Child to Parent in a Blink happens faster than you think!

Welcome to KEEPING IT REAL CAREGIVING. This blog and podcast are designed to help you and your family navigate through the often challenging world of senior caregiving, senior housing and senior health care.

The goal of Keeping it REAL Caregiving is to give you practical tools and information so you can make the most informed choices in care for an elder. It is also to help YOU stay calm and organized but emotionally and physically healthy as you enter this new chapter in your life and that of your aging loved one.

Who is the creator of Keeping it REAL Caregiving and why should you trust me? I’ll tell you a little about myself…

On October 13, 1965, a young black woman named Nellie Pearl Yarbough gave birth to a little girl; her last and youngest child. She and her husband Donald named the baby Julia, after Donald’s sister.

For the first 18 years of her life, Julia was a shy child and stuck to her mother’s side like Velcro. She was afraid of almost everything that moved; butterflies, street-cleaners and pretty much anything outdoors. But then, after college she found her voice and courage. She earned a B.A., in Economics and pursued a career in journalism.

Today, that shy little girl is an two-time Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist, author, speaker, blogger, and podcast host. But it turns out her most important role is the one that kept her closest to her mother’s side – serving as the primary caregiver to the woman who brought her into the world.

I’m Julia Yarbough and for more than the past 20 years I have been working as professional broadcast journalist and giving hands-on care for my mother. My father passed away many years ago, before he had the chance to age and need care. I have watched my mother move from a vibrant and always feisty woman to an aging senior citizen then to a distinguished elder. In the final months of her life I witnessed time, age and years turn my always strong and capable mother into a a physically and mentally diminished frail old woman. 2020 brought the final chapter of Miss Nellie’s life. Angels came to collect her September 1, 2021.

We’ll explore the emotional roller-coaster you might often find yourself riding. We will investigate how the medical and healthcare system works – AND DOESN’T WORK – to support elders and caregivers. I will strive to keep you updated of the latest legal and legislative issues impacting caregiving and senior services. Plus we will explore the various options impacting elder and senior housing and care facilities. We will also consult with experts in the fields of medicine, health care and senior products. And perhaps most importantly we will share and hear the personal stories from others who are living this journey.

Welcome to Keeping it REAL Caregiving. As we roll down this road together I look forward to getting to know many of you, helping you on your journey and together I believe we will improve the landscape for seniors. And we will help each other as caregivers.

Remember, we have two choices: we either get old and face the challenges of being a senior, or we die. Which will you choose?

Julia Yarbough
Keeping it Real Caregiving