Caregivers Stories: Tara Reed former caregiver, author of What To Do Between the Tears, shares her story

Kimberly D. Scott also known as #That Kimberly

On this episode of Caregivers Stories, Kimberly interviews Tara Reed, former caregiver, artist, author of What To Do Between the Tears and the founder of Pivot to Happiness. As an artist by profession, Tara has been making beautiful art for over 15 years and is currently represented by Roaring Brook Licensing. She entered the world of caregiving when her father was diagnosed way back in 2012. Since her parents lived 4 miles away from her, she would usually visit them two to three times a year. Everything changed when they knew about the diagnosis.
Her father was a professor, a brilliant man with a brilliant mind. Before they had him checked, the early signs were not entirely apparent for he was good at handling himself. They all thought that the signs were just because of old age, but her mom (as the person who was living under the same roof as ) him knew something was wrong. As things were getting worse, they finally decided to have him checked by a neurologist, that was when they got the confirmation that he indeed has dementia. Accepting the news was a lot harder for her dad than to them, but since their dad needed all the support to lift his spirits, they made sure to do provide him all that he needed.
It was a tough journey for her and her family, and as a way for her deal with what she was going through she started writing her book. As she went on pouring her heart out, she was able to document all the great things that are worth sharing to everybody who needed it. And the was the birth of “What To Do Between the Tears.”
As a child to a parent who was diagnosed with Dementia, she highlighted how important it is to organize the legal documents, like getting the power of attorney, making sure that the financial and medical matters are all sorted out because it would be difficult and costly if it will not be done right away. She also stated that communication is vital with all the people involved because it can tear a family apart really quickly especially if nobody talked about it until there’s an emergency. Once everything is planned it is also best to know the strengths and weaknesses of those who will be in direct contact with the loved one who is diagnosed for it should be a round-robin and everybody should look out for each other’s mental health because no one is that strong to handle everything all at once.
Listen to the rest of the interview for Kimberly and Tara shared a lot of vital information that people should know when a loved one is diagnosed with Dementia.
If you want to know more about Tara’s website and if you want to connect with her, visit https://pivottohappy.com/, you can also buy her book at Amazon and Kindle.
Connect with Tara on
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artisttarareed

IG: https://www.instagram.com/artisttarareed/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/TaraReedDesigns/

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Youtube: https://youtu.be/aaoFgfcE3js

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