THE Radio Show for Family Caregivers 5/5/19

This is Hope for the Caregiver. I am Peter Rosenberger and we are so glad that you are with us.

800-688-9522 if you want to be a part of the show. This is the nation's number one show for the family caregiver. Those individuals who volunteered to put themselves between a vulnerable loved one an even worse disaster.

And they do it day in and day out. Somebody who is dealing with a chronic impairment of some kind. I'm not talking episodic. You still will function in that regard when it's something that's a short term for sprained ankle, things like that. But I'm talking about people who have a chronic impairment.

And what does that look like? What does it look like to help those individuals? What does it look like to help somebody with Parkinson's for example?

Somebody with Alzheimer's? And all these things that are involved are affecting so many people, 65 million people. And they are struggling. They are sometimes just going into dark depression, dark thoughts themselves. They're weary. They're at their wits end. There's so many different scenarios going on. How do you help these people?

And what does it look like? What's the vocabulary? What do you say to somebody like that? And this show is all about equipping and strengthening the family caregiver and building them up in a way that they can understand and helping them get to a place of safety. And we are thrilled that you're here with us and part of the show. 800-688-9522.

800-688-9522 if you want to be on the show. And we have a lot of things going on. I do want to recognize a new station. Well, I tell you what, before I recognize something new, let's talk about something old, something borrowed, something blue. You know, as the Baron of the board assaulted a sound, the Earl of Engineering, the man who is so cool that smooth jazz listens to him. He is the Count of Mighty Disco. John Butler, everyone. Good afternoon, Nashville and surrounding areas and everyone across this great nation enjoying the smooth sounds of swinging, caregiving, whatever. I don't know.

The smooth sounds of Butler. Yeah, there you go. Right on. And how are you feeling? Grand as always.

I'm hanging in there like a hair in a biscuit. Okay. We could have gone all day without that.

I need a folksy, you know, metaphor, idiom for the show. You know, there you go. You know.

It's for those people at McDonkin. Yeah. Okay.

If that helps you. Listen, KJJC AM 1230, big talk station in Salt Lake City. Hey, all right. Today's our first day with these folks. Well, our apologies. God bless you for your lack of judgment. No, we are thrilled to be with you out in Salt Lake.

Our brother lives just south of Salt Lake. Okay. And I don't think he had anything to do with the station. In fact, I'm pretty sure he didn't because if it'd been known, he probably would have protested. He'd been out there with the side.

I've known him for a long time. What are you people thinking? No, we're thrilled to be out there at KJJC. And thank you. Thank you for taking value in what we're doing and reaching family caregivers. And this show is all about bringing folks that have a level of strain in their life and struggles.

And we want to help them navigate to a place of safety. We want to lighten their hearts. At the end of this show, I know that I've been successful if your heart is a little bit lighter. I don't want you to feel beat up, to feel in any way that you're coming up short or reinforce any kind of negative things that you're already doing to yourself. I want to help peel away some of that so you can see that you're doing something extraordinary.

You're helping an impaired individual. And it doesn't come without cost. It doesn't come without scars. It doesn't come without brutal challenges. But it also comes with joy. It also comes with beauty. And you can grow as a person in ways that you probably would never expect to.

And you can do this. You can live a healthier, calmer, and even more joyful life dealing with the challenge that you're dealing with. It's not easy. And you can't do it alone. That's why we do the show.

So that you know that you're not alone, that there are other people that are punching through this. You do not have to cut your way with the machete through the jungles of Borneo on this one. But that's a reference, isn't it, Jon? I'm just going to give you the thumbs up on that one.

You keep digging that hole, buddy. No, no. That's a reference. But that's what it feels like sometimes since you're out there. I remember, you're a Boy Scout.

You're an Eagle Scout. I am. And when you went camping, did you ever go camping over in Western North Carolina area?

No, but close enough. In the Smokies and Appalachia and stuff like that. Okay. Well, in the Smokies.

Okay. Did you ever camp? I mean, did you ever go backpacking with maps and compass versus trails?

Absolutely, yes. It was called orienteering. Yes, we did that growing up.

I did that. And at one point, the rhododendron was so thick, we had to use whistles. That's how thick it was because we didn't want to get separated with it. And we were using maps and compass and our guide, it was kind of a challenge thing. And we had to get to certain destinations by the end of that evening and that kind of stuff. And I think that's the way it is for caregivers sometimes that we need to use whistles.

It gets a little bit gnarly. Well, be careful though, because whistles can sometimes mean terrible trouble and be an alarm. Well, in our case, we had special kind of whistles. Right. Okay. Yeah, yeah. We need some sort of communication. Crackerjack whistles. Yeah, there you go. But no, that's...

Came out of a box of Captain Crackers. But that's what it's like though for us as caregivers is that we have to have a team approach to this because if you try to do this by yourself, you're going to get turned around and you can't plot a course very easily by yourself. You can do it. I mean, when you're out backpacking with the competence of the map, you could use trees and all that kind of stuff to do it, but it's so much more easier if you've got another person with you.

Oh, yeah. And that's the way it is with caregiving. It's hard enough.

Don't try to do this alone. Friends don't let friends care give alone. Use the buddy system.

Well, yes, that's true. Use the buddy system and we'll be your buddy for this hour. Hey, right on. We are the caregiver buddies. Hey, 800-688-9522. If you want to be on the show, you can follow along on Facebook Live at Hope for the Caregiver.

And then also we put the show out on podcast a little bit later and you'll be able to see that. And everything's at hopeforthecaregiver.com if you want to follow along. Let's get right to our caregiver tip of the day. Our caregiver tip of the day brought to you by AARP of Tennessee. AARP of Tennessee. AARP.org slash TN. Take advantage of the resources they have.

Think about it today. AARP.org slash TN. So many resources out there available for caregivers, specifically for caregivers. And I want you to take advantage of those today. We as caregivers need to look for help wherever we can find it.

And would you do that today? All right. Our caregiver tip of the day is an odd tip.

Well, look. Yes, I know, John. It's an odd tip and I'll tell you why. Because it's related to the culture we now live in. Some of the tips that we do transcend the culture. They're universal. They are indeed.

And they stand the test of time. This one is unique to our time frame moving forward. Okay. And that is watch the pictures you post of your loved one in public.

Good call. Watch the pictures. I'm a member of several online groups. And I'm amazed at the horrific pictures people post of aging parents in the throes of whatever they're dealing with.

And I know these are closed groups. But it doesn't matter. Once you give that picture to Facebook, Facebook owns it.

And if you don't believe them, ask them. Yeah. And this is all of the discussion of whether or not this is right or wrong aside.

The practical nature of this is that if you put anything on the internet, assume that it will be used against you in a court of law. Yeah. And so, Gracie and I are out in the public quite a bit.

So there are a lot of pictures of us out there. Yeah. Okay. And I control that, I think, as well as it can be.

Well, if you're out in public, there is no expectation of privacy. Right. So that's... You control it what you can.

But this is the way that... We live in a free society so you take some good with the bad. But there are pictures of Gracie that I'm not going to post. Of course.

And I want to protect her. And there are pictures of me I'm not going to post. Well, I mean, most of them. I think that's what I'm saying. But the thing is, is what I'm trying to grab across to people that sometimes I think people lose sight of just what social media is.

And would you post this same picture out on a billboard on the highway? Yeah. Because that's what you're doing. And this is not to say that there's something conspiratorial going on or anything like that. We're just trying to... We've got this digital age and we're just kind of feeling our way through it. We haven't really grown into the technology with the level of maturity that says, oh, maybe this is not a good idea.

It's like if we dropped a fully functional printing press into biblical times. It's very strange and powerful what we have here. And we haven't figured out the ethics around it yet. Yes. Well said.

And I think that we do ourselves a favor if we err on the side of conservatism on this, of just being a little bit more discreet. And a lot of times people use social media to gain some type of affirmation for themselves. Yeah. It's a substitution for things like social clubs or whatever. And that's fine, but we haven't figured it out yet. Like I said, yeah.

If you need affirmation, there are healthier places than social media. Oh, yeah. And you know what? By the way, you could call into this show and we're going to affirm you as a caregiver without exposing your identity. And we'll probably crack some jokes and have a good time too.

We will, but we're not going to expose your identity. And that's the whole point of this is that we don't do this on Facebook or Twitter or anything else or Instagram. And really think through before you post a picture of anything really nowadays, because this stuff gets out there and it's out there. And it is the wild west on a lot of things. And so it's just a matter of being a little bit more prudent.

And also caregivers themselves tend to... Well, they need to reach out somehow. Yeah. But here's a thought. If you're processing these things, don't process your pain and your angst and all that stuff in a public forum. Okay. Process the pain privately. Share the process publicly, but process the pain privately.

Say that seven times fast. Because well, but that's something that we as caregivers can learn to do and do more in a healthy manner. Okay. We don't need to share all our business out there on the internet. Okay. And you certainly don't want to expose your loved one about it. Okay. We get it. It's tragic, but don't put those kinds of pictures out there. Okay. Just be very careful on what you do.

Friends come and go, but the internet is forever. It is indeed. Hey, this is Hope for the Caregiver. This is the nation's number one show for the family caregiver. We're glad you're with us. 800-688-9522. 800-688-9522. Don't go away. We'll be right back. Welcome back to the show for caregivers about caregivers hosted by a caregiver.

This is Peter Rosenberger. This is Hope for the caregiver. This is the nation's number one show for the family caregiver. We are thrilled to have you along with us. Welcome again.

KJJC out in Salt Lake. Thank you for being a part of the show and this network now, and just welcome. Thank you for caring about caregivers and what we can do to help them. Why do we help the caregiver? What's in it?

What's the deliverable for this? And it is when you help a caregiver, you actually help two people. There are a lot of people in this world that are struggling with various afflictions, but every one of them have a caregiver in their orbit somewhere.

And if we don't help that individual, what happens to that person who's struggling? And I look at all the people out there talking about things and this particular ailment, this particular affliction, so forth, but they usually fail to mention the family caregiver. And this show is committed to that because I understand the journey. 33 years into it, live with, my wife and I live with a tough reality, 80 plus surgeries, both of her legs amputated multiple times.

I mean, they not only just did they amputate, they had to go back and re amputate certain times on both legs. And 90, 100 doctors have treated her, 12 different hospitals, seven different insurance companies. I get the journey and she lives with a significant amount of pain since 1983, since Reagan's first term.

So we get this journey, we get it extensively. And I also understand what it's like for the family caregiver to watch this thing and go through this kind of angst and torque. And so what we want to do is help provide practical help and navigate caregivers away from that cliff where they can be hanging and just really in great danger and move the way to a place of safety and then start developing healthy strategies for their life. And we cover everything from physical stuff, physical stuff, emotional things, professional things, whatever we can do to help the family caregiver.

We're pretty one-sided and pretty focused on that. And you can always follow along at hopeforthecaregiver.com. Let's get right to our today's senior moment. I don't need your rocking chair.

Your chair is old, are you missing it? Yeah, there you go. Best theme for this.

The one and only George Jones. Hey, listen, our today's senior moment brought to you by Morning Point Senior Living and Memory Care Center, morningpoint.com, P-O-I-N-T-E. John, it is May. So it is.

Now, do you know what this means this time of year? You tried this on me a couple of weeks ago. And you failed. No, I didn't fail. I just didn't play it long.

You failed miserably. No, this time of year, we've got a lot of graduations. Yes, we do. We have a lot of weddings coming up next month and a lot of family reunions coming up in July, around the July 4th and so forth, a lot of picnics and events that are coming up.

Outdoor grilling. All the above. Yes. And yet so many caregivers are isolated. They are just, they're having to turn down. Don't say no anymore on these RSVPs. If you're a caregiver, I have a solution. Ah, are you ready? I am.

It was kind of a rhetorical question. Hi, I'm ready. I'm dad.

God love you. Morning Point has a program they do. You give them a call and you set up an appointment with a nurse and they will do an evaluation of your loved one with all the special needs that you have with that loved one, whether it's meds, whether it's mobility impairments, whatever it is, dietary, doesn't matter. And then once you are in their system, you can call them up at a moment's notice and for less than the price of most hotels per night, you can take your loved one to a place that knows them, is prepared for them, is equipped to take care of them, will feed, clothe, bathe, engage all those things. They're not going to just sit them in a room. They're going to engage them. They're going to have a great time with them.

They're going to, they're going to have activities at whatever level they need to have it. And you can do this for one night. You can do it for a weekend.

You can do it for a week, do it for a month, whatever is necessary, because now you have somebody who's going to have safety, security, all the above involved in caring for your loved one, meals, everything. Now think about what it's going to cost to bring somebody to your home, to staff them all day long throughout the night, 24 seven, when you're gone and all the prep work you got to do, and to make sure that it's getting done right versus people that this is what they do all day long. This is what they do in state of the art facilities. These aren't rundown facilities here. These aren't, you know, some kind of shady acres retirement home. These are engagement centers that give you that peace of mind that you can trust your loved one in a place. No strings attached, just one night, 10 nights, it doesn't matter. So if you want to go to that commencement, if you want to go to that wedding, if you want to go to that, that family reunion, if you just want to get away for the weekend, how'd you like to have a partner like that, that you can count on to take care of your loved one in a way that you want it done, that you know, they're going to be safe.

That's morning point. Call this number. Ready? 615-482-8643. 615-482-8643. Lori Domer, call her.

You don't even have to live in Tennessee. You could have a loved one in one of the states that they cover. Call them. 615-482-8643. Friends don't let friends caregiver alone. Don't do this by yourself. Call a friend.

615-482-8643. This is Peter Rosenberger. This is Hope for the Caregiver. We'll be right back. Welcome back to the show For Caregivers About Caregivers hosted by a caregiver.

This is Peter Rosenberger. I am glad that you're with us. You want to be a part of the show. 800-688-9522. 800-688-9522. And also you can follow along on Facebook live.

Hope for the Caregiver and our Twitter handle is Hope the number four caregiver. You know, and if you just run out of things to plug in, just Google me. I'm out there. Google John while you're at it. I don't know if he's out there. No, don't.

Actually, you know what? No, because my name is John Butler. There's a lot of us. So if you Google John Butler, you're going to get a very good guitarist from Australia. That's what you're going to get.

He has a trio. It's wonderful. But you're a fine pianist from Nashville.

Oh, well, thank you. I appreciate that. But we're out there. John and I are out there. But we want you to be a part of it. We don't want you to be so disjuncted. Caregivers suffer from three I's.

You'll hear this a lot on the show. Disjuncted is a D though. Disjuncted? That's what you said. What did I say?

To be so disjuncted or whatever. I'm being silly. Ignore me. You don't have to tell me twice.

Apparently I do. To ignore you. Exactly. Thank you very little. All right, we digress.

800-688-9522. But no, caregivers suffer from three I's. We lose our independence, we become isolated, and we lose our identity. And that's why we do the show is to speak to those three things, particularly the latter two. I want to help caregivers understand number one, they're not alone. That they're not isolated. That they're not separated from everyone. It feels like that. It really does. And so we're going to take community to you.

That's why we do the show. I want you to hear a friendly voice who has been there, done that, got the scars, and is blazing a trail for others to be able to travel this a little bit smoother. I didn't have a national radio show when I was doing this starting out. I became a caregiver when I was 22. I didn't have all this. But I've aggregated a lifetime of experiences to help, things I've learned to help you and myself better navigate the future stuff that's coming down the path.

I'm still doing this. And on any given day my situation is not as dire as some. And on any given day my situation is more dire than most. Gracie lives with a lot of stuff, man. I mean, she deals with a lot of real serious challenges.

Now we've learned to navigate through these things where we're not just over here just groaning and whining all the time. My wife, anybody that knows her knows that, man, this is a woman who loves life. And by the way, Jon, I can't give any details today, but I will soon. She's getting in the studio next week. And we've already laid down the track. She did kind of a scratch vocal. And she's doing this with a very, very, very cool artist. The two of them are doing a duet together.

Oh, right on. And let me tell you something. I was watching her sing. I don't think she's ever sounded better. I mean, she's just got this richness to us where she's really kind of found that place in her life where she sings and she owns what she sings about. And it's beautiful to watch. And we'll debut the song on the show. I promise you we will. That's the advantage of having your own show.

And speaking of, just a little programming note. One of my favorite guests we've ever had on the show and I loved him as a comedian before I ever started doing the show. Jeff Allen. Oh, he's coming back right on.

It'd be at the end of this month. And he's out on his tour right now. That is just hilarious. I mean, this guy is just so funny. And I want to start introducing more comedians and people who, but the people who are not working out their angst on stage, but just are able to see the funny side of life in the midst of sometimes great sorrow. And they are able to offer that lifeline of humor to others. I think that's really important for us as caregivers is that we learn to lighten up a little bit. That's the only way Gracie and I have been able to make it. We've cried enough tears, but do we laugh enough?

I don't think so. And so that's one of the things we want to do on this show. And that brings me to a letter that I just received from a listener.

When I saw it, it really broke my heart. And the show is this listener's opportunity just to kind of listen. They use this as a time for just to decompress from the stuff that they deal with. You've got a seven year old with special needs, but also this individual had a father that was disabled and had chronic pain for many, many years and was on a good bit of painkillers and was sent to the store to pick up the prescription when she was 22. And the pharmacist said, it's not ready yet.

It'd be a couple of days. And so she went home empty handed. And her father was so distraught that he ended up taking his life later that night. And it was, as you can imagine, just a horrific event.

And the chronic pain that her father was dealing with, plus the dependence on painkillers, took her father into some very dark places. And as caregivers, and the reason I share this, I want to be very careful not to expose anybody for this, but I want to say to that individual, and I wrote them back, but I also want to say to those who are in any way living with this kind of stuff right now, and these kinds of events happen, I'm asking you to take a leap of faith that this is not on you. This is not on you. You're dealing with forces that are way beyond your ability. And if somebody makes this type of decision, I beg of you, please detach yourself from owning that because you didn't do it.

Now, here are some things that we can do. Now, we can't guarantee results, but what we can do is we can commit ourselves to speaking life and hope into people's lives who are dealing with these kinds of things. And maybe they're medically dependent, which is far different than being addicted, but it still has a lot of the same properties on an individual. Maybe they are. Maybe they are in a deep place of depression.

Maybe you are as well. And it's going to be very difficult for you to speak life and hope into someone else's situation if you don't have any yourself. You can't give what you don't have, what you don't lean on. And so I'm asking you to back away from this and raise your hand and get some help for you. If you have somebody in your life who is taking any type of behavior-altering chemicals, whether under doctor's care or doing it illicitly, I don't care which one, no matter what the reason is or the impetus is, I'm asking you to get help for you, to help you deal with this. Whether it's through a 12-step recovery program like Al-Anon and things such as that, whether it's going to counseling, please get help for you. There are lots of licensed mental health counselors. Now, don't go to a life coach for this one.

Okay? God bless life coaches, but this is beyond their scope. You really need a trained mental health professional.

Now, that could be somebody that's a licensed political social worker or mental health counselor or psychologist, psychiatrist, but somebody who is licensed, who has really taken the time, and somebody that's not fresh out of the school. And speaking from personal experience, I might be saying a little bit too much, if the first one doesn't jive with you, shop around a little bit. Because this is not doctor shopping like that.

You are free to get up and move around. And there are lots of people out there that can help you. And it may not be the right fit. And the support group you go to may not be the right fit at first. You may have to try a couple of things.

Don't fight with it trying to force the issue, but glean what you can and then move to the place that best suits your needs. And when I say they don't need to be right out of the factory, you're going to have to have somebody with a little bit of experience on this. Not a little bit, a lot a bit. Because I, God love the ones coming right out of school. Yeah, because they're going to be the ones in the future that, and they have to get experience somewhere. And if it happens to work out, it happens to work out. But maybe take a look at somebody with experience.

Yeah, with a little bit of age on them. A little long in the tooth. And for this, and be relentless in protecting yourself. Be relentless in recognizing how important this is to you. If you're dealing with somebody who has a mental illness, same thing.

See, a lot of times caregivers make this mistake. We think that if we can get someone to stop behaving in a way that makes us uncomfortable or that's causing us pain, then we'll be okay. The absence of pain is not necessarily healing.

And it's going to take a long time to unravel certain things. You didn't get here overnight. You're not going to get out overnight and you become conditioned to these things. And so what I'm asking you to do is if you don't see it yourself, take the advice of someone who has been down some dark roads and get some help. Get some help. And you may say, well, they're not abusing drugs.

They're under doctor's care and they're doing these things. My wife doesn't abuse drugs. She never has. But she took an awful lot of them.

She'd be the first to tell you this. And that can take the patient and the caregiver down a dark path. The chemistry of your body does not care whether it's under a doctor's care or not.

It doesn't matter. And we can debate the nature of addiction or substance dependency all day long. But we do know chemically there are things that happen after you take these things at high doses for long periods of time and your body becomes dependent on them, whether or not a doctor has told you it's okay to do it. Drink six Red Bulls and see if your behavior changes.

Well, I mean, and I'm being absurd because I can. But think about this. If you drink a bunch of Red Bull, what's that going to do to your behavior? And now that's just something you could just buy in the grocery store.

Yeah. And then tomorrow you're probably going to have to drink six and then seven. And then, you know, who knows? Because it doesn't work as well because the chemistry doesn't care whether it's legal or not or whether it's ethical or not. It just does it to you. But how does that affect your behavior and then your relationships? All right. And I'm asking you to please respect what this is doing to you. Respect the trauma that's being done to your own heart, because the healthier you become, the better equipped you're going to be able to be to your loved one when the darkness overcomes them so much that they are even at that cliff of making very, very dangerous decisions. And I'm also asking you to secure things in the home. Make sure that firearms are secured. If you've got an addiction, a medical dependency, if you've got any type of behavior-altering chemicals being introduced over a long period of time like that or any short term, make sure that firearms are properly secured in the home. If you don't know how to do it, ask somebody for some help to come over safety and secure the weapons.

All right. We talk about taking car keys away from folks, but what about shotguns? And for those of you who are out there right now that are pastors that are listening or church leadership of any kind and somebody in your congregation has a substance abuse problem or addiction issue, would you please ask that question?

Are the firearms secured? If there's a diagnosis of Alzheimer's or any kind of dementia, would you ask that question? If somebody's battling severe depression, would you ask the question? You know, why not? Let's practice safety here. And don't think for one moment that when the funeral comes, then you'll be okay because even death doesn't stop the long-term impact of these things. And you as a caregiver deserve to have a fighting chance at being healthier.

Would you take advantage of that? Go visit a 12-step recovery program today. Call up.

Look online. They're out there everywhere. If you're dealing with somebody with a drug, Narconon or Al-Anon or all those kinds of things, they're out there and they're free. What have you got to lose? Hanging around a bunch of people struggling to wrap their minds around something they can't control and building each other up in that, what have you got to lose?

Keep listening to this show. I take very seriously, as goofy as John and I are, and we are, we take very seriously the fact that we may be the only person in your life right now that is willing to speak specifically to that level of heartache. And I take that very seriously. I know what it feels like to be floundering.

I know it in ways that I hope many of you never have to know. And I'm asking you to please respect the trauma that's being done to your heart and to your body. And raise your hand and ask for help. You do not have to go down. You do not have to be destroyed by this.

You don't. There is a path to safety. It's not an easy path. Never is. But easy is not our goal here. We're not looking for easy. We just don't want crazy. And what we do to ourselves sometimes is crazy.

We push ourselves to reckless extremes. It's time to change plans here. Let's give you a fighting chance at safety for you being healthier.

I'm not trying to make everybody happy. You're as happy and miserable as you choose to be, but I'm hoping I can point you to healthiness because healthy caregivers make better caregivers. This is hope for the caregiver. This is Peter Rosenberger 800-688-9522.

800-688-9522. We'll be right back. You know, it's a show for caregivers. Well, wake up. It's a show for caregivers. Welcome back to the show for caregivers about caregivers hosted by a caregiver and produced by one crazy count of mighty disco, John Butler, everyone.

Hey, thank you very much. We love him. We know him and we are.

Well, I mean, not in an order. 800-688-9522. The show is brought to you by Standing With Hope. I got an email back from a fellow named Nigeria. John, you get a lot of emails from Nigerians? Yes, I do as a matter of fact.

I bet you do. Not like this one. This is not a scam. This is a thank you note. And he's not asking me. He's not a prince that's looking to offload some money.

All right. Just need to get that routing number. No, this fellow's name is Joseph and we put a leg on him. And through our ministry, Standing With Hope, which is presenting sponsor of this show, and he's walking and we've treated him over the years, but his leg broke and he has to come all the way from Nigeria to be treated, which is a good way to get hurt. Did it?

No, it didn't hurt, but it frustrated me. He has to go to Accra, Ghana, which is where we hub out of. We work with the government of Ghana and we teach and equip local workers there to build limbs for their own people. And then we recycle parts from prosthetic limbs that come from all over the country to a local prison in Nashville where inmates volunteer to disassemble and it's run by CoreCivic.

CoreCivic.com is one of the many faith-based programs they have. And these inmates volunteer to do this and they take these legs apart that come in from all over and we reuse the foot, the knee, the pylon, the socket, the prosthetic socks, the liners, the sleeves, if they're in good shape, belt systems, whatever can be recycled, we will. And then we'll purchase new material, ship it all over to Africa and the workers there at the local clinic will treat these patients.

And then we send teams over there periodically and we're in constant contact with these individuals. But I got a beautiful thank you note from Joseph. Thank you, sir, for helping me walk again. If you ever want to give the gift that keeps on walking, well, today's your day.

How about it? Why don't you go out to standingwithhope.com and be a part of that? This is what you're helping do and you're advancing not only their mobility but their heart because we're sharing the gospel with them. And they go walking and leaping and praising God. Would you like to be a part of that? It's an extraordinary ministry, born from an extraordinary vision of Gracie after she gave up both of her legs and as a double amputee, she had this vision of being able to share the gospel, to share the hope of Christ to her fellow amputees in a unique and a profound way.

And she does. And we've been doing it since 2005. And we invite you to help us do it. Help us do it more or sponsor this show. Be a part of what we're doing here.

And we're all about for the wounded and those who care for them. And you see more about that at standingwithhope.com. That's standingwithhope.com.

Go out and take a look at it. Standingwithhope.com and be a part today of something extraordinary. Let's squeeze in a call here from Trinity in Carolina, South Carolina.

It's Trinity. How are you feeling? I'm feeling pretty good today.

Well, that's good to know. I'm not a caregiver, but I just wanted to, I listened to your show and I just wanted to make sure that your listeners just remember their mothers next Sunday on Mother's Day. If their mother's a caregiver, you know, see if there's a meal they can bring in to mom. If mom is the patient, just make sure that you remember her. Well said. That's worse than being forgotten on Mother's Day. Well said. And you know what, and for those whose mothers, and thank you for that.

Thank you for reminding us. And those whose mothers have gone on, you know, you could still honor. And one of the ways you can honor is if it ended poorly and there were some hard feelings there because of you were serving as a caregiver and it got kind of spicy. Let it go. And just release that and honor the beautiful individual they were in their heart before whatever took them over and transformed them into something that maybe was difficult to deal with. And you can honor the individual, not the disease.

Absolutely. You've got children? Yes, I have four. And what are they, what are they planning to do for you?

You got any ideas? Hopefully leave me alone. Said like a true parent. Give you the remote and call it a day and wish you the best of luck. Listen, thank you for calling. Happy Mother's Day in advance to you and thank you for that call.

And say hi to Gracie from a listener. I will do that as well. And listen, this is Hope for the Caregiver. Hopeforthecaregiver.com. Take a look at taking some steps for yourself. Go out there. I put it out there for you.

There's so many different resources you can take advantage of. The podcast is free. The blog, all the stuff. I write it.

I say it. We do video. We do it all.

Music. It's all out there. Today is a great day for you to take advantage of that and start your path toward being a healthier caregiver.

Healthy caregivers make better caregivers. Let's do it together. Hopeforthecaregiver.com. I'm Peter Rosenberger. See you next week.