tendercare

Chris Punsalan

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Health & Fitness

a show about building tendercare

Jul 14

The Children's Book Making Caregivers Feel Less Alone

The River of Caregiving: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/711679/the-river-of-caregiving-by-jocelyn-chung-illustrated-by-sarah-gonzales/ What does care look like when nobody has the words for it? That's what this episode is about, through a new children's book called The River of Caregiving. We sat down with author Jocelyn Chung and illustrator Sarah Gonzales to talk about the book and the caregiving stories behind it. Jocelyn wrote it while caring for both of her grandparents through cancer diagnoses, and we get into how that turned into a story built around water, memory, and family. Sarah shares how she illustrated the book without ever talking to Jocelyn during the process, working straight from Jocelyn's own family photos. We talk about growing up in four generation households, staying close to family as adults, keeping language and culture alive across generations, and how the book deals with loss in a way that's honest but still right for a kid. Jocelyn Chung: → https://www.instagram.com/jocelynschung → https://www.jocelynchung.com Sarah Gonzales → https://www.instagram.com/sgonzalesart → https://sgonzalesart.com/
Jul 7

How to Get Your Parents Talking About Money and Care

Most families avoid this conversation until a crisis forces it. By then, the choices are already gone. In this episode, Shauna, Founder and CEO of tendercare, sits down with Dan Henderson (Assisted Living Locators) and Zahya Beall (Damefender Financial Partners) to talk about why the money conversation with aging parents is so hard to start, and the one trick that actually works: flip the script. Instead of asking your parents about their plan, tell them about yours. Watch what happens. They cover what the AARP study found about the checkbook knowing before a diagnosis does, why the families who plan early keep their choices and the families who wait lose them, what actually happens the first time someone asks "who has power of attorney" and gets silence back, the widow's penalty and RMD squeeze most people have never heard of, and why waiting for one "big talk" is the wrong goal entirely. If you're the son or daughter trying to figure out how to talk to your parents about aging in place, long-term care, or elder care planning, this episode gives you a real way in. Links to resources: → Damefender Financial Partners: https://damefender.com/ → Zahya Beall LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zahya/ → Assisted Living Locators, Scottsdale: https://scottsdale.assistedlivinglocators.com/ → Dan Henderson LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danhenderson1/ → MIT AgeLab resources: https://agelab.mit.edu/resources → Find a tendercare Trusted Network member near you: https://trytendercare.com/trusted-network ----- tendercare is the caregiving app built by caregivers, for caregivers. Whether you’re supporting aging parents, caring for a spouse, or helping a loved one after a diagnosis, we make caregiving easier, safer, and less overwhelming. With tendercare, families can keep medical records, medications, and documents organized in one secure place, share updates with everyone at once instead of repeating themselves five times, store emergency information that first responders can trust, and connect with vetted elder care professionals through our trusted network. Caregiving is one of the hardest jobs in the world, but you don’t have to do it alone. Join thousands of families who are finding peace of mind with tendercare.
Jun 30

The Government Said We're The Blueprint to Elder Care

See if you're eligible for the GUIDE program: https://trytendercare.com/GUIDE Most families navigating elder care feel like they're figuring it out alone. No roadmap, no one to call, no idea what resources even exist. That's the problem tendercare was built to solve. This week, Shauna and Chris pull back the curtain on what it actually takes to build it. Shauna shares where tendercare is in its fundraising journey and what that process really feels like from the inside. The energy it takes. The right questions to ask. Why finding the right investor is less like a business transaction and more like finding the right partner. She also gets into why money has always been part of the caregiving story and why understanding it is one of the most protective things a family can do. Then the conversation shifts to what's happening on the ground right now. The team is personally calling hundreds of families to help them get through the GUIDE enrollment process. tendercare just launched a partnership with Vivo Health bringing free fitness classes to caregivers and seniors. And Shauna shares what it felt like to hear someone from the government say that tendercare might be the blueprint for how America thinks about aging. ----- tendercare is the caregiving app built by caregivers, for caregivers. Whether you’re supporting aging parents, caring for a spouse, or helping a loved one after a diagnosis, we make caregiving easier, safer, and less overwhelming. With tendercare, families can keep medical records, medications, and documents organized in one secure place, share updates with everyone at once instead of repeating themselves five times, store emergency information that first responders can trust, and connect with vetted elder care professionals through our trusted network. Caregiving is one of the hardest jobs in the world, but you don’t have to do it alone. Join thousands of families who are finding peace of mind with tendercare.
Jun 27

Why Does Helping Caregivers Sound Too Good to Be True?

Check eligibility for the GUIDE program: https://trytendercare.com/GUIDE Millions of families are caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's or dementia at home and most of them have never heard of GUIDE, a Medicare program that covers up to $2,500 a year in respite care, a 24/7 care navigator, and more. No income requirements. No out-of-pocket cost. And yes, it's real. In this episode, Shauna Sweeney (CEO of tendercare) breaks down exactly what GUIDE covers, who qualifies, and why the only real catch is the bureaucracy. She also shares the phone call she made to a caregiver named Lindsay and what happened when she told her the news. Beyond GUIDE, Shauna and Chris get into how tendercare handles hard feedback from investors, the mental framework that helps founders bounce back ("learn, burn, return"), and why a tiny team with the right focus can still do something significant. ----- tendercare is the caregiving app built by caregivers, for caregivers. Whether you’re supporting aging parents, caring for a spouse, or helping a loved one after a diagnosis, we make caregiving easier, safer, and less overwhelming. With tendercare, families can keep medical records, medications, and documents organized in one secure place, share updates with everyone at once instead of repeating themselves five times, store emergency information that first responders can trust, and connect with vetted elder care professionals through our trusted network. Caregiving is one of the hardest jobs in the world, but you don’t have to do it alone. Join thousands of families who are finding peace of mind with tendercare.
Jun 27

This Is What Changing Elder Care Looks Like

See if you qualify for the GUIDE program: https://trytendercare.com/guide Most people who try to fix something broken get told to be realistic. Shauna Sweeney, CEO and Founder of tendercare, heard a version of that. Someone she respected called what she was building "really noble" and said it in a way that made clear they no longer believed those two things could go together: doing good for families and building something that actually works. This episode is about what happens when you keep going anyway. Shauna and Chris get into her decision to go dark on social media during tendercare's most intense fundraising and building season, what she came back with, and what the company has been quietly putting together: a free Medicare-backed program connecting dementia caregivers to thousands of dollars in respite care, a platform being built to serve every family differently, and a vision for what elder care should actually feel like. Not a system to survive. Something to look forward to. If you're caring for an aging parent, navigating the elder care system, or just trying to build something meaningful without selling out the mission, this one is for you. ----- tendercare is the caregiving app built by caregivers, for caregivers. Whether you’re supporting aging parents, caring for a spouse, or helping a loved one after a diagnosis, we make caregiving easier, safer, and less overwhelming. With tendercare, families can keep medical records, medications, and documents organized in one secure place, share updates with everyone at once instead of repeating themselves five times, store emergency information that first responders can trust, and connect with vetted elder care professionals through our trusted network. Caregiving is one of the hardest jobs in the world, but you don’t have to do it alone. Join thousands of families who are finding peace of mind with tendercare.
Jun 27

Caring for a Parent with Alzheimer's Alone and Still Showing Up

Most Alzheimer's caregivers don't talk about the dark moments, resentment and grief that starts before the person is even gone. The feeling of watching your peers move forward while you stay in the same place year after year. Jessica Guthrie has been the sole caregiver for her mother Constance, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, for over 11 years. She gave up her career in Texas, moved back into her childhood bedroom, and has been showing up every single day since. In this conversation, Jessica breaks down what long term Alzheimer's caregiving actually looks like from the inside, why it took her until her mother was on hospice to feel at peace with her decision, and how she built a career helping companies actually show up for the caregivers they claim to serve. We talk about what it means to grieve someone who is still here, how to ask for help when you don't know what you need, and what she would tell every caregiver who is in the thick of it and cannot see the other side. If you are caring for a parent with Alzheimer's and doing it alone, we hope this episode finds you at the right time. Jessica Guthrie: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessica_c_guthrie/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicacguthrie/ Website: https://www.jessicacguthrie.com/ ----- Get a free emergency card: https://go.trytendercare.com/youtube tendercare is the caregiving app built by caregivers, for caregivers. Whether you’re supporting aging parents, caring for a spouse, or helping a loved one after a diagnosis, we make caregiving easier, safer, and less overwhelming. With tendercare, families can keep medical records, medications, and documents organized in one secure place, share updates with everyone at once instead of repeating themselves five times, store emergency information that first responders can trust, and connect with vetted elder care professionals through our trusted network. Caregiving is one of the hardest jobs in the world, but you don’t have to do it alone. Join thousands of families who are finding peace of mind with tendercare.
Jun 27

What Dementia Caregivers Get Wrong About TV | Allyson Schrier (Founder of ZinniaTV)

Most dementia caregivers never think twice about turning on the TV. It seems harmless and helpful. Allyson Schrier was caring for her husband after he was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia at 47. She noticed that regular TV wasn't calming him down, it was making things worse. The fast pacing, the complex plots, the characters he couldn't track. He would seize up, pound on his chest, eyes clenched shut. She couldn't find anything built for what he actually needed. So she built it herself. In this conversation, Allyson breaks down what regular TV does to a brain with dementia, why most caregivers don't realize it's a problem, and how she went from spouse caregiver to founder of ZinniaTV, a streaming platform built specifically for people living with memory loss. We talk about how to actually use TV as a caregiving tool, what content works and why, and what she'd tell every family caregiver who just got a dementia diagnosis. If you're caring for someone with Alzheimer's or dementia, we hope this episode is helpful. Learn more about ZinniaTV: https://zinniatv.com/ Get a free emergency card: https://go.trytendercare.com/youtube ----- tendercare is the caregiving app built by caregivers, for caregivers. Whether you’re supporting aging parents, caring for a spouse, or helping a loved one after a diagnosis, we make caregiving easier, safer, and less overwhelming. With tendercare, families can keep medical records, medications, and documents organized in one secure place, share updates with everyone at once instead of repeating themselves five times, store emergency information that first responders can trust, and connect with vetted elder care professionals through our trusted network. Caregiving is one of the hardest jobs in the world, but you don’t have to do it alone. Join thousands of families who are finding peace of mind with tendercare.
Jun 27

How One Caregiver Turned Her Worst Year Into a Company

Get a free emergency card: https://go.trytendercare.com/youtube When Shauna Sweeney's father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, she was crowding into empty conference rooms at work to talk him off a ledge between meetings while trying to look like everything was fine. She was an unpaid family caregiver managing a parent's Alzheimer's diagnosis with no roadmap, no support system, and no one at work who understood what she was going through. So she put out a sign within the Meta workplace asking if any other working caregivers were living this. Thousands showed up. None of them had the answers either. This episode covers the founding story behind tendercare, what caregiver burnout really feels like when you're also holding down a career, why Shauna stopped waiting for someone to fix the broken elder care system and built it herself, and the mindset she borrowed from running 50 miles with her dad that still shapes how she leads today. If you are caring for an aging parent, part of the sandwich generation, or doing this without enough help, we see you. ----- tendercare is the caregiving app built by caregivers, for caregivers. Whether you’re supporting aging parents, caring for a spouse, or helping a loved one after a diagnosis, we make caregiving easier, safer, and less overwhelming. With tendercare, families can keep medical records, medications, and documents organized in one secure place, share updates with everyone at once instead of repeating themselves five times, store emergency information that first responders can trust, and connect with vetted elder care professionals through our trusted network. Caregiving is one of the hardest jobs in the world, but you don’t have to do it alone. Join thousands of families who are finding peace of mind with tendercare.

a show about building tendercare

Creator

Chris Punsalan
Years Active

2026
Episodes

31
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© 2026 Chris Punsalan
Show Website

tendercare