplain Henry Davidson called the show and shared the value of this and other programs in helping inmates turn their lives around.  The success rate is astonishing, and the program has a far reaching impact. 

Chaplain Davidson is one of my favorite people in the whole world. His passion for wounded and broken lives is evident in the first moments of meeting him. He and his wife also serve as chaplains for the Metro Nashville Police Department.  

If your company is interested in working with CoreCivic to hire inmates who want to prove they can return to society, rebuild their lives, and make a positive contribution ...please click here to learn more and contact CoreCivic. 

Callers to the show shared their heartache, fear, and despair in trying to serve as caregivers ...while simultaneously dealing with the trauma and ravages of a family member with addiction.

Sometimes, law enforcement is required for the safety of the caregiver ...and these women are in danger. 

Sarah also called in ...and wait until you hear her story of how she made brutal choices, but kept herself safe. 

Sponsored by: 

Video podcast of HOPE FOR THE CAREGIVER 1/13/2019

Callers shared with the show (HOPE FOR THE CAREGIVER) to share their struggles with resentment. All too often, caregivers find themselves in the downward and destructive spiral of resentment-not always at their loved ones. Sometimes it can be at family and friends who don't help they way the could (or should) Sometimes, it can be at medical personnel. It can be at themselves ...or at God.

Brought to you by Standing With Hope

All too many caregivers struggle with resentment. In this show, we took on the topic of resentment ...and our callers shared their stories and challenges.

Leading off with a vivid picture of my best friend and I cleaning a pig barn at age 14, we discuss how God uses suffering and challenges to clean off the gunk built up on our hearts. Ah yes, growing up in rural South Carolina provide me many opportunities for those type of life lessons! 

Brought to you by:

We caregivers often find ourselves lost in the "Caregiver FOG." (Fear, Obligation, Guilt). 

This caller to the show struggled with the obligation issue. One of the easiest ways to tell that is the language used:  "I have to, I must, I'm supposed to, I'm stuck with it."

He wanted a checklist to help him do the minimal for his mother ...but I instead focused on the heart issues that seemed to lead him down the path of resentment.  

"Addiction is a chronic disease. Where there's a chronic disease, there's a caregiver ...a caregiver in need of their own recovery." - Peter Rosenberger

Dr. Stephen Loyd, the medical director for JOURNEY PURE called the show to discuss caregivers and their loved ones battling addiction. 

From his own journey through addiction to serving as Tennessee's director for Substance Abuse Services, Dr. Stephen Loyd continues to offer a lifeline to those struggling with addiction ...and to their families. 

Through the radio program and podcast (HOPE FOR THE CAREGIVER), we're expanding the term "caregiver" to include those with a family member struggling with addiction, alcoholism, and/or mental illness.  

Listen to Dr. Loyd's discussion about this painful issue facing so many families and the efforts they are making at Journey Pure to help!

The vision of Journey Pure is:

"We aim to help patients and their families get the drug and alcohol addiction treatment they need and deserve. We do so by providing evidence-based treatments along with dual diagnosis to address co-occurring mental health issues and root out the underlying triggers causing the patient to abuse substances. Our care goes beyond addiction cessation to offer practical skills required to re-enter everyday life successfully." 

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Peter Rosenberger is the host of the weekly syndicated radio program for family caregivers. He has served as a caregiver for his wife Gracie, who lives with severe disabilities, for more than 30 years. The author of four books, including “Hope for the Caregiver.” Peter and Gracie live in Nashville, where he also serves as the president and co-founder of Standing With Hope. Follow Peter on Twitter: @Hope4caregiver or visit: www.hopeforcaregiver.com

If you live with someone with a disability, then you know how frustrating it is when people rudely stare. 

Being that I have an exceptionally goofy sense of humor, I said this in a crowded elevator following her 80th surgery. 

Tracie called the show to express her broken heart over her daughter with a drug addiction. 

Addiction is a chronic disease.  Where there is a chronic disease, there's a caregiver.  On this call, I asked Tracie to consider a 12- step recovery program for family members of addicts and alcoholics.  She referenced attending one years ago if saving her father from alcoholism and that it failed ...so she didn't pursue it with her daughter.

Helping redirect Tracie, I shared with her, ""The purpose of this [recovery program for family members] is not to save her daughter from bad choices ...it's to save HER from bad choices." 

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Peter Rosenberger is the host of the weekly syndicated radio program for family caregivers. He has served as a caregiver for his wife Gracie, who lives with severe disabilities, for more than 30 years. The author of four books, including “Hope for the Caregiver.” Peter and Gracie live in Nashville, where he also serves as the president and co-founder of Standing With Hope. Follow Peter on Twitter: @Hope4caregiver or visit: www.hopeforcaregiver.com

A special guest, Charlene, shared her journey with her husband who lived with MS. A few years ago, someone put a copy of my book, HOPE FOR THE CAREGIVER in her hands, and Charlene read a chapter each day.  Finishing the book, she started it over and repeated the process many times.  What happened after that, however, brought me to tears as she shared a powerful moment in their life together ...and beyond. 

Throughout our lengthy journey of surgeries, chronic pain, amputations, and lots of tears, music has always been the glue for Gracie and me.

We particularly love Christmas music. 

This is a recording of one of our favorite Christmas hymns, Silent Night- which was first performed on Christmas Eve in what is now Austria 200 years ago (12/24/1818)!

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