Open Door Policy - with Jimmy Bryan and Lon Kieffer (Formerly The Caregivers‪)‬ Lon Kieffer

In this episode of the Caregivers Podcast, Lon sits down to discuss all things caregiving with Dr. Daniel C. Potts! Coauthor of A Pocket Guide for the Alzheimer’s Caregiver and one of Maria Shriver’s Architects of Change, neurologist Daniel C. Potts champions life-affirming care for those living with Alzheimer’s disease/Dementia and their care partners. On staff at Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center, Potts also is Founder and President of Cognitive Dynamics Foundation through which is channeled inspiration and hope born of caring for his father, Lester, who became an acclaimed watercolor artist in the throes of Alzheimer’s disease. Potts has told his father’s story of triumph, hope and creativity internationally.
Bringing Art to Life: https://wipfandstock.com/978166673696...
Our foundation website: www.CognitiveDynamics.org
Blog: https://danielcpotts.wordpress.com/ab... 

Joe Tanner is a natural!  He is the middle child of 8 that together maintained a rigorous schedule of visiting their mom while she was a resident in Senior Living.  So that he could remember his mom he started doing videos with her; to encourage and support others he started a Facebook page group for Caregivers called "You'll Always Be My Mama" that gained a worldwide following.  You have to listen to the podcast to learn why I have come to think of him as the Forest Gump of Caregivers because his Caregiver Personality keeps finding him successes on many different fronts. 

Mike is a 3rd Generation Professional Caregiver who tells the story of his youth growing up and around "Caring" environments.  He shares his Entrepreneurial efforts in other industries before returning to his roots of SeniorLiving and helping other organizations operate successfully before stepping in a CEO/Co-Founder of English Meadows, a small struggling Assisted Living community only to grow it into a successful company and "family" serving more than 500 Seniors all across the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Anastasia Valentino is a Millennial Caregiver/Registered Nurse and that was the topic I planned to discuss but that's not how this episode played out.  Anastasia works as an Intensive Care Unit nurse and as it turns out, she is truly a Corona Warrior as she gave me a lesson on what it is like to be on the forefront of Caring directly for people that have been affected by the Coronavirus Pandemic.

James might disagree, but he is a Caregiver.  His background is too complex to summarize here but suffice it to see he has been a lifelong leaner and student, an educator, a professional stand-up comedian and now, he is an Certified Dementia Practitioner and person living with Vascular Dementia.  You may never hear a more honest, positive and eloquently expressed perspective of what it is like living with dementia... and having an imaginary Hippopotamus!

Kay is one of my favorite people and she means a lot to me, even though we have only met in person twice!  Widely known as "America's Funniest Stressbuster" Kay earned her chops from real life.  As a successful (and self absorbed) professional touring comedian she returned home for her father's funeral and saw that her mother was also failing in health.  She became her mother's Personal/Family Caregiver for 7 years and was forever changed.  Now she is a successful touring and "Funny Motivational Speaker" and she once rescued me when I felt like an impostor... and she did it again on this podcast  This was a treat and I hope you will enjoy this episode.