When Sandra Strauss' husband, Rick, was diagnosed with dementia overnight, she was determined to uncover the truth behind the cause--but what she discovered was far more shocking than anyone could have imagined. Unbeknownst to them, Rick had a rare genetic predisposition that made him highly susceptible to environmental toxins--a factor that could be making countless people sick. Sandra's journey to uncover the truth has now become a mission to help others navigate this complex terrain as she embarks on writing a book to share her experience and raise awareness.  In this episode, you will be able to: ·     Discover the powerful connection between environmental toxins and the development of brain disorders and dementia. ·     Recognize the crucial role of addressing cognitive decline at its roots and understanding its early signs. ·     Master practical solutions to caregiving challenges such as driving limitations and effective communication. ·     Uncover the importance of seeking educated and functional medical professionals when addressing dementia care. ·     Harness the benefits of prioritizing self-care, mental health, and support networks for caregivers. About the Author  Sandra Strauss is an experienced consumer health educator who has dedicated her career to helping individuals navigate complex health issues and promoting healthy lifestyles. With her former role as the VP of Consumer Affairs for the Fruit and Vegetable Association, she has been a strong advocate for health, harmony, and happiness. In her work, she explores the effects of environmental toxins on the brain and their role in dementia development. Sandra is the author of several books, including A Toxic Brain: Revelations from a Health Journey.  After the Podcast  Read Sandra's AlzAuthors post: A Toxic Brain by Author Sandra Strauss Details Her Husband’s 12-Year Dementia Journey Purchase A Toxic Brain: Revelations from a Health Journey  Note: We are an Amazon Associate and may receive a small commission from books sales.   Connect with Sandra  Website LinkedIn  FB page Instagram  Twitter TikTok: #atoxicbrain About the Podcast AlzAuthors is the global community of authors writing about Alzheimer's and dementia from personal experience to light the way for others. Our podcast introduces you to our authors who share their stories and insights to provide knowledge, comfort, and support. Please subscribe so you don’t miss a word. If our authors’ stories move you, please leave a review. And don’t forget to share our podcast with family and friends on their own dementia journeys. We are a 501(c)(3) charitable organization totally reliant on donations to do what we do. Your generosity will help cover our many operating costs, which include website hosting and maintenance fees, service charges to keep things running smoothly, and marketing expenses to promote our authors, expand our content, improve our reach, and more. Our ongoing work supports our mission to lift the silence and stigma of Alzheimer’s and other dementias. To sustain our efforts please visit https://alzauthors.com/donate/ . Thank you for listening. We are a Whole Care Network Featured Podcast.  Proud to be on The Health Podcast Network. Want to be on the podcast? Here’s what you need to know. Thanks for listening. AlzAuthors.com Shop our Store    

In celebration of National Poetry Month, we hosted a gathering of poets on April 18, 2023, to share work inspired by their dementia experiences. We understand that storytelling, of any kind, but especially through poetry lightens burdens. For many caregivers, poetry can be a means of expression, of sharing their experience, opening hearts to joy, or drowning sorrows. Finding the right words to tell our stories can ease our journey. Reading the words of others can inspire us, give us strength, and let us know we are not alone. The response to our initial invitation to a poetry reading was tremendous and better than we expected. More than 60 authors RSVP'd, and on the day of the reading more than 30 showed up to read and share their beautiful words and stories with honesty and grace. We shared laughter and tears, too. Now, thirty poets is a lot of poets! And a lot of poems. We accommodated everyone by stretching the program out to two hours. Many poets got to read twice. What resulted is almost 2-hours of recorded poetry on the dementia journey, now available on our podcast in two episodes and on our YouTube channel. Welcome to episode two. Get out the tissues and start listening! Watch it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Gms7c16PGyQ Here are some of the comments we've received: ·     "The reading was heartfelt and healing. Thank you so much everyone!" Therese Halscheid ·     "Thanks to the organizers and readers for a beautiful and healing session." Mariana Mcdonald ·     "I want to thank everyone for sharing so many superb poems revealing so much on such a difficult subject." Walter Bargen ·     "This was a wonderful, powerful, affirming reading. I want to thank AlzAuthors for organizing this. I am so grateful to all the brave voices who speak from a deep authority on Alzheimer’s/dementia." Margaret Stawowy ·     "Today I was privileged to be one of many poets associated with AlzAuthors on a conference call. To hear the shared words of their experiences similar to my own gave me a sense of unity. I felt part of a village. That’s what we are, really. We’re all part of the village, managing whatever life has given us. Never forget, whatever your life is, you are part of the village." Rene Terry Mucci ·     "This was so wonderful. I have been so touched by everyone’s words today. Keep writing!" Christy Byrne Yates ·     "Remembering our loved ones like this always heals my heart." Charlie Becker Featured Poets Alan BernAnn CampanellaAnnette WickCaroline JohnsonCharlie BeckerDorothy HorneFelicia MitchellJoy JohnstonJudith LechnerKelly DuMarLori AdenMargaret StawowyMariana McdonaldMarion CohenMarjorie MaddoxMarsha BarberMary CrescenzoPaul SoharPauletta HanselPauli PedersenRene Terry MucciSandra BerrisSherri LevineSteve GiblinSue Fagalde LickSusan J. FareseThereseTom and Karen BrennerTony Copeland-ParkerVirginia PasquarelliWalter Bargen Resources Storms of the Inland Sea: Poems of Alzheimer's and Dementia Caregiving by Margaret Stawowy (Editor), Jim Cokas (Editor) Download our free booklet "Poetry for the Dementia Journey," featuring 17 collections of poetry.

In celebration of National Poetry Month, we hosted a gathering of poets on April 18, 2023, to share work inspired by their dementia experiences. We understand that storytelling, of any kind, but especially through poetry lightens burdens. For many caregivers, poetry can be a means of expression, of sharing their experience, opening hearts to joy, or drowning sorrows. Finding the right words to tell our stories can ease our journey. Reading the words of others can inspire us, give us strength, and let us know we are not alone. The response to our initial invitation to a poetry reading was tremendous and better than we expected. More than 60 authors RSVP'd, and on the day of the reading more than 30 showed up to read and share their beautiful words and stories with honesty and grace. We shared laughter and tears, too. Now, thirty poets is a lot of poets! And a lot of poems. We accommodated everyone by stretching the program out to two hours. Many poets got to read twice. What resulted is almost 2-hours of recorded poetry on the dementia journey, now available on our podcast in two episodes and on our YouTube channel. Welcome to episode one. Get out the tissues and start listening! Watch it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Gms7c16PGyQ Here are some of the comments we've received: ·     "The reading was heartfelt and healing. Thank you so much everyone!" Therese Halscheid ·     "Thanks to the organizers and readers for a beautiful and healing session." Mariana Mcdonald ·     "I want to thank everyone for sharing so many superb poems revealing so much on such a difficult subject." Walter Bargen ·     "This was a wonderful, powerful, affirming reading. I want to thank AlzAuthors for organizing this. I am so grateful to all the brave voices who speak from a deep authority on Alzheimer’s/dementia." Margaret Stawowy ·     "Today I was privileged to be one of many poets associated with AlzAuthors on a conference call. To hear the shared words of their experiences similar to my own gave me a sense of unity. I felt part of a village. That’s what we are, really. We’re all part of the village, managing whatever life has given us. Never forget, whatever your life is, you are part of the village." Rene Terry Mucci ·     "This was so wonderful. I have been so touched by everyone’s words today. Keep writing!" Christy Byrne Yates ·     "Remembering our loved ones like this always heals my heart." Charlie Becker Featured Poets Alan BernAnn CampanellaAnnette WickCaroline JohnsonCharlie BeckerDorothy HorneFelicia MitchellJoy JohnstonJudith LechnerKelly DuMarLori AdenMargaret StawowyMariana McdonaldMarion CohenMarjorie MaddoxMarsha BarberMary CrescenzoPaul SoharPauletta HanselPauli PedersenRene Terry MucciSandra BerrisSherri LevineSteve GiblinSue Fagalde LickSusan J. FareseThereseTom and Karen BrennerTony Copeland-ParkerVirginia PasquarelliWalter Bargen Resources Storms of the Inland Sea: Poems of Alzheimer's and Dementia Caregiving by Margaret Stawowy (Editor), Jim Cokas (Editor) Download our free booklet "Poetry for the Dementia Journey," featuring 17 collections of poetry.

Cindy Weinstein is an English professor at the California Institute of Technology and the author of the award-winning Finding the Right Words: A Story of Literature, Grief, and the Brain, based on her experience with her father's early onset Alzheimer's in the 1980's. During her father's illness she was a graduate student at the University of California at Berkley, separated from her family in Florida by more than 3,000 miles. Her family's dementia journey had a long-lasting impact on her, and decades later she decided to write a book about it with the assistance of neurologist Bruce Miller, MD. It's the tale of a daughter's grief, of how she was studying and mastering language while her father struggled with word-finding. This irony intrigued her to the point she went on to study neurology herself with an interdisciplinary group of scientists, artists, social scientists, and physicians at The Global Brain Health Institute based at the University of California at San Francisco and Trinity College, Dublin. During this time, she worked with Dr. Miller on Finding the Right Words, which won third place in Memoir Magazine's 2022 Memoir Prize for Books. Cindy was born and raised in Verona, New Jersey. She received her B.A. in English and American Literature from Brandeis University, after which she went to UC Berkeley for her Ph.D. in English. She is currently the Eli and Edythe Broad Professor of English and has been at the California Institute of Technology since 1989, during which time she has published three monographs on American literature, edited several volumes, and taught classes on Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe, Women’s Fiction, and Black literature. She has had several administrative roles at Caltech, including Vice Provost and Chief Diversity Officer. In this episode, we discuss the shock of her father's death and her lifelong grief, her desire to study the language that surrounds a dementia diagnosis and her mission to help others by writing a book about it, and how working with Dr. Miller helped her better understand the changes dementia brought to her father's brain. After the Podcast Read Cindy's AlzAuthors post: Cindy Weinstein’s Memoir of Father’s Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Purchase Finding the Right Words: A Story of Literature, Grief, and the Brain Note: We are an Amazon Associate and may receive a small commission from books sales. Connect with Cindy Amazon.com Website: Finding the Right Words – Cindy Weinstein & Dr. Bruce Miller (weinsteinandmiller.com) Cindy Weinstein – Professor Of English – Caltech | LinkedIn Instagram Mastodon Other Mentions Emory and Aging Center UCSF Bruce Miller, MD Ruth Stevens Podcast Susan Farese, MSN, RN, Podcast Sign up for Laura Davis' Writing Workshop *** About the Podcast AlzAuthors is the global community of authors writing about Alzheimer's and dementia from personal experience to light the way for others. Our podcast introduces you to our authors who share their stories and insights to provide knowledge, comfort, and support. Please subscribe so you don’t miss a word. If our authors’ stories move you, please leave a review. And don’t forget to share our podcast with family and friends on their own dementia journeys. We are a 501(c)(3) charitable organization totally reliant on donations to do what we do. Your generosity will help cover our many operating costs, which include website hosting and maintenance fees, service charges to keep things running smoothly, and marketing expenses to promote our authors, expand our content, improve our reach, and more. Our ongoing work supports our mission to lift the silence and stigma of Alzheimer’s and other dementias. To sustain our efforts please visit https://alzauthors.com/donate/ . Thank you for listening. We are a WCN Featured Podcast. Proud to be on The Health Podcast Network. Want to be on the podcast? Here’s what you need to know. Thanks for listening. AlzAuthors.com Shop our Store

Poetry, whether reading or writing it, can be a powerful tool to ease our dementia caregiving journey, allowing us to express our deepest emotions, unravel our confusion and angst, and learn from and understand others. Susan J. Farese, MSN, RN is the author of Poetic Expressions in Nursing: Sharing the Caring, poems written when she became a nurse poet in the 1990's. Heartbreaking memories of losing her grandmother, Ann, to early onset Alzheimer's when she was a young teen inspired her first poem, Ann's Zest Ends.  In this episode, we discuss how witnessing her grandmother's decline as a child profoundly impacted her even 50 years later, why a chance scene in a movie inspired her to start writing poetry, and the value of poetry as expression for nurses and caregivers. A native of New Jersey, Susan has decades of experience in health care and communications, including military and civilian nursing practice, management, education/training, public speaking, research, and consulting. She is owner/president of SJF Communications, based in San Diego, California. SJF Communications provides public relations, marketing, social media, websites, writing, filmmaking, acting, public speaking, mentoring and photography. She currently teaches "Capturing Your Creativity with Haiku" workshops and has published poetry and articles on a variety of topics. In addition to being on the advisory board of San Diego Film Week, Susan is a member of SAG-AFTRA,  American Legion Post 43, Veterans in Media & Entertainment, San Diego Writers Ink  the San Diego Press Club, the Southern California Writers Association, the Army Nurse Corps Association.  Since 2017, she has been a Mentor in San Diego State University’s Aztec MentorProgram. April is National Poetry Month Please join us on April 18th at 2 pm when we present Poetry for the Dementia Journey, an AlzAuthors Live! Virtual Q&A featuring several of our poets. Subscribe to our website at alzauthors.com to receive notice of these events. After the Podcast Read Susan's AlzAuthors post: Susan J. Farese Reflects on Alzheimer’s and Nursing in Poetry Buy the book: Purchase Poetic Expressions in Nursing: Sharing the Caring Note: We are an Amazon Associate and may receive a small commission from books sales. Listen to Susan read Ann's Zest Ends, her tribute to her grandmother, on Audible Connect with Susan Website Facebook Business Page  Instagram @sjfcommo  Twitter @sjfcommo Contact: [email protected] *** About the Podcast AlzAuthors is the global community of authors writing about Alzheimer's and dementia from personal experience to light the way for others. Our podcast introduces you to our authors who share their stories and insights to provide knowledge, comfort, and support. Please subscribe so you don’t miss a word. If our authors’ stories move you, please leave a review. And don’t forget to share our podcast with family and friends on their own dementia journeys. We are a 501(c)(3) charitable organization totally reliant on donations to do what we do. Your generosity will help cover our many operating costs, which include website hosting and maintenance fees, service charges to keep things running smoothly, and marketing expenses to promote our authors, expand our content, improve our reach, and more. Our ongoing work supports our mission to lift the silence and stigma of Alzheimer’s and other dementias. To sustain our efforts please visit https://alzauthors.com/donate/ . Thank you for listening. We are a WCN Featured Podcast. Proud to be on The Health Podcast Network.   Want to be on the podcast? Here’s what you need to know. Thanks for listening. AlzAuthors.com Shop our Store    

Angela G. Gentile, MSW, RSW, is the author of two books in the AlzAuthors collection. She came to us in 2016 with her book, Caring for a Husband with Dementia: The Ultimate Survival Guide, inspired by her experience counseling eight amazing caregiving women. Her second book, Alzheimer’s, Dementia, & Memory Loss: A Helpful Guide for Caregivers, was recently published and was featured on our blog on February 10th. Her books have been referred to as "a first aid kit," for caregivers. A social worker specializing in geriatrics with more than 25 years' experience, Angela currently works as a consultant to assist families on a dementia journey using a variety of modalities. Her carer spans work in healthcare, private practice, long-term care, home care, and non-profits, and she has written seven books and countless articles, contributed to two books, and co-authored a mobile app for iOS called Dementia Caregiver Solutions. In 2021, she started up a little hobby business called Gentle Angel Treasures, which includes her handcrafted bracelets and jewelry made from genuine, semi-precious, crystal healing gemstones. Angela is married, has two adult children, and lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. When she is not working or making jewelry, she enjoys writing, travelling, photography, and exploring what it means to age well. In this episode we discuss the value of working with a social worker one-on-one to navigate the myriad of issues related to dementia care, how language affects discussions around dementia, the upside to using humor in caregiving, and the realities of canine cognitive dysfunction, aka doggie dementia. After the Podcast Read Angela's AlzAuthors posts: add the second Caring for a Husband with Dementia: Self-Help Book Educates, Supports and Comforts Purchase Angela's books: Caring for a Husband with Dementia: The Ultimate Survival Guide Alzheimer’s, Dementia, & Memory Loss: A Helpful Guide for Caregivers Note: We are an Amazon Associate and may receive a small commission from book sales. Check out Dementia Caregiver Solutions, app Watch the video for Brent Hoag's song, "Sail On, which he wrote as a poem for his wife, Sally, who lives with Alzheimer’s. The words were put to music by Songfinch and are sung by Effee. Connect with Angela Website Facebook  Dementia Caregiver Solutions Support Group on Facebook Instagram  YouTube  *** About the Podcast AlzAuthors is the global community of authors writing about Alzheimer's and dementia from personal experience to light the way for others. Our podcast introduces you to our authors who share their stories and insights to provide knowledge, comfort, and support. Please subscribe so you don’t miss a word. If our authors’ stories move you, please leave a review. And don’t forget to share our podcast with family and friends on their own dementia journeys. We are a 501(c)(3) charitable organization totally reliant on donations to do what we do. Your generosity will help cover our many operating costs, which include website hosting and maintenance fees, service charges to keep things running smoothly, and marketing expenses to promote our authors, expand our content, improve our reach, and more. Our ongoing work supports our mission to lift the silence and stigma of Alzheimer’s and other dementias. To sustain our efforts please visit https://alzauthors.com/donate/ . Thank you for listening. We are a WCN Featured Podcast. Proud to be on The Health Podcast Network. Want to be on the podcast? Here’s what you need to know. Thanks for listening. AlzAuthors.com Shop our Store