Something Every Caregiver Should Do Before It's Too Late 😢

It’s our mission to make dementia caregiving easier for families caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia, lewy body dementia, vascular dementia, or any other type of dementia. We do so by making free educational training videos like this so that anyone with an internet connection can access this information.

In this video, I share what I wish someone would've told me before it was too late.

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In case you haven’t met me, my name is Natali Edmonds and I am a board certified geropsychologist. That means that I am a clinical psychologist who specializes in working with older adults. One day, while hiking a trail, I came up with the idea for Careblazers and I decided to see if posting videos online could provide help to the many other Careblazers in the world who don’t get to have help come directly to them in their homes. I hope that this work helps you in some way on your caregiving journey.
#careblazer #dementia #dementiacare

[_Lisa_]

Such a cute message that she left. My mom was just diagnosed. I will do this. Thank you.

[toryberch]

Aaaaaw Natalie, that's so precious🤗 I'm sorry it's the only one you have but I think the majority does not have or save these things. The last voice conversation I had with my 104 yr old grandma was a round of "I love you's" I will remember that always..

[MissValdostaFeedAndGrain]

I record my mom and i chatting when she’s telling me stories from her youth, about our family, little stories, etc and then I save them in various places (ie the cloud, on my device, my gmail, etc)so one day I will have these memories.

[goodintentions]

The message I was able to save, in addition to a VCR tape of her reminiscing about a cottage my parents lived in before I was born, is a phone message where she told me I'd left my camera at her apartment. Her voice was slurred so I knew get her to the emergency room right away. Music 🎶 she loved from her youth helped in her stroke recovery.

[MamaEla_]

Thank you so much for this short. My mother passed away last year on November and I didn't know if I was doing the right thing to post her memory's on here on YouTube. But now after seeing this I feel so much better thank you thank you!!! ❤

[thundergod]

The killer thing with my dad....was before he had dementia my dad had gotten divorced. It was a very bad breakup and he signed an order that required him to keep away from her and not even try to contact her. When I moved in with my dad I learned of this. After he had attempted to try contacting her, forgetting that agreement (early stages of dementia showed worsening memory), I decided the best thing was to delete all evidence of her from his phone. That meant deleting a lot of photos and videos of the two of them, getting rid of her address and phone number. I basically wanted to rule out that he would violate that agreement he signed. She had already taken so much from him (rightfully, he was an alcolholic, but she may have gotten away with too much), I didn't want her taking anything more from him.

Well now...I'm going to look for any videos or photos he has still that didn't include her that I did not delete, because this is really good advice. I have photos of both my mom and dad, but videos and voice recordings (pre-dementia) are something I need to look for.

[anguaji]

Absolutely can recommend this. My mam has FTD, so she stopped being able to text and speak (leave voice messages) quite quickly and it's something I've been missing very much, even though I can go see her any time. I miss hearing her. I wish I'd taken more vids. I'm over compensating with taking selfies with her now tho, so it's not all bad! Save those memories! ❤️

[EmilyAllanPoe]

This is really good advice. My husband’s father died several years ago, and to this day he talks about not being able to hear his dad’s voice. It’s heartbreaking.💔

[schitherc]

Every day I visit my Mam I take photos and videos, I have hundreds of each and will listen to them when she is not here anymore ❤

[sueb]

Thank you thank you thank you .... that message so precious you can hear how much she loves you x

[velcro-is-a-rip-off]

When mom knows I'm coming over that day, she will call 4-8 times while I'm working and leave 1-2 minute voicemails on her schedule (she's in memory care). I do delete them all. They fill my inbox in a day. But you're right. I will want those. I will save many going forward. Thank you.

[JuneBug]

Good advice for ALL loved ones.
Some people die unexpectedly. 😢

[shanepruitt]

I record my mom talking almost daily & I video record her several times a week. So blessed to have this technology. ❤❤

[heatherdouglas-palumberi]

First off, your Mama’s voice is so full of love for you - no wonder you instinctively wanted that piece of her to hold! My Mom also died last year (4/30/22), and we treasure the videos we made so much! In fact, as time went on, I made more and more of them. In a related way, I weirdly keep old voicemails from family and close friends - not sure why, but like to have them..

[jasonbutler]

As a caregiver with dementia clients, i make sure when i first meet them, my name is repeated many times, and amongst good times they are having in there day. With my family members and my clients I was remembered thru bad days.

[loubrindley]

Bless Dr Natalie, so sorry about your mom last year😢❤, its a lovely message you have saved from her❤.
Dad passed from brain Cancer Jan 2021 and mom has Alzheimers & Mixed vascular dementia, so we took lots of videos of Dad before he passed in the pandemic and I have 1 saved voice message of him saying happy new year to me 1 month before he passed - so yes have lots of videos of Mom too.
Its good advice for everyone following you, you are so right.❤

[raindancer]

So sweet! My dad has taken a sharp dive. I had a good cry today.

[salauerman]

Absolutely.
I did record my mom a couple times, but don’t know of any of my husband’s.
My dad has changed enough that it won’t be the same.

[michelegawrys]

I am caring for my Mom who has Alzheimer’s after my Dad died unexpectedly after emergency surgery. He arrested his 3rd day post op. My mom and I FT him the night before. We got the call at 5:10 am. I so wished there was a way I could of kept that FT call/video!! I did find a voice message of him singing me “Happy Birthday”! Miss him so!!!

[kathrynr]

Not a dementia related voicemail but my beloved nephew (34 ) away almost three years ago. Aside from the photos, I have two voicemails (including the last one before he went to the hospital the last time) that I listen to to to