When you think about family caregivers, you likely imagine a spouse, or a son or daughter. But there are also young people out there who are doing the lion’s share of care for a grandparent with dementia.
Ashley was a full-time student with two part-time jobs when she became one of the primary caregivers for her nani, Devki, in their multi-generational home in Abbotsford.
This is a story about racism and gaps in the healthcare system, and the need for human-centred and culturally sensitive supports. It’s also a story about how a young woman finds her way back to being a loving granddaughter again when she becomes lost in the role of caregiver.
This 2025 podcast series is made possible by the generosity and creativity of the participants in Mariko Sakamoto's research project, and by the University of Victoria, with support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and with Scholar Award funding from Michael Smith Health Research BC/Alzheimer Society of BC.
Go to CalltoMindPodcast.com to see storyteller photos, read episode transcriptions and learn more about our research project.
Host: Mariko Sakamoto, assistant professor of nursing, University of Victoria
Producer: Jenni Schine
Sound designer: David Parfit
Executive producer: Suzanne Ahearne
Credits:
Toohiyon Hain Main Naahi Ve Sajjana by Niranjan Saar, with permission.
This is Call to Mind, audio diaries of love and
Mariko Sakamoto:memory loss. I'm Mariko Sakamoto, assistant professor of
Mariko Sakamoto:nursing at the University of Victoria, and host of Call to
Mariko Sakamoto:Mind. This podcast series is a deep dive into the experiences
Mariko Sakamoto:of caregivers. It's about the importance of being heard and
Mariko Sakamoto:being listened to. Here we bring you intimate audio
Mariko Sakamoto:diariesrecorded by caregivers of family members living with
Mariko Sakamoto:Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.
Mariko Sakamoto:Ashley and Devki: [Speaking together in Punjabi]
Ashley:I'm Ashley. I am my nani's granddaughter. My nani is
Ashley:Devki and she is 73 years old and lives with dementia.
Ashley:Ashley and Devki: [Speaking in Punjabi]
Mariko Sakamoto:When you think about family caregivers, you
Mariko Sakamoto:likely imagine a spouse or a son or daughter. But there are also
Mariko Sakamoto:young people out there who are doing the lion's share of care
Mariko Sakamoto:for a grandparent with dementia. Ashley was a full time student
Mariko Sakamoto:with two part-time jobs when she became one of her grandmother's
Mariko Sakamoto:primary caregivers in their multi generational home in
Mariko Sakamoto:Abbotsford. This is a story about racism and gaps in the
Mariko Sakamoto:healthcare system, and the need for human centered and
Mariko Sakamoto:culturally sensitive supports. It's also a story about how a
Mariko Sakamoto:young woman finds her way back to being a loving granddaughter
Mariko Sakamoto:again when she becomes lost in the role of caregiver.
Ashley:What is it like to be a 24-year-old caregiver? I am the
Ashley:only person that I know of in my age range that is a caregiver
Ashley:with someone with dementia. It has been a journey from 20 to 24
Ashley:years old as a live,in, non-paid caregiver. My definition of a
Ashley:caregiver over time has changed and evolved. When I first
Ashley:started caregiving, it wasn't a choice. I was simply helping out
Ashley:here and there. Honestly, it was annoying at first. I had worked
Ashley:so hard in my final years of high school and during my
Ashley:university certificate. Wasn't this my time to go out into the
Ashley:world and live as a 20 year old? nani and I would often argue
Ashley:then about everything under the sun, which is something we've
Ashley:never done before. I would get frustrated when she didn't take
Ashley:her medications. I would break down and sob uncontrollably on
Ashley:the floor when my nani was sundowning and would not go to
Ashley:sleep until 1am I wanted her to be admitted into a residential
Ashley:facility. It's not in our culture to leave our elderly in
Ashley:the care of others. It is our responsibility as their kin to
Ashley:assure their well being, as they did for us throughout their
Ashley:lives. Everything was a battle. My nani was not happy. I wasn't
Ashley:happy. Nobody in the household was happy, and we did not know
Ashley:where to start to fix it. I couldn't turn to a friend in a
Ashley:similar situation to discuss what worked for them before it
Ashley:really felt like it was just happening to me,
Ashley:Since I was a child, I've been incredibly fascinated with time
Ashley:and memory. How much time do we have? How much can I remember
Ashley:throughout my short 24 years on this earth, I believe that one
Ashley:of my most formative times is a life that I've spent with my
Ashley:nani, Devki. nani is the Punjabi word for maternal grandmother.
Ashley:Typically, grandchildren would call their maternal grandmothers
Ashley:"nani ji" out of respect, but nani has always just wanted to
Ashley:be called "nani." I come from a large family with Indian roots.
Ashley:Specifically, we come from a village in Punjab called Moga.
Ashley:I've been there twice with my nani, and she was our navigator,
Ashley:translator and protector during her month long visits. nani,
Ashley:however, started her journey on May 10, 1945 in Lahore,
Ashley:Pakistan, where she was born. India was still under British
Ashley:rule for 200 years at the time, my nani came from a Hindu family
Ashley:as Pakistan declared themselves as a nation. My nani family
Ashley:decided it would be best for them to immigrate back to Indian
Ashley:borders, a displacement that affected 10s of millions of
Ashley:people in the region. Reasons my nana, my maternal grandfather,
Ashley:and nani husband for 60 or so years, has told me a long-winded
Ashley:story of how my nani and her family walked seven days and
Ashley:seven nights across the desert to find shelter in India. I wish
Ashley:I could have gotten her side of the story, before she slowly and
Ashley:seemingly all at once, started to slip away.
Ashley:I started living with my nani and my nana in 2007 the day my
Ashley:dad died. I didn't really know my nani and nana very well, but
Ashley:I knew they loved me and I was safe with them. As my mom
Ashley:grappled with her new reality without her husband, my nani
Ashley:picked up all the pieces left behind, mainly caring for myself
Ashley:and my siblings, dropping us off to school, picking us up from
Ashley:daycare, assuring my hair wasn't in a mess and neatly braided,
Ashley:comforting us in our grief for that I am ever grateful.
Ashley:Okay, so this is Ashley, and right now I am checking nani
Ashley:blood sugar. nani has type-two diabetes, and has had it since I
Ashley:was alive. So typically, we check it three times a day, most
Ashley:of the time. She knows exactly what I'm doing when I'm checking
Ashley:her blood sugar. When I started living with her when I was seven
Ashley:years old, I started checking her blood sugar. Then too, it's
Ashley:always been a fun bonding thing for us, even though it's just
Ashley:making sure she is well within her levels. [speaks in Punjabi]
Ashley:Okay, so I'm just prepping everything, making sure I have
Ashley:the strips, making sure her needle is changed and clean.
Ashley:You're supposed to use a new needle. I think every time, or
Ashley:at least every, every day, we change the needle so she doesn't
Ashley:get any infections.
Ashley:Yeah? [laughs and speaks in Punjabi]
Ashley:In my culture, we don't talk about our sorrows openly with
Ashley:our family. It is a spiritual matter that you'll have to take
Ashley:up to God. If you want coddling or answers, you won't get them
Ashley:on Earth. I never heard my nani complain once in her lifetime.
Ashley:She, out of many people I know, had the best possible reasons to
Ashley:throw in the towel, cry, complain or feel heard. I often
Ashley:worry that in her lifetime before dementia, that she felt
Ashley:as if she was never heard. With her aphasia, I don't even have
Ashley:the chance to truly hear her now, not that she would have
Ashley:shared with me to begin with, I think the first time my family
Ashley:knew that there was something going on with my nani was when
Ashley:she became very secretive or very emotional.
Ashley:Typically, she was upright, quiet, did her duty as a
Ashley:grandmother, mother, sister and wife, and that was it. Having my
Ashley:nani withdraw made us worry a little bit. We didn't chalk it
Ashley:up too much. Her family was going through growing pains
Ashley:seven years ago anyways. So maybe that was it. My mom and my
Ashley:aunt, who I call Masi, would sometimes ask her what was going
Ashley:on. She'd push them away and say that they wouldn't understand
Ashley:what was happening with her. I wish I held her so much closer
Ashley:then she would then forget where she was going when she was
Ashley:driving. I remember overhearing a conversation with my mom, and
Ashley:must see where nani had called my mom and told her that she was
Ashley:lost on her way to her spiritual study center, I could hear the
Ashley:concern in their conversation. My nani driving became from
Ashley:being lost to driving into medians on the wrong side of the
Ashley:road, even getting lost going home, my nana decided it would
Ashley:be best to take her keys. It was so confusing for my nani,
Ashley:although it was so clear to us that she couldn't drive anymore.
Ashley:Then I felt it dementia. Could that be it? It is that the
Ashley:future for my nani?
Ashley:As immigrants to Canada and their experiences with racism in
Ashley:the medical field, there was no way my nani would have gone to
Ashley:the doctor to tell them what was happening to her. So why didn't
Ashley:we say anything? I think speaking it would make it true
Ashley:and our. Dreams with my nani would crumble before us.
Ashley:My nani is a fierce woman where there is a will, there is a way,
Ashley:she wanted out of the house, no worries, no car, just fine.
Ashley:She'd only walk to my masi's home, which is only a 25 minute
Ashley:walk from our home. Although strange to us, at least she was
Ashley:walking on the sidewalk and being safe. Then she'd go
Ashley:missing. I remember calling the police for the first time to
Ashley:help us find her. It was a huge argument in the family whether
Ashley:we should or not. I called anyways because I needed my nani
Ashley:home, and nobody would stop me from finding her. I cried so
Ashley:much on the phone with the police. I felt neglectful, I
Ashley:felt judged. I felt like I was responsible for her being lost,
Ashley:even though the responder on the line was very nice, the
Ashley:dispatcher told me to go to an address. I didn't ask why or
Ashley:where it was. My sister drove us, as I was too in shambles to
Ashley:drive, I thought maybe this was it. She got hit by a car. She's
Ashley:gone. That's why they aren't telling me anything.
Ashley:We arrived at a residence where a police officer was and my nani
Ashley:was drinking tea with a stranger outside of their garage. I ran
Ashley:out and held her. We didn't know who these people were, but they
Ashley:saw my nani wandering, and they felt like she was lost. They
Ashley:brought her back to their residence and let the police
Ashley:know. I was so thankful. I was so ashamed. My nani looked
Ashley:happy, though she couldn't figure out why I was so upset.
Ashley:We put child locks on our doors. My nani was so angry with us. I
Ashley:was too. We essentially trapped her at home. But what else could
Ashley:we do? This kept her safe. She couldn't leave and become lost
Ashley:anymore. It was probably humiliating for her, but she
Ashley:couldn't vocalize how this process made her feel. She had
Ashley:no say, no understanding, no will to tell us what to do. We
Ashley:had family, but we had no idea what to do, and we argued over
Ashley:what to do while my nani continued to change.
Ashley:My nani is about, like, I say like five' six". So she's like,
Ashley:average height. She's very thin right now, but she has
Ashley:beautiful, dark golden skin, almost. She has a lot of
Ashley:wrinkles, but they, I always find that they show her a wisdom
Ashley:more than they show her age. She had veneers, but they had fallen
Ashley:out earlier in her stages of dementia. And so she has like,
Ashley:almost like half a smile, but it's always like, really pretty,
Ashley:because she's always brightly smiling. She likes to wear vests
Ashley:and long T shirts and very comfortable pants. She always
Ashley:has a toque on or a hat, and although she doesn't wear it
Ashley:anymore, I always envision this on her, because this is like her
Ashley:like, look was she'd always have a gold nose ring on and gold
Ashley:hoop earrings on.
Ashley:Oh, how would I describe myself? Short, I'm five foot on the dot
Ashley:I like to say I bring six foot to energy in my five foot body.
Ashley:[laughs] [Punjabi music transition]
Ashley:In 2020 It was when our lives exploded. My nani was getting
Ashley:worse, repeating the same phrases, missing her diabetic
Ashley:medication, running around the house confused. Her diabetes
Ashley:became uncontrolled, and one day she was hospitalized. I remember
Ashley:us calling the ambulance because she kept telling us, I can't
Ashley:feel my left arm. We thought she was having a stroke. The
Ashley:ambulance came and whisked her off to the hospital. I cried so
Ashley:much on the couch. The last time someone I loved was whisked off
Ashley:in an ambulance so abruptly, was when my dad died. Was this the
Ashley:end for my nani too? That trip to the hospital was a blessing
Ashley:in disguise. It was where the doctors did the test that showed
Ashley:my nani, our fierce leader, was diagnosed with frontal temporal
Ashley:lobe dementia, with aphasia. It was a sigh of relief, but also a
Ashley:new heavy weight was given to our family. We are different now
Ashley:my nani is different.
Ashley:[Ashley and Devki speak in Punjabi] I have the strip in,
Ashley:and I've prepped the needle, and she's given me her hand because
Ashley:she knows what's going on, okay, and so I'm just about to give
Ashley:her a poke. Sometimes it hurts a little bit. [Devki speaks in
Ashley:Punjabi and Ashley laughs] She likes her sweets and she gets
Ashley:into things sometimes, but she's been really good about it
Ashley:lately, huh? Okay.
Ashley:So, my nani has dementia. Now, what eventually everyone started
Ashley:to shift into a new role that they played in the family. I
Ashley:found the process as complicated as ever. I was no longer my
Ashley:nani's granddaughter. I was a caretaker. Not only was I a
Ashley:caretaker, I was 21, a full time student, and had two part-time
Ashley:jobs every single minute of every single day, it was like I
Ashley:was running. I consider myself a marathon runner when it comes to
Ashley:challenging life's problems. I have experience. I've been doing
Ashley:hard work for a long time. Nothing was compared to taking
Ashley:care of someone with dementia.
Ashley:We brought in nurses. At first. They were part of a pharmacy
Ashley:program, and it was around $5,000 a year. The nurse's roles
Ashley:were to check my nani's vitals, check her sugar levels, give her
Ashley:insulin and give her medication. When my nani's symptoms started
Ashley:to progress and she became more and more aggressive, especially
Ashley:when it came to medications. I did not feel confident in the
Ashley:nurses to treat my nani with compassion and dignity. The
Ashley:nurses were kind for the most part. Some simply did their job
Ashley:and left. Each day, the nurses were there for about 10 minutes
Ashley:and not a second longer. Their job was to take care of my
Ashley:grandma, but mostly just to assure her physical medical
Ashley:attention was met, not her emotiona.
Ashley:I did not know who I was to my nani anymore, and it scared me
Ashley:to think that she didn't recognize who I was to her
Ashley:either. There became this odd distance between myself and my
Ashley:nani that we could not figure out, and I could tell that she
Ashley:was so tired trying to explain herself to me, I knew I couldn't
Ashley:keep living life that way, and reluctantly, I put myself back
Ashley:into therapy. It was when I deconstructed my thoughts with
Ashley:someone outside of my family home, where I was able to
Ashley:understand how I could not hide behind the role of caregiver to
Ashley:mask the emotions of the granddaughter inside waiting for
Ashley:her nani to just say her name again.
Ashley:I felt like I had to do everything all at once, and I
Ashley:had this like notion that, okay, well, I'm a social worker, and I
Ashley:have so much education and knowledge of how to help people.
Ashley:How can't I help my family? I felt like such a failure as a
Ashley:granddaughter, as a niece, as a social worker, and then when I
Ashley:realized I'm not a superhero, as much as my brain may like to
Ashley:think, I cannot do it all, and it's unhealthy for me to try,
Ashley:and I feel like caregivers are really put into that role to fit
Ashley:in so many types of relationships and maintain those
Ashley:relationships and that they have to be the person to do so
Ashley:because they're in that caregiving role, they feel that
Ashley:pressure. It's like, okay, in order to control my life as a
Ashley:caregiver, I have to control all other aspects of my life.
Ashley:Otherwise they'll just fall apart. And that's just a notion
Ashley:that we have in our brains when we're on, go, go, go, right? We
Ashley:do not have time to stop and think someone else can take care
Ashley:of this. I'm allowed to have a break.
Ashley:I remember when I really had my breakdown, like on the floor,
Ashley:just crying, knowing that I couldn't do it all for nani. And
Ashley:that's when I was like, I just want to be a granddaughter. And
Ashley:like, I don't know what happened in my head, but I have these
Ashley:like, little moments where it's like, Well, why not? Why not
Ashley:just be a granddaughter? Why not act like a granddaughter to your
Ashley:grandmother instead of a caregiver? And I'm like, okay,
Ashley:well, yes, I'll try it out. I just pretended that my
Ashley:grandmother was just fine, and my grandmother was like, sitting
Ashley:on the couch, and I sat on the couch with her, and I just put
Ashley:on, like an old TV show that I used to watch as a kid. I was
Ashley:like, nani, can you make me noodles? And she's like, Yeah, I
Ashley:can make you noodles. And she doesn't know how to make
Ashley:noodles. And she forgot two seconds later, but she went
Ashley:towards the kitchen to make noodles and so, but it felt so
Ashley:natural. And I'm like, Why do why don't I just treat her like
Ashley:a grandmother, because that's exactly who she is. To me, I can
Ashley:do caregiving absolutely that can be part of my role, but my
Ashley:primary role will always be a granddaughter, and that's where
Ashley:my love is, and that's where my love lies from my grandma.
Ashley:When dementia robs us of our loved ones abilities, we have to
Ashley:remind ourselves that they are just as frustrated as us. I also
Ashley:had to come to terms that this is life now, and the only way my
Ashley:nani and I were going to have our relationship back was to
Ashley:accept our new reality with no expectations, although I wished
Ashley:I had learned this sooner rather than later. Now I get to cherish
Ashley:every day with her, and I'm slowly learning to take steps
Ashley:back when I'm hiding in the caretaker role and let myself
Ashley:feel like a granddaughter again. [Punjabi music transition]
Ashley:I hate asking for help. I have always visioned myself as the
Ashley:helper in all aspects and to be helped felt alien to me. I
Ashley:looked up dementia support in BC and found the Alzheimer's
Ashley:Society of British Columbia. I decided to give them a call as
Ashley:my last shot before I gave up and completely folded-in on
Ashley:myself. I let them know my situation when I was looking for
Ashley:and at the time, it was just culturally sensitive resources
Ashley:that I wanted. My nana tells me that in India, at least when he
Ashley:was living there, no one ever talked about dementia. People
Ashley:would walk around in the villages and be in disarray, and
Ashley:others would just say they're old and crazy. What can we do
Ashley:about them? I got to talk to this amazing woman from the
Ashley:Alzheimer Society of British Columbia. It was almost a
Ashley:surreal moment, because it was the first time I actually felt
Ashley:seen. Because she was near my age, she was quite young, and
Ashley:she was also Indian. And I'd come from an Indian household,
Ashley:so when I was crying on the phone and telling her, I don't
Ashley:want to put my grandma in a home, but I can't take it
Ashley:anymore. She knew exactly what I meant, and she knew almost
Ashley:exactly what I was looking, for groups like this.
Ashley:And I come to tears thinking about it, because it wasn't
Ashley:until I connected and decided to accept help, and that's where my
Ashley:life changed, with my nani, and I was able to become her
Ashley:granddaughter again, because I said yes to help. And it wasn't
Ashley:invasive help what I was looking for. A lot of the time, people
Ashley:assume that caregivers need someone in there to step in and
Ashley:so they can go take a vacation. But I'm not that kind of person.
Ashley:I can't take a vacation. I don't want a vacation because I don't
Ashley:want to be away from my grandmother. I just want the
Ashley:relationship as it was before. And because of groups and
Ashley:societies like this, I am able to have that relationship while
Ashley:still being able to be a caregiver.
Ashley:I mourn the relationship I had with my grandma before dementia.
Ashley:I mourn being a kid with her. Like before dementia, my grandma
Ashley:would have gone to shopping with me and would have done all the
Ashley:deals and the hagels and gotten me the best suit ever. I have to
Ashley:do that now, and so I'm like, Oh God, this is so uncomfortable.
Ashley:But if I get my suit, even though my grandma can't pick it
Ashley:out with me, I can bring it back home and put it on for her and
Ashley:show it for her. And she can tell me how she likes it. And
Ashley:she's still very honest in her dementia, even more, like
Ashley:brutally so now. [laughs] So some of them, she's quite like,
Ashley:ruthless, like she won't even look at me. And so that's how I
Ashley:know she doesn't like it. And I'm like, Do you like it? Do you
Ashley:want to touch it? And like, for her, it's like texture, so if
Ashley:she likes it, she'll like, touch it a little bit, or tug on it.
Ashley:Or if she doesn't like it, she'll like, do this with her
Ashley:hand, like, go away.
Ashley:My nani has aphasia, so she can't understand the words I say
Ashley:to her, and when she tries to project out any like sort of
Ashley:language, it's not coherent, and it has to do something about the
Ashley:brain and dementia. But right now, we're on the couch just
Ashley:hanging out. [Ashley and Devki chat in Punjabi] And so she's
Ashley:she's giving me pats on my back, and she's trying to tell me, Oh,
Ashley:come on, let's go. Let's go. So whenever she says ajoji, or aja,
Ashley:it's like, Okay, let's go. So it usually means like she wants to
Ashley:take a walk or do something. [Ashley and Devki speak in
Ashley:Punjabi] Okay, I think she is done with our conversation. I
Ashley:think she's just trying to walk away. [Punjabi music transition]
Ashley:Dementia in the healthcare system? Is it even there, is my
Ashley:big question. My family's experience with the healthcare
Ashley:system, while my grandma has had dementia, has been sour, to say
Ashley:the least. For me, I'm in a very interesting position, because I
Ashley:am not my grandmother's power of attorney. I am simply her
Ashley:live-in caregiver. But that doesn't mean a lot to our health
Ashley:care system right now, most of the advice that I get from
practitioners is:make sure you are doing self care, take
practitioners is:breaks, or do yoga or something like that. But that's not the
practitioners is:advice or answers that I'm looking for. I am looking for,
practitioners is:how are you going to ensure my grandmother's quality of life
practitioners is:while she lives with dementia? You have no cure to present to
practitioners is:me, and that's just fine. I hope we get there someday, and we are
practitioners is:working towards it. But from now until then, how are you going to
practitioners is:assure my grandmother's quality of life, and how are you going
practitioners is:to ensure that her caregivers are able to maintain that while
practitioners is:maintaining themselves?
practitioners is:It's been a very frustrating journey to navigate that health
practitioners is:care system with my grandmother. We talk a lot about how health
practitioners is:care is free, but you might die waiting for it with the amount
practitioners is:of wait lists. One of my biggest hurts and hurdles in the health
practitioners is:care system and dementia is the way that my grandmother is
practitioners is:treated. I understand that she doesn't quite understand what
practitioners is:you're saying at all, and she cannot voice how she is feeling.
practitioners is:But that doesn't mean you treat her like she's a fly on the
practitioners is:wall. My nani understands tone of voice, and she understands
practitioners is:when people are stressed or there's something serious going
practitioners is:on. Or if it's something about herself, she understands that. I
practitioners is:know she understands that because of her body language,
practitioners is:her tone of voice, and how she reacts to it physically. You
practitioners is:know, we have a lot more language and conversation other
practitioners is:than just our vocal language, and I feel like practitioners
practitioners is:easily forget that.
practitioners is:Needless to say, it has been hell navigating the healthcare
practitioners is:system while my grandma's had dementia. I'm at a loss of what
practitioners is:to do and what to say, and so I just kind of truck along and
practitioners is:hope I get the best medication. I do my own research and like
practitioners is:holistic healing, wise and understanding what we can do at
practitioners is:home to make my grandmother's life better. But it is such a
practitioners is:burden on me to do everything. I just want the health care system
practitioners is:to hold our hand through this, rather than run away from us
practitioners is:just because there is a caregiver there. Good enough.
practitioners is:It's not good enough. It really isn't, and that needs to be
practitioners is:said. It is unacceptable that we are leaving our loved ones and
practitioners is:our seniors behind as they have created such a foundation for us
practitioners is:to live on.
practitioners is:I don't think it'll be in Devki's lifetime where we'd be
practitioners is:able to get the culturally competent care that I envision
practitioners is:like for us. We do it as a family. We are very much
practitioners is:intertwined with each other, right? It'd be nice to have like
practitioners is:other individuals explain to things in my grandma in Punjabi,
practitioners is:sometimes you can get a translator, sometimes you can't,
practitioners is:or even just having it for my grandpa, like he can speak
practitioners is:English, but he's more comfortable in Punjabi, right?
practitioners is:Ask people what they're comfortable with, you know, and
practitioners is:ask them what they want. I don't think we've ever been asked
practitioners is:like, hey, what do you want? Or, how can we make you comfortable?
practitioners is:You'd hope people would just ask. [laughs] I mean, it's a
practitioners is:simple question, what would you like? Oh, thank you. Someone
practitioners is:asked! [Punjabi music transition]
Mariko Sakamoto:Since her last recording, Ashley and her family
Mariko Sakamoto:continue to share caregiving for Devki at home. Recently, they've
Mariko Sakamoto:been watching a lot of daytime talk shows together, and Devki
Mariko Sakamoto:loves the drama.
Mariko Sakamoto:Family caregivers are the lifeblood of the healthcare
Mariko Sakamoto:system for people with dementia by 2030 it's expected the number
Mariko Sakamoto:of people living with dementia in Canada will be close to a
Mariko Sakamoto:million. This journey is different for everyone, whether
Mariko Sakamoto:you're a caregiver or know someone living with dementia, we
Mariko Sakamoto:hope this podcast series gives you a deeper understanding of
Mariko Sakamoto:the family caregiving experience.
Mariko Sakamoto:This series is part of a research project that explores
Mariko Sakamoto:storytelling, different ways of listening and the power of being
Mariko Sakamoto:heard. It's made possible by the University of Victoria, with
Mariko Sakamoto:funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
Mariko Sakamoto:to see storyteller photos, access episode transcriptions
Mariko Sakamoto:and learn more about our research project, go to our
Mariko Sakamoto:website, at call to mindpodcast.com, and for
Mariko Sakamoto:caregiver resources and to find local supports and services, go
Mariko Sakamoto:to alzheimer.ca
Mariko Sakamoto:This podcast series was produced by Jenny Schine. Sound Design by
Mariko Sakamoto:David Parfit. Executive Producer, Suzanne Ahearne. And
Mariko Sakamoto:I'm Mariko Sakamoto, assistant professor of nursing and a
Mariko Sakamoto:research affiliate with the Institute on Aging and Lifelong
Mariko Sakamoto:Health at the University of Victoria. Thanks to other
Mariko Sakamoto:members of our podcast team, including research coordinator
Mariko Sakamoto:Paulina Santaella, and our research assistants Cole
Mariko Sakamoto:Tamburri and Cynthia McDowell. Technical support, Bruce
Mariko Sakamoto:Devereaux and Mendel Skulski. The founder of the Call to Mind
Mariko Sakamoto:podcast is Debra Sheets, professor emerita of nursing at
Mariko Sakamoto:UVic. And of course, I want to thank all the research
Mariko Sakamoto:participants who generously shared their time, stories and
Mariko Sakamoto:experiences as part of this project.