The most important gift you can give this holiday season.

I think you should talk about your medical and end-of-life wishes when you are with your family at Thanksgiving. (Why does everyone laugh when I say this?) I am absolutely serious. It is a great time to talk as a group about what is important to you and how you would want to be cared for if you were seriously ill. The up side of talking as a group is that it takes the pressure off of the seniors in the family who would like to talk about their wishes but don’t know how to bring it up. It also takes the pressure off of the family members who want to talk to the elders in their family but don’t know how to bring it up.

A great way to begin the conversation is to use the Go Wish Cards. www.gowish.org
Look at this game on-line before you head over to the family and then use it as a starting place for your conversations. Or use my new advance directive quality-of-life statement as a tool to talk about what is important to you. You can find this at: http://kindethics.com/2012/11/my-new-quality-of-life-statement-to-attach-to-my-advance-directive/ You may also want to print out my Insider’s Guide to Filling Out Your Advance Directive which you can download at: http://thecaregiverspath.com/assets/pdf%27s/Insider%27s%20Guide%20-%20Viki%20Kind.pdf

The main thing is to make the conversation safe and fun. Yes I said fun. When I talked to my husband’s family about advance care planning, they got into the spirit of it and began arguing over which adult child was going to pull their dad’s plug when the time came. Of course this was a joke and represented the funny way his family communicates. As the conversation progressed, people were surprised by what the different family members wanted to write down in their advance directive. I tell you this because these can be interesting and insightful conversations. You may think you know your loved ones but you will be surprised by what they may tell you is important to them.

Ideally, bring a copy of your state’s advance directive for each member of the family. Feel free to forward them my quality-of-life statement and the instructions from my website.

This may be the most important holiday present you give and get this year.

Have a kind and respectful day.

“Late Night Health on Radio” show with Mark Alyn and Dr. Moshe Lewis Saturday evening, October 20, 2012

I will be interviewed on the “Late Night Health on Radio” show with Mark Alyn and Dr. Moshe Lewis on Saturday evening, October 20, 2012. http://www.latenighthealth.com/index.html. Listen live or download later. Feel free to go to the show’s Facebook page to post questions during and after the show. http://www.facebook.com/LateNightHealth?ref=ts&fref=ts.

http://www.latenighthealth.com/host—mark-alyn.html
http://www.latenighthealth.com/co-host—dr-moshe-lewis.html

Late Night Health Radio offers a unique, entertaining and informative listening opportunity, while providing an upscale active audience for advertisers. Presented in an upbeat, friendly format, the program features a blend of topics. The program will feature traditional, complementary and integrative health care information. Targeting America’s baby boomers, each program will feature health and medical-oriented guests, co-host Moishe Lewis, MD with his point of view on fitness, health and medicine.

The program will feature M.D.s who specialize in a variety of fields as well as a host of traditional and complementary care practitioners including: Psychotherapists, Hypnotherapists, Osteopaths, Acupuncturists, Cupping Therapists, Prolotherapy therapists, Chiropractors, Physical Therapists, Lymph Edema Specialists, Myofascial Release Therapists and more who may have answers to your medical questions.

Late Night Health will cover a myriad health and wellness topics; an entertaining and informative program, it will offer listeners the latest breakthroughs, facts, studies, tips secrets, and health-oriented information. It will cover a wide range of topics from how to deal with diabetes, obesity, and cancer to the latest in pain management, stress reduction and preventative health care.

In addition to the live radio show listeners can visit the website for all archived shows & medical forums. As well as information about all guests featured on the Late Night Health radio shows. Visit our blog to get medical questions and answers about health issues that matter to you.

Have a kind and respectful day.

Carol J. Scott MD, “Stress Relief Radio,” show on Sunday, October 14, 2012 at 10AM PDT

I will be interviewed on the Carol J. Scott MD’s “Stress Relief Radio,” show on Sunday, October 14, 2012 at 10AM PDT. http://crntalk.com/shows/635-stress-relief-radio
Listen live or download later. Feel free to go to the show’s Facebook page to post questions during and after the show. http://www.facebook.com/StressReliefRadio?ref=stream

For more information about Dr. Carol and her book,

Optimal Stress: Living in your Best Stress Zone

http://www.stressreliefcoachradio.com
http://www.beststresszone.com
http://www.twitter.com/StressReliefDoc

Juggling the issues and demands of self, home, family, health, and the workplace leads to what can be overwhelming stress. Stress is at epidemic proportions in contemporary society and it is not a coincidence that heart disease is additionally at a similar level —the number one killer of men & women in the US.

Certain stressors are inevitable; that said, stress doesn’t just happen. One can’t
let stress rob one of joy, health, productivity and happiness. There are tools to fight back and by achieving what we call ‘optimal stress’, ensure long-term health and success through overcoming a sometimes-insurmountable challenge.

Let Stress Relief Radio, hosted by Dr. Carol Scott, esteemed medical practitioner and author of the book, Optimal Stress: Living in your Best Stress Zone, Published by John Wiley & Sons (2010) be your essential guide to meeting your daily objectives efficiently without the burden of overarching negativity.

Each show is theme-based and grounded in medical evidence. This show has two specific objectives:

i. Education for individual accountability. This show makes the connections between stress and development of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, osteoporosis and other common disorders crystal clear.

ii. Providing simple solutions for handling the stress that creates anxiety, siphons away energy, depresses moods, and creates sleepless nights, frustration and guilt.

This show provides coaching, ‘patient education’, for how to handle stress.

Successfully dealing with stress in your life is not just about getting rid of anxiety. Dr. Scott wants to help listeners harness the positive power of the stress response to achieve top-level performance, creativity, personal happiness and other peak experiences.

When one understands the stress process in life one becomes a thermometer and not a thermostat. Listeners will fine-tune self awareness skills; the ability to pay attention to what one’s body and mind is saying and determining the need to adjust, heal, repair or rebuild.

Let Dr. Scott’s accreditation and passion for life management help you! Tune in soon!

Have a kind and respectful day.

Join me as I interview Martha Stettinius, author of Inside the Dementia Epidemic: A Daughter’s Memoir

I will be interviewing Martha Stettinius, the author of Inside the Dementia Epidemic: A Daughter’s Memoir on October 15, 10AM PDT/1PM PDT. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/kindethics/2012/10/15/martha-stettinius-author-of-inside-the-dementia-epidemic

“Inside the Dementia Epidemic: A Daughter’s Memoir,” a debut memoir by family caregiver Martha Stettinius, tells the compelling personal story of her long journey as a caregiver to her mother with dementia, while exploring the causes and potential treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease.

Like many adult children of aging parents, Stettinius found herself suddenly filling the role of caregiver when her 72-year-old mother couldn’t balance her checkbook. The remote lakeside home where her mother had lived alone for twenty-five years overflowed with garbage and recyclables. Despite their difficult relationship, Stettinius, age 40 at the time, moved her mother to her family’s small home in Upstate New York. It was not long after that that Stettinius learned her first lesson as a reluctant member of the “sandwich generation”—she couldn’t be a superwoman.

“Inside the Dementia Epidemic: A Daughter’s Memoir” is the unflinching and hopeful story of Stettinius’s journey into caregiving, and offers an unprecedented look into the challenges of Alzheimer’s care. With the passion of a committed daughter and the fervor of a tireless reporter, Stettinius shares the lessons she’s learned over seven years of caregiving, at home and in a range of dementia care facilities—lessons not just about how she learned to negotiate the world of elder care, but about how caregiving can strengthen relationships.

“Few memoirs about dementia caregiving offer hope that the caregiving journey can be anything other than a crushing self-sacrifice,” Stettinius said. “Alzheimer’s disease is often described as a tragic wasting away and a long, painful good-bye. What I have experienced and felt with my mother is different, and I wanted to share our story.”

“Inside the Dementia Epidemic: A Daughter’s Memoir” is also a call to action for better dementia care, increased funding for dementia research, and more support for family caregivers. Alzheimer’s disease is the fifth-leading cause of death in the United States for those aged 65 and older, but the only one in the top 10 without an effective means of prevention, treatment, or a cure. Over 15 million family caregivers in the United States provide 17.4 billion hours of unpaid care each year to Alzheimer’s and dementia patients.

Stettinius is an editor with a master’s in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. This is her first book.

“Inside the Dementia Epidemic: A Daughter’s Memoir,” published by Dundee-Lakemont Press, is available in hardcover and paperback at most major online book retailers, and as an e-book for the Kindle and Nook.

For more information, please visit www.insidedementia.com.

To purchase Inside the Dementia Epidemic: A Daughter’s Memoir:
http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Dementia-Epidemic-Daughters-Memoir/dp/0984932607/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349136610&sr=8-1&keywords=inside+the+dementia