AlzAuthors: Untangling Alzheimer's & Dementia

This podcast is a duet with authors Annette Jannuzzi Wick and Pauletta Hansel, both of Cincinnati, Ohio, who are not only good friends but collaborators on writing workshops. Both have cared for mothers with dementia. Annette is a writer, speaker, and author of  I’ll Have Some of Yours: What my mother taught me about dementia, cookies, music, the outside, and her life inside a care home, essays in...

Tom and Karen Brenner have a passion for helping those with dementia and their families connect on a meaningful level. Both bring their professional experience to their work. Tom is a gerontologist who specializes in creating dementia care programs that are strength-based and positive leaning. Karen is a Montessori educator who co-founded a Montessori school for children who are deaf. They have wo...

Welcome back to the podcast! This episode is a duet with two of our authors who happen to be years long friends brought together by their work in dementia care and the arts. Tryn Rose Seley and Mary Crescenzo are award winning authors and master teaching artists who have each worked for decades to empower caregivers and enhance the lives of those living with dementia. In this episode, we discuss t...

This episode is a replay of a recent panel discussion the management team did with Sue Evans of Kensington Senior Living. You'll hear us share our personal caregiving stories, and we'll explain why we chose to share them in our books. We'll also talk about the value of storytelling in caregiving and the many resources in our collection to support your journey. As this was a video event, you'll hea...

In this AlzAuthors Live! Virtual Q&A  Dementia with Difficult People  (November 8, 2022) you'll meet four of our authors who either cared for a parent who had hurt them in the past, or dealt with siblings who made caregiving difficult, or both. A professional mediator is also on hand to offer advice on how to navigate a dementia journey with a difficult person. Discussion topics: Heeding the c...

Welcome to the third and last episode in our 2022 Summer Book Series with HFC featuring Christy Byrne Yates, MS. Christy is an expert in navigating the challenges and opportunities in life, including living in the “Sandwich Generation” (those raising children who are also caring for an aging parent), special needs education, and parenting. A former school psychologist, she applied many of the skil...

Laura Davis and her mother had a troubled relationship that began in her teenage years. It seems Laura did not live up to her mother's expectations. They were often at war with each other and grew estranged over decades, finally coming to some sort of functional truce after Laura became a mother herself. When her mother was in her 80's and showing signs of cognitive decline, she surprised Laura by...

Welcome to the second in our 2022 Summer Book Series with HFC . In this episode, Renée Harmon, MD, author of Surfing the Waves of Alzheimer's shares her story of caring for her husband, Harvey, who had younger-onset Alzheimer's. This interview was recorded on July 12th. Christy Byrne Yates, MA moderated. We discuss the importance of acknowledging your vulnerability while caregiving, asking for and...

In this AlzAuthors Live! Virtual Q&A we explore the similarities and differences caregivers and those living with dementia encounter as they seek care and search for solutions to the many questions and problems a dementia diagnosis brings. The authors featured in this event represent the United States, Canada, and Argentina. We hope their stories will inspire and empower you on your own dement...

Susie Singer Carter is a Los Angeles-based creative specializing in film and podcasting. She’s a writer, director, producer, and actress. She’s also an advocate for dementia caregivers having been on a journey with her own mother for 16 years. This inspired her to write, direct and produce the 2018 Oscar Qualified short film, “My Mom and the Girl,” starring Valerie Harper in her final performance....

The podcast you are about to listen to is a recording of an event we did with Kensington Senior Living in June, 2022. "On the Same Page this Summer: A Collection of Stories to Support You on Your Caregiving Journey" features four authors discussing their personal dementia experiences. You'll hear from a young woman whose mother was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's when she was just 25; a pro...

Daniel Gibbs is a retired neurologist confronting his own early onset Alzheimer’s. His is a unique perspective once the doctor diagnosing other people’s cognitive issues and now the patient facing his own. Alzheimer’s disease was never on his radar, he says, because both of his parents died in midlife from cancer, but he unexpectedly discovered through genealogical research that he has two copies...

What are memories? Do our memories make us who we are? What happens to “us” when our memory fails, and cognitive decline ensues? I discussed these profound questions with one of my favorite authors, Patti Callahan Henry. She is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of sixteen novels, a podcast host, and a co-creator and host of the popular show, Friends & Fiction. Prior to becoming...

Welcome to the first in our 2022 Summer Series with HFC . We kicked off this season on June 14th with Ruth Stevens’ novel, Stage Seven . Christy Byrne Yates moderated. About Ruth Stevens Ruth Stevens believes in stories that make you laugh and cry. She says, “I like to write about the topics that worry me the most. Since I worry about a great many things, there is never a shortage of material. A r...

Caring for a father with a dementia diagnosis brings to caregiving its own special set of circumstances and considerations. In this AlzAuthors Live! Virtual Q&A we explore these changes and challenges with four of our authors. Their stories will inspire and empower you on your own dementia journey with your dad. This free virtual event was held on Tuesday, June 7th, 2022. The video replay is a...

“If there’s one thing worse than Alzheimer’s, it’s ignorance of the disease,” says Martin Schreiber, author of My Two Elaines: Learning, Coping, and Surviving as an Alzheimer’s Caregiver , where he tells the story of his caregiving journey with his wife, who recently succumbed to her illness. Written with Milwaukee author Cathy Breitenbucher, the book was recognized by Caring.com as one of its Bes...

Join the AlzAuthors team as we discuss the launch of our latest initiative, Custom Caregiver Collections. Managers Jean Lee, a co-founder, Ann Campanella, and Susan Landeis, and author Paulette Sharkey join host Marianne Sciucco to discuss the beautifully crafted table top wooden bookshelves holding a collection of approximately 15 to 18 books about Alzheimer’s and dementia, to support our goal of...

Chris MacLellan is well-known in caregiving circles. You might know him as The Bow Tie Guy – because, he says, “Wearing a bow tie is like wearing two smiles." Or you might know him from his caregiving blog, The Purple Jacket, where he chronicled his and his partner Richard’s journey with esophageal cancer. Or you might know him as the founder of The Whole Care Network, featuring a variety of podca...

When his parents began to show early signs of dementia, independent documentary filmmaker Frank Silverstein captured their story with the camera on his iPhone. This resulted in a short film he titled Lousy: Love in the Time of Dementia. The film has gone on to receive positive reviews, was screened at London’s Global Health Film Festival and the New Haven Film Festival, as well as in support group...

AlzAuthors Untangles 7 Years of Sharing Dementia Stories As we celebrate seven years of sharing dementia stories written from personal experience to support others, members of our management team reflect on where we've been, where we're going, and what AlzAuthors means to each of us on a deeply personal level. We are extremely proud of our accomplishments, in awe that we've managed to keep what wa...

Patti Davis is an actress, author, activist, advocate, and daughter of a United States president. She has written extensively about her father, Ronald Reagan, and his Alzheimer’s disease in both The Long Goodbye and now Floating in the Deep End . In 2011, she created a support group program for caregivers of people with dementia, called Beyond Alzheimer's. Floating in the Deep End is an extension...

About Christy Byrne Yates, MS Christy Byrne Yates is the author of Building a Legacy of Love: Thriving in the Sandwich Generation , part-memoir, part caregiver guide, written from her experience caring for two parents with dementia. In addition to being an author, she is a Licensed Educational Psychologist (LEP), a credentialed school psychologist, a speaker, and life coach. As the mother of two –...

Lynda Everman has spent most of her adult life as a caregiver: for her mom who was paralyzed by a stroke, her dad with vascular dementia, and her late husband with Alzheimer’s disease. These experiences inspired her advocacy for increased Alzheimer's funding for care and a cure. She and fellow advocate Kathy Siggins conducted a multi-year national campaign for a semipostal (awareness and fundraisi...

About Laurette Klier Laurette Klier believes ENGAGEMENT + NOSTALGIA = JOY. She is the author of Nana’s Books , heart-centered pairings of nostalgic literature and art, modified to meet the needs of seniors living with brain changes. Each book is carefully designed to bring you and your loved ones renewed connection, comfort, and joy. The books were inspired by her mother-in-law, Nana Mary, who lov...

About Tony Copeland-Parker When Anthony Copeland-Parker and his partner Catherine were in their 50’s, they found out that she had early-onset Alzheimer’s and he needed open heart-valve replacement surgery. They both had a history as endurance athletes, so, motivated by a love for running and travel, they sold their home, retired from their jobs, and became nomads, running marathons and half-marath...