A KIRC caregiver shares his REAL caregiving journey with a global audience

Hello KIRC fam!

Just last week I shared with all of you that I often wonder if this effort to lead a charge of advocacy and awareness for fellow caregivers is worth it.

• Is anyone out there paying attention?

• Does anyone care?

• Or am I simply spinning my wheels?

These are not rhetorical questions – I would love to hear from someone… anyone??

Yet again, just when I feel that perhaps my desire to help others is misplaced, something happens that reminds me of why I started Keeping It REAL Caregiving in the first place. So let me take you back to set the stage…

Age Boom Academy

In 2022, I served as a moderator for an event hosted by the Columbia Journalism School, known as the Age Boom Academy. It is several days of seminars and learning modules for journalists, aimed at digging deeper into the issues of our aging society. The 2023 event is just around the corner.

At that time, I also reached out to many of you, asking if you would be interested in and or willing to share your personal stories should a national level journalist reach out.

I am so proud to say that one of those caregiver voices was not only listened to, but now his story has been shared with readers all over the globe!

The New York Times

This week, The New York Times published an opinion article, which featured one of our KIRC family members, who also happens to be a very good friend.

Here is a short excerpt and I encourage you to read the full article.

In 2005, while on disability, Mr. Hodges moved to North Carolina to care for two aunts. After the older aunt died, the younger one moved into his home in 2011 and spent the next seven years dependent on him for almost everything. “She didn’t want to visit other relatives or stay with them because she didn’t want them to know how helpless she was,” he recalled. Until her death in 2018, he said, his life was consumed by his job, and he felt trapped at home by his caregiving duties. With the exception of a couple of big events, like his son’s high school graduation, he said, he went “three straight years without spending one night outside of the house.”

Thank you Mr. Hodges for your candor in sharing your journey with The New York Times, and for your insight shared with our Keeping It REAL Caregiving family.

For those of you who may have missed it, check out the KIRC interview segment with Mr. Hodges. He shares personal insight, lessons learned, and has some heartfelt advice for other male caregivers.

Watch it below on our YouTube Channel. (Yes, we have a video channel too! I’m in the process of updating, refreshing, rebranding, and completing some new content. Would love to get some thoughts/feedback on how I can enhance this platform as well!)

Be sure to subscribe to catch up on all of our previous videos and Sunday Coffee Chat episodes.!

A big welcome to all of our new newsletter subscribers! Feel free to toss out ideas, suggestions, or questions that perhaps other KIRC readers can help with as well.

Until next time~
Julia