The Caregivers Podcast

Dr. Mark Ropeleski

The cost & courage of caring - stories that spark resilience.

  1. 4d ago

    AI Scams Targeting Seniors: How Caregivers Can Protect Aging Seniors

    Your mother has sent money to a man she's never met. You ask to see her phone, and she puts it away. What do you do? And if she hands it over, are you ready for what else you might find? Here's how to protect an aging parent from scams without taking over their life. This week, Dr. Mark covers how deepfake and voice-cloning scams work, how to check a parent's phone without invading their privacy, and how to spot subscription creep. He also weighs monitoring apps against taking the phone away, and ends with a practical safety plan you can start this week. In 2025, people aged 60 and older reported more than $7.7 billion in losses to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Centre. Click here to watch a video of this episode. In this episode, you'll learn:✅ How to verify a "family emergency" call before sending money ✅ The red flags behind almost every scam: money, account access, secrecy, urgency ✅ What to say instead of "How could you fall for this?" ✅ What monitoring apps can and can't do for an adult ✅ What to do if a scam gets through Where to Report Fraud: 🇨🇦  Canada ▶️ Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre: https://reportcyberandfraud.canada.ca/ 📞 1-888-495-8501 ▶️ Also report to your local police (non-emergency line) 🇺🇸  United States ▶️ Federal Trade Commission: https://reportfraud.ftc.gov 📞 1-877-382-4357 ▶️ FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3): https://www.ic3.gov ▶️ National Elder Fraud Hotline: https://www.justice.gov/stopelderfraud 📞 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311) If someone is in immediate danger, call 911. Connect With Us:▶️ https://linktr.ee/thecaregiverspodcastBuy Us a Coffee:▶️ https://buymeacoffee.com/thecaregiverspodcast Subscribe to The Caregivers Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode. If you find these conversations helpful, please leave a review or share this episode with a fellow caregiver. 🔊 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-caregivers-podcast/id1842203665 🔊 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1fLSHPA7ZHbOpvrmcbfcd5?si=2a71d7c4e2e9427c

    AI Scams Targeting Seniors: How Caregivers Can Protect Aging Seniors
  2. Oct 19

    Caregiver Grief and Why You Don’t Just ‘Get Over It’ w/ Les Harp

    For a caregiver, grief doesn’t always start when someone dies. It can start months or even years earlier, while you’re still doing everything you can for the person you love. Then they die, and everything changes again. In Episode 56 of The Caregivers Podcast, Dr. Mark welcomes back hospice nurse and end-of-life educator Les Harp, known online as That Hospice Guy. Les was the primary caregiver for two wives, Cassie and Sonia, and lost both of them to cancer. He talks about caregiver grief from both sides of the bedside: anticipatory grief, the relief and guilt that so often follow a death, and the silence that comes when the caregiving suddenly stops. He also explains why grief isn’t something you “get over,” and how he found a way to build a life with love and joy in it again. Click here to watch on YouTube. Support Our Guest:▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThatHospiceGuy▶️ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@that.hospice.guy▶️ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/that_hospice_guy▶️ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61584427606316 Connect With Us:▶️ https://linktr.ee/thecaregiverspodcast Buy Us a Coffee:▶️ https://buymeacoffee.com/thecaregiverspodcast Subscribe to The Caregivers Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode. If you find these conversations helpful, please leave a review or share this episode with a fellow caregiver. 🔊 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1fLSHPA7ZHbOpvrmcbfcd5?si=2a71d7c4e2e9427c🔊 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-caregivers-podcast/id1842203665

    Caregiver Grief and Why You Don’t Just ‘Get Over It’ w/ Les Harp
  3. Oct 5

    When Caregiving Sucks: Real Advice for the Isolated, Exhausted Caregiver w/ Tiffany Lin Smith

    This week, Dr. Mark Ropeleski sits down with hospice nurse, author, and creator behind Broken and Brave Health, Tiffany Lin Smith. Known for saying the quiet parts about caregiving out loud on TikTok, Tiffany joins Dr. Mark to unpack the unvarnished realities of modern healthcare, the overwhelming demands placed on family caregivers, and why true survival requires self-preservation over performative self-care. Together, they confront systemic issues ranging from nurse burnout and bureaucratic charting overload to corporate healthcare priorities, the trillion-dollar unpaid care economy, and the dangerous assumption that families automatically know how to provide complex medical care. Tiffany also shares practical guidance on setting boundaries to protect relationships, holding honest end-of-life and goals-of-care conversations, managing sibling friction, and reclaiming your identity both during caregiving and after it ends. Click here to watch a video of this episode. Support Our Guest:▶️ https://brokenandbrave.org ▶️ https://www.tiktok.com/@brokenandbravehealthConnect With Us:▶️ https://linktr.ee/thecaregiverspodcastBuy Us a Coffee:▶️ https://buymeacoffee.com/thecaregiverspodcast Subscribe to The Caregivers Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. If you find these conversations helpful, please leave a review or share this episode with a fellow caregiver. 🔊 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1fLSHPA7ZHbOpvrmcbfcd5?si=2a71d7c4e2e9427c 🔊 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-caregivers-podcast/id1842203665

    When Caregiving Sucks: Real Advice for the Isolated, Exhausted Caregiver w/ Tiffany Lin Smith
  4. Sep 28

    Cancer Caregiving & Self Preservation w/ Charlotte Bayala

    When someone you love receives a cancer diagnosis, life shifts in an instant - and the waiting can feel endless. This week, Dr. Mark sits down with Charlotte Bayala, who has cared for her husband through thyroid cancer for nearly 14 years. Charlotte shares the raw, unspoken realities of family caregiving: the sudden thrust into medical procedures without training, navigating severe scan anxiety ("scansiety"), and why standard advice around "self-care" often fails overwhelmed caregivers. Together, they explore the essential shift from self-care to self-preservation, practical daily grounding rituals through breathwork, maintaining identity and humor, and what it truly takes to protect your connection with your partner through long-term uncertainty. Click here to watch a video of this episode. Support Our Guest:▶️ www.charlottebayala.comListen to The Cancer Caregiver ▶️ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-cancer-caregiver/id1504166813 ▶️ https://open.spotify.com/show/2K8kA9WHRK30733tjYfQaOConnect With Us:▶️ https://linktr.ee/thecaregiverspodcastBuy Us a Coffee:▶️ https://buymeacoffee.com/thecaregiverspodcast Subscribe to The Caregivers Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. If you find these conversations helpful, please leave a review or share this episode with a fellow caregiver. 🔊 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1fLSHPA7ZHbOpvrmcbfcd5?si=2a71d7c4e2e9427c 🔊 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-caregivers-podcast/id1842203665

    Cancer Caregiving & Self Preservation w/ Charlotte Bayala
  5. Sep 8

    How to Handle Sibling Conflict While Caring for Aging Parents w/ Fern Schumer Chapman

    Caring for an aging parent rarely brings adult siblings together the way we imagine. When one sibling carries the daily burden while another steps back - or swoops in at the last minute demanding an equal voice - resentment, grief, and exhaustion quickly take over. This week, Dr. Mark is joined by Fern Schumer Chapman, author of Brothers, Sisters, Strangers, for an unflinching conversation about sibling dynamics during parental decline. Together, they explore why caregiving revives childhood roles, why the opposite of estrangement isn’t reconciliation but peace, and how family caregivers can set clear guardrails to protect their own well-being. Guest Resources: Fern Schumer Chapman: Author of Brothers, Sisters, Strangers: Sibling Estrangement and the Road to ReconciliationClick here to watch a video of this episode. Support Our Guest:▶️ https://fernschumerchapman.com/ ▶️ https://fernschumerchapman.com/store/ ▶️ https://www.facebook.com/FernSchumerChapmanAuthorPage/ Connect With Us:▶️ https://linktr.ee/thecaregiverspodcastBuy Us a Coffee: ▶️ https://buymeacoffee.com/thecaregiverspodcast Subscribe to The Caregivers Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. If you find these conversations helpful, please leave a review or share this episode with a fellow caregiver. 🔊 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1fLSHPA7ZHbOpvrmcbfcd5?si=2a71d7c4e2e9427c 🔊 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-caregivers-podcast/id1842203665

    How to Handle Sibling Conflict While Caring for Aging Parents w/ Fern Schumer Chapman

Ratings & Reviews

4.6
out of 5
16 Ratings

About

The cost & courage of caring - stories that spark resilience.

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