Finding the Light
The holiday season with its emphasis on light, ranging from Christmas tree lights to candles for Channukah and Kwanzaa, can…
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Caregiving May Include Wrong Turns
Best-laid plans can go awry. Two sisters whose 90-year-old mother had mild dementia thought that an assisted living facility might…
The Caregiving Lessons of Fall
Autumn with its cooler weather and falling leaves is a reminder that life is full of changes. But those same…
Brighten Your Caregiving LIfe with Arts & Crafts
Arts and crafts can be an easy way to enhance the lives of both caregivers and their loved ones. Creative…
Looking at Caregiving from the Other Side
Being a caregiver is hard, but being the patient can be even harder. A friend learned that herself last month…
10 Years of Giving!
Dear Friends, Today, I want to share with you my heartfelt appreciation for your support over our 10+ years of…
We all need each other, caregivers most of all!
I know this may seem like a harsh message to hear but I think it’s very important as we think…
Celebrate a Caregiver this May!
Hello supporters and friends 🤗 I once received a precious and unexpected present that so warmed my heart that it…
Two Caregiver Stories
The Kathi Koll foundation provides aid that is personal and unique to each client. That’s the point of it. The…
Fires, Floods, and Tornados: How Can Caregivers Plan for an Emergency?
Dear Family and Friends, I would like to start my blog by sending my utmost condolences to all who have…
Move, Move, Move
Actress Jennifer Garner is reportedly a huge fan of the “movement is medicine” adage. When she’s feeling down or worn,…
10 Years of Caregiver Support, Still Going Strong!
A caregiver yearned to take a bird photography class with her local museum, but she needed help. There was no one…
Musings on Hospice Care, Inspired by President Carter
Over a year and a half ago, President Jimmy Carter announced that he was entering at-home hospice care, which is…
Finding Your Loved One’s Way to a New Home
Choosing an elder care facility or retirement home for an ailing loved one can be a decision fraught with confusion…
Take a Moment and Read
One of summer’s delights can be cozying up to a good book. By delving into a character’s adventures, readers not…
How to Make Your Stress Work for You
What if stress is a good thing? Stress stems from caring about the events and activities in our lives. If…
Laugh, Laugh, Laugh
As a serious and dedicated caregiver, one of the best things you can do for yourself and your loved one…
What Happens Afterwards?
Caregiving can be challenging, overwhelming, and exhausting. Yet, when caregiving ends, emotions are fraught too. Not only do caregivers feel…
Let the Sun into Your Caregiving Life
First, a note of thanks to you! 🙏 We have entered our 10th year helping to bring some sunshine to…
A Holiday Check-in
Take a few seconds to consider the past month. How has your holiday season been? Joyful? Exhausting? Fun? Lonely? Or…
Finding a Way to Appreciate the Now
Some of the most precious years of my marriage happened after my husband, Don, had a stroke that left him…
Halloween and Caregiving: A Spooky Combination
🎃 Halloween is an odd holiday. Blend it with caregiving and you’ve got a spooky combination. 👻 Death and delight combine…
Pain and Strain: How to Avoid Both in Your Caregiving
For many caregivers, the most stressful challenge to providing in-home care is the physical strain that caregiving puts on their…
When Your Former Caregivers Need Your Care
As children, our parents can seem all-powerful. We go to them for advice, love, and acceptance. Yet, as they age…
Summer Reads for the Stressed Caregiver
One of the easiest ways to get away from the world is by opening a book. This can be particularly true…
The Second Annual “Surprise a Caregiver Day”
One in five Americans is a caregiver, and about one fourth attend to more than one person, according to the…
One Way to Get a Helping Hand
When someone’s health declines, one or more loved ones may step forward to become caregivers. Yet quite often, even several…
Guest Blog: Guide to Better Posture and Why it Matters!
Caregiving isn’t easy – in fact, it can be grueling. But sometimes, making seemingly minor lifestyle changes can uplift your…
Making One’s Way to the End
When President Jimmy Carter shared the news that he had chosen hospice care, he also reminded Americans that death is…
Embrace a New Year and a New Normal
Caregiving can be an ever-shifting challenge as a loved one’s health issues demand new treatments, new supports, and new routines.…
Is It Possible to Balance Work & Caregiving?
Caregiving can be a full-time job, but some caregivers have full-time jobs already. So how do they balance both? The…
When is it Time to Become a Caregiver?
My new life as a caregiver happened suddenly. My husband had a stroke, was paralyzed from the neck down, and…
How to Take Care of You
Caregivers often forget to prioritize their own care. An ill loved one’s needs may seem more urgent, but even in…
The Special Challenges of Caregiving with Siblings
When Anne’s father was dying, she couldn’t visit him. Pandemic restrictions at the nursing home meant that only her sister,…
How to Share Your Love & Care While Far Away
When the health of a beloved friend or family member falters, the responsibility for their care may fall on people…
Let’s Create “Surprise a Caregiver Day”
Sometimes caregivers feel invisible. They may toil alone, often with a loved one who, due to physical or cognitive issues,…
Anger Explosions and How to Handle Them
We all get angry. We can’t help it. It’s part of being human. Yet, as a caregiver, that emotion can…
When Grief Comes Too Soon
Grief and death generally go hand in hand. Yet grief can also come early, when death has yet to occur.…
How to Help Your Strong Friends
Most of us have likely heard the truism: If you need something done, ask a busy person. But a corollary…
Thank You for Making a Difference!
A new year can be a time for both gratitude and remembrance, but also anticipation for what the coming months…
Traditions and How to Enjoy Them
If you’ve ever seen the movie Fiddler on the Roof, then you’ve heard the word “tradition” sung with a verve that you’ll…
Fighting Fear in Your Caregiving Life
What scares you most as a caregiver? The ailing health of your loved one? Not having time for yourself or…
Tackling the Inevitable Changes in Your Life
One of the most challenging aspects of both life and caregiving is change. Change is a constant for all of…
Sleep and How to Get More of It
One of the easiest things we do in life is sleep. Once embraced in its warm folds, we recuperate, replenish,…
Get Moving! You Can Do It!
The demands of caregiving can make exercise seem like an unachievable challenge. Perhaps you can’t leave your loved one alone,…
Emerging from Our Caregiving Bubbles
The past year has been a challenging one, particularly for caregivers. In addition to the normal isolation and stress of…
Fighting for Your Loved Ones Against Internet Scams
Internet crime skyrocketed by 69 percent last year, and the elderly and disabled were one of the prime targets for…
A Changing World & How to Navigate It
Just over a year ago, change swept through the world. Active people were suddenly spending their days at home. Confusion…
Caregiving the Tiny Way
Sometimes the challenges of caregiving leave little time for caring for yourself. When your loved one’s needs are overwhelming,…
The Fruits of Kindness and Love
The past year has been a challenge, but it has also brought to the fore many helpers, from hospital workers…
How to Have a Happy Holiday (in a Pandemic)
The holidays can be a time of family, festivity, and fun. For some, they may also create loneliness and money…
Caregiving and Humor: An Essential Combination
Last month’s blog on the importance of laughter received such positive feedback that I thought the topic deserved a second…
Laugh, Laugh, Laugh: How to Bring Humor Into Your Caregiving Life
Laughter truly is the best medicine. When my husband, Don, suffered a massive stroke and became a quadriplegic, I thought…
Bring a Spark of Creativity Into Your Caregiving Life
Creativity and caregiving go hand in hand! Invariably caregivers have stories of how they used creativity to overcome problems and…
The Unpredictability of Caregiving
This has been a year of unpredictability for everyone, but even in normal times, unpredictability is often the constant companion…
Help Us Give a Helping Hand
This year has been filled with unimaginable difficulties and challenges for all of us, especially caregivers in need. The coronavirus…
Keeping Your Spirits Up in a Trying Time
In the midst of a pandemic, hope can seem hard to find. Anger, frustration, and dismay may seem like easy…
Guest Blog: Employment Rights for Caregivers
The American Cancer Society defines a caregiver as anyone not paid to provide care to a loved one. Whether a…
Navigating the Waters of Social Isolation
Across much of the world, social distancing has meant that caregivers can no longer visit relatives in nursing homes. Caregiver…
Coronavirus and Caregiving: Health, Home & Heart—A Team Effort
You may wonder what you can do as a caregiver to protect your ailing loved one. First, don’t panic. A…
Love and Caregiving: A Magic Combination
This love may flow back and forth between the one receiving care and the caregiver in a way that deepens…
Guest Blog: Millennials & Caregiving
I became a caregiver to my mother who was diagnosed with colon cancer the summer after I graduated from high…
Make Your 2020 Caregiving Year a Happy One!
A new year can be a time to reflect. How did the previous year work for me, my family, my…
How to Bring Joy into Your Caregiving This Holiday Season
Our holiday tradition always included making gingerbread houses. My husband, Don, and I would invite over a couple of our…
Family & Caregiving: A Thankful Combination
Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate family connections. However, for caregivers, family relationships can be complicated. Sometimes, resentment may arise…
Tackling Fear in Caregiving
Caregiving can be scary—not in the way a Halloween horror flick provokes fear—but instead the way real life does. Caregiving…
The Power of Caregiving Friends
When I was my husband’s caregiver, I wish I could have more easily connected with others experiencing similar issues. Now,…
Are you a caregiver sandwich?
As the summer comes to a close and the school year revs up, one category of caregivers faces unique challenges:…
Vacationing for Caregivers
Vacations and caregiving may not seem like natural partners, but they can be. Almost everyone needs an occasional break from…
The Gift of Reading
Even while stuck waiting in the hospital or sitting isolated at home, a book provides a simple way to transport…
It’s a vacation…until it isn’t!
The last thing anyone wants to do when planning a vacation is anticipate a medical emergency. Whether you’re in a…
Put spring into caregiving
Why not welcome the spring into your caregiving life! Newly blooming flowers and the warm spring sunlight can be a…
The Upside of “The Upside”
Caregiving is rarely the subject of a movie, but this year’s “The Upside” delves into the ups and down of…
Bringing Love to Your Caregiver
February is the traditional month of love. Stores leap at the opportunity to offer candy, flowers, and jewelry to lovers.…
New Year, New Caregiving You!
A new year can provide a special opportunity to reevaluate one’s life and make some new choices. Are you devoting…
How to Have a Happy Caregiving Holiday
How can you take extra time to make the holidays merry when you already have so much to do as…
Making Time For Gratitude
November, the month of Thanksgiving, is an ideal time to consider how giving thanks can improve our lives. As caregivers,…
It’s A Kick-Ass Kinda Day
Nearly thirteen years later I welcome the on-sale day for my memoir, Kick-Ass Kinda Girl. There are no words to…
Moving Caregivers from Surviving To Thriving
Caregivers often fall into existing in either crisis mode or chronic mode, according to Dr. Lee Baucom, author of “Thrive…
“Kick-Ass Kinda Girl: A Memoir of Life, Love & Caregiving”
I did it. I never thought I could, but I have! It’s hard for me to believe, but after more…
Bringing Technology to Caregiving
Just as new technology has changed television and telephones, it’s also changing caregiving. For busy caregivers who need time to…
Series: Expert Caregiver Tips from Peter Rosenberger
This year, I will be sharing insights from other caregiving experts like Peter Rosenberger, who I met when he interviewed…
Helping Caregivers Through Their Challenges
Sometimes life’s little things are hard to manage. For example, Jess Esquivel’s grandmother needed wheels and a basket for her…
Finding One’s Way As a Caregiver
When Tina Lewis’ mother became ill, life became tumultuous and exhausting. Not only was her mother suffering, but Lewis, an…
Bringing Back the Joy: How to Find Happiness for Caregivers and Survivors
When a stroke or other sudden health event has wreaked havoc on a couple’s life together, retaining intimacy and joy…
A Path to Emotional Support for Caregivers
Caregivers suffer disproportionately from depression, anxiety and loneliness, but each caregiver can take one step that will help combat all…
Getting Support: The Challenges Caregivers Face and How to Overcome Them
When people becomes parents for the first time, they encounter a new world with demands and stresses and joys that…
How to Find Help– Tips for Caregivers and Loved Ones
Strangely enough, when someone suffers from a stroke or other debilitating ailment, at least two people end up needing help—the…
Entering the Medical World As a Caregiver
When you are suddenly thrust into life as a caregiver, handling a loved one’s medical needs can be one of…
What to Do When the End Is Near
One of the most heart-wrenching aspects of being a caregiver is deciding how to let go of your loved one.…
How to Build a Caregiver Support System
When suddenly thrust into life as a caregiver, one needs support—financial, social, emotional, and physical—but how and where do you…
Financial Tips for New Caregivers
When one suddenly becomes a caregiver, the challenges can be immense and confusing.Aside from the varied emotional and medical stresses,…
Keeping Intimacy Alive
Keeping intimacy alive is a challenge in any relationship, but when one partner has had a stroke, the challenges can…
New Year’s Resolution For The Caregiver: Be Kinder To Yourself
It’s the New Year and that time that we start thinking about how we’re going to do things differently, and…
Enjoying the Holidays After a Stroke
After my husband suffered a catastrophic stroke in 2005, the holidays didn’t seem so merry. I found myself yearning for…
A Conversation with My Grandchildren
After a parent or grandparent becomes disabled, how will a child react? We recently did a piece that offered advice…
How to Talk to Kids When a Disability Strikes a Loved One
When a parent or grandparent has a stroke or other sudden health incident and has become fully or partially disabled,…
A KKF Recipient Shares What its Like to be a Caregiver
The following is a Q&A with Suzanne A., a Southern California-based caregiver and recent Kathi Koll Foundation recipient. Suzanne is…
Acceptance is the Answer
In our work with caregivers, one of the issues we see all the time is the challenge that people have…
Holiday Tips for the Caregiver
The holidays can be stressful under ideal circumstances, The holidays can be a tough time of year, particularly for caregivers.…
Signs of a stroke
With National Stroke Awareness Month coming to a close, I wanted to send a friendly reminder to everyone about the…
Being Prepared
Last week, I met a woman whose husband suffered a serious health incident. She was in the process of setting…
Coping with Guilt
We all experience feelings of guilt from time or time. As caregivers, we can feel guilty about leaving the patient…
The Best Way to Support Those at the End of Life
I’ve found most helpful in supporting those at the end-of-life is to focus on them and what they want, without…
How to Support Your Caregiver Friend
When a friend’s spouse experiences a stroke or other significant health incident, the inclination is to support the patient. Particularly…
Gratitude as a Tool
It’s November and the beginning of the holiday season, which has me thinking about the many blessings I have to…
Getting out of Feeling Overwhelmed
With the change of seasons now upon us and school and work schedules resumed, many of us can start to…
Honoring Life At All Stages
I traveled to Santa Barbara last week to tour two hospice houses and explore what other communities were doing to…
What NOT to do if you’ve got the blues
This week, I spoke at the Fullerton Rotary Club and got a number of questions from audience members about how…
Enjoying the Summer after Adversity
With summer already here, it’s gotten me thinking about the things I did for fun in the summer despite the…
It’s the Adversities in Life that Make Us Stronger
Summer is a bridge of time between spring and fall that gives us a time to relax and reflect. A…
Three things to help you get through adversity
I have received numerous emails from people asking us how I dealt with certain issues. Questions have spanned the spectrum…