Club Sandwiched Podcast

Your parent's Primary Care Physician is not just there to take their blood pressure and prescribe meds. Look to them as a HUGE resource for your entire family when navigating the Sandwich Generation waters. Listen to Internist, Dr. Arielle Levitan, provide useful, real life information. Honestly can't believe how much new information is out there in the last few years. Following Dr. Levitan's advice can make all the difference in the world to you and your sanity!  Who to turn to to evaluate whether your parent should still have a driver's license Understanding privacy laws and what you need to do to comply with HIPAA New ways to communicate with your parent's Dr. (living in or out of town) How to stay in the know with your parent's health And even more!  

Listen to 2 sisters (one of them ME!) talk about taking care of their dad; the perspective from being the one in town (ME) and the other from 1,700 miles away. This therapy session gets to the heart of what it’s like being the sibling out of town and how Cindy struggled with the personal guilt, staying in touch, and helping out. Sometimes we flew by the seat of our pants, but in hindsight, we shouldn’t have. Cindy and I offer some solid tips on how to make this really (really) hard situation work for your family.

The time has finally come to move your parents out of their house – whether it’s to downsize or to move them into an Assisted Living facility. How do you even start to wrap your head around tackling a house full of “stuff”? Stephanie, house organizer extraordinaire, provides listeners with a ton of useful tips; where to donate, how to dump stuff, who to hire to help, how to remember who gets what in the house and on and on and on. And, find out why Post It Notes can be your best friend. Trivia question: Can you donate a “tube TV” that’s older than 5 years? Listen to find out.

If you’re in the Sandwich Generation, more likely than not, your parents are on medicines.  Maybe just one prescription, if you’re lucky, or maybe enough to fill up an entire closet.  Either way, prescriptions are a serious topic and we need to be advocates for our parents.  The more we know about how to handle their meds, the more we can protect our parents.  In this episode, Janice – a pharmacist for over 30 years, talks about: -Refills: When to refill, how to refill. -Generics:  Who orders them. -Pill containers: Best ways to organize and a little known fact about something pharmacies will do for their customers. -Formulary changes: When you’re denied, what do you do?  -Medicine lists: How to organize, what to do with a list and why a paper list might be better than a digital one. Take a look at the list I kept for my dad that saved me from going crazy!   And much, much more. 

You’ll think you’re just being entertained when listening to my guest, Nevenka, a real life “Sandwich Generationer”! But between stories about taking care of her mom, dad, husband, son and daughter – you’ll actually learn a thing or two along the way; such as why the color of a pill isn’t enough to call in a refill, planning for a “2 bedroom condo” is a hard but necessary conversation and involving your kids even when they are young.   The artist of this masterpiece is none other than my guest, Nevenka, herself. When words weren’t enough to explain to her husband how she was handling it all…she resorted to art.

Buckle up. This is the first in a series of dreaded conversations you’ll have with your parents about the need for a caregiver.  Listen to the podcast, follow these first 2 steps and maybe it won’t be as bad as you think. 1. BROACHING THE DREADED SUBJECT WITH YOUR PARENT: How to recognize when they need one. How to tip toe gently around the subject. There are even some suggested conversation starters. 2. WHERE TO FIND THAT 5-STAR CAREGIVER: Hint – network, network, network.  FUTURE PODCASTS ON THIS SUBJECT: Interviewing, salary, prep work, and more. 

The Sandwich Generation is actually a real thing – taking care of an older generation (your parents) and a younger generation (your kids) all at the same time. Listen to how Club Sandwiched got started, why it got started and how it can be your go-to podcast as you navigate 2 generations 50 years apart.  You just need someone who gets it. Caregiving, medical, finances, digital apps… Club Sandwiched is that place.