
Hosted by Enriched Life Home Care Services · EN

All Home Care Matters and our host, Lance A. Slatton were honored to welcome Brenda Freed as guest to the show. About Brenda Freed: Brenda Freed, MA, is the co-founder of Mackenzie Meets Alzheimer's, a family-centered educational program created to help children, parents, caregivers, and families better understand Alzheimer's disease and dementia. With a background in music education and music therapy, Brenda brings a compassionate, creative, and accessible approach to helping families stay connected with loved ones throughout the dementia journey. Through Mackenzie Meets Alzheimer's, Brenda helps provide meaningful tools, videos, music, activities, and guidance designed to make difficult conversations easier for children and families. Her work reflects a deep commitment to education, connection, and helping families create positive moments with loved ones living with Alzheimer's or another form of dementia. About Mackenzie Meet Alzheimer's: The Mackenzie Meets Alzheimer's Program (MMAP) is a family-centered, multimedia educational program designed to help parents, children, educators, and healthcare professionals navigate the challenges of Alzheimer's disease. Created especially for families in the "sandwich generation," it provides practical tools, guidance, and meaningful activities that support positive interactions between children and loved ones living with Alzheimer's from diagnosis through the severe stage. The program helps children and their families stay meaningfully connected throughout the journey. At the heart of the program is the Mackenzie Meets Alzheimer's Awareness Program (MMAAP), a 5-video educational series covering each stage of the disease, along with guidance for adults raising children while caregiving. The program also includes a quick reference guide, transcripts, and accessible audio and visual resources to support a wide range of learning needs. Importantly, the MMAAP helps children understand Alzheimer's in age-appropriate ways and gives them simple, meaningful activities they can do with their loved one to maintain connection and nurture the relationship. Complementing the video series is the Mackenzie Meets Alzheimer's Disease Picture Book, a gentle, child-friendly introduction to Alzheimer's. The book follows a young girl learning how to understand and connect with her grandmother as the disease progresses. It includes a QR code for a free Story Song download whose lyrics are the text for the book—making the learning experience engaging, memorable, and accessible for young children and early readers. The complete MMAP is also a valuable resource for Adult Day Centers and Memory Care Communities, offering a ready-to-run educational program for families. It helps answer common questions proactively, reducing the need for staff to repeatedly provide the same explanations. This allows them to focus more on care and connection. Together, the program and book go beyond education—they empower families to create meaningful moments, maintain connection, and build positive memories throughout the course of Alzheimer's and other dementias.

All Home Care Matters and our host, Lance A. Slatton were honored to welcome Jennifer Spoeri as guest to the show. About Jennifer Spoeri, Executive Director, National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA): Jennifer Spoeri is the Executive Director of the National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA), a position she has held since August 2021. With over 18 years of experience in Adult Protective Services (APS), Jennifer brings a wealth of expertise in program development, leadership, multidisciplinary teams and advocacy for vulnerable populations. Prior to her role at NAPSA, she served as the APS Director in Philadelphia, PA, where she led the city's APS program and secured one of the first VOCA (Victims of Crime Act) grants designated for APS. Additionally, she was an integral member of the Philadelphia Financial Exploitation Prevention Task Force and the Philadelphia Hoarding Task Force. Jennifer has long been a dedicated advocate for the APS community, having served on NAPSA's Board of Directors for five years before assuming her current role. As Executive Director, she has served on numerous advisory boards, led several major grants, and played a pivotal role in the creation and development of the National APS Training Center. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Kentucky and a master's degree in gerontology with a concentration in Healthcare Administration from Notre Dame of Maryland University. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, reading, taking art classes and spending time with family, friends, her partner Kevin and their dog, Beauregard. About the National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA): The National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA) is a national nonprofit organization that supports Adult Protective Services programs and professionals across the United States. Formed in 1989, NAPSA provides a forum for APS programs to share information, solve challenges, strengthen professional practices, and improve services for older adults and adults with disabilities who may be experiencing abuse, neglect, exploitation, or other forms of mistreatment. NAPSA's work helps elevate the role of Adult Protective Services in protecting vulnerable adults and connecting them with support, safety, and resources.

All Home Care Maters and our host, Lance A. Slatton were honored to welcome Roy Remer as guest to the show. About Roy Remer: Roy Remer is the author of Zen Caregiving: How to Care for Yourself While Caring for Others. An educator and end-of-life caregiver since 1997, he is executive director of Zen Caregiving Project in San Francisco and lead creator of the Mindful Caregiving Education curriculum. A dedicated practitioner in the Soto Zen tradition, Remer is a student at San Francisco Zen Center. About the Zen Caregiving Project: Formerly Known as Zen Hospice Project was founded in 1986 to address suffering in San Francisco. Rooted in Zen Buddhist tradition, we began training volunteer caregivers to serve dying residents at two sites of service. Their world renowned volunteer caregiver training has evolved to become the foundation of our Mindful Caregiver Education, which we teach nationally. In 2015, we began taking our unique approach to care out into the world in order to allow caregivers anywhere to benefit from our course offerings.

All Home Care Matters and our host, Lance A. Slatton were honored to welcome Cory Fosco as guest to the show. About Cory Fosco: Cory Fosco is the author of The Question of When: A Practical Guide to Knowing When It's Time for Assisted Living, Memory Care, or Skilled Nursing. Cory has spent 34 years in long-term care, beginning in social work and admissions and now working in healthcare technology. He is also the author of the chapbook Empty Streets (Alien Buddha Press, 2024), which contains a Pushcart Prize-nominated story, and his short work has appeared in Superstition Review, Hippocampus, and other publications. Cory holds an MA in Creative Nonfiction from Northwestern University and a BA in Creative Writing from Loyola University Chicago. Cory lives in Chicago with his wife Cyndi.

The Care Advocates is brought to you by the All Home Care Matters Media team and focuses on providing family caregivers and their loved ones with support, resources, and discussion on the issues facing them in the matrix of long-term care. The Care Advocates are co-hosted by Lance A. Slatton & Dr. George Ackerman. The Care Advocates are honored to welcome Anne Smith as guest to the show. About Anne Smith: Anne Smith shines a light on the often-overlooked realities of Parkinson's disease and the profound impact it has on both those living with the condition and the family members who care for them. In this powerful conversation with Lance A. Slatton, Anne discusses the growing number of Parkinson's diagnoses, the emotional toll of watching a loved one's health decline, and the financial challenges many families face after stepping away from careers to become full-time caregivers. Her insights offer a candid look at the sacrifices, struggles, and resilience required when navigating life with Parkinson's disease. Anne also addresses one of the most important and sensitive topics in caregiving: caregiver burnout. Drawing from her own experiences and observations within caregiver communities, she speaks openly about exhaustion, sleep deprivation, frustration, and the emotional strain that can accompany caring for a loved one with Parkinson's. This meaningful discussion serves as both an educational resource and a reminder that caregivers need support, understanding, and compassion just as much as those they care for.

All Home Care Matters and our host, Lance A. Slatton were honored to welcome Dr. Vicki Wright-Hamilton as guest to the show. About Dr. Vicki Wright-Hamilton: Dr. Vicki Wright Hamilton is the founder of VWH Technology, LLC and the creator of PeacefulCare, the AI-powered Caregiver Command Center. She's spent more than four decades in executive leadership, including time as a Chief Operating Officer, an Interim CIO, and a transformation strategist guiding senior leaders through the most disruptive technology shifts of their careers. Through her firm VWH Consulting, she works with executives navigating disruptive technology, with AI front and center right now, always keeping people first through change management and adoption. Here's how PeacefulCare came to be. As Vicki worked with leader after leader, she kept hearing the same thing under the surface. They were exhausted trying to lead at work and care for someone at home at the same time. Often a parent. Sometimes a spouse, a sibling, or a child with complex needs. Nobody was talking about it, but it was costing them everything. So she started VWH Technology, LLC and built PeacefulCare for caregivers, drawing on a lifetime of caregiving experience that started in childhood when she helped her mother care for her grandmother and great aunt. Her great aunt passed away holding her hand. She and her husband then cared for his brother for 26 years, and during a seven-year stretch she became the simultaneous primary caregiver for four additional loved ones, including one in Ohio she traveled to every three weeks. Based in Georgia, Vicki is a strategist, builder, speaker, and advocate who's lived every version of caregiving most families ever face. About PeacefulCare.ai: PeacefulCare is the AI-powered Caregiver Command Center for families managing the real work of care. Records, schedules, medications, documents, providers, appointments, patterns, risk signals, all in one place and intelligently connected. The platform lives under VWH Technology, LLC, the technology company founded by Dr. Vicki Wright Hamilton to bring AI-powered tools to the people who need them most. You can find it at PeacefulCare.ai. The company was born from two things happening at once in Vicki's life. On one side, decades of caregiving. As a child, she helped her mother care for her grandmother and her great aunt, and her great aunt passed away holding her hand. As an adult, she and her husband cared for his brother for 26 years, and during a seven-year stretch she became the simultaneous primary caregiver for four additional loved ones while raising her kids and running her career. On the other side, her work through VWH Consulting, where she advises senior executives on disruptive technology and AI adoption with a people-first lens. Leader after leader kept telling her the same quiet truth. They were trying to lead at work and care for someone at home, and the weight of doing both was breaking them. PeacefulCare was the answer to a question she kept hearing from both sides of her life. There was also one specific night that sharpened the mission. Vicki was sitting with her mother in the hospital, something shifted, she pushed, and her mother is alive today because a daughter who refused to go home saw something no system flagged and no algorithm caught. Technology can't replace the love and instinct of a caregiver. Technology should carry everything else. What sets PeacefulCare apart is the AI analytics engine, and it's watching two people at once. The loved one and the caregiver. On the loved one's side, the platform tracks wellness patterns across medications, sleep, mood, vitals, appointments, and daily behaviors, and surfaces the small signals that usually go unnoticed until they turn into a hospital visit. Sudden changes in routine. Missed doses stacking up. Lab values trending the wrong way. A quiet drop in mobility or engagement. PeacefulCare flags those patterns early, so families can act before the crisis instead of recovering from it. On the caregiver's side, the analytics measure caregiver load, the volume, intensity, and emotional weight of what one person is carrying, and the family gets alerted when the primary caregiver is heading toward burnout. Most platforms watch the patient. PeacefulCare watches the whole family system, because a caregiver who collapses can't care for anyone. PeacefulCare's promise is simple and personal. You bring the love. PeacefulCare holds everything else.

All Home Care Matters and our host, Lance A. Slatton were honored to welcome Lindsay Friedman as guest to the show. About Lindsay Friedman: Lindsay Friedman is a four-time founder, lifelong multigenerational caregiver, and former nursing assistant with hands-on experience in memory care and elder care. She is the founder of CareBloom and LTCareNav, a platform that connects families with vetted long-term care experts, making quality care more accessible and affordable. Passionate about bridging gaps in the aging and caregiving space, Lindsay combines tech, personal experience, and advocacy to empower families navigating complex care decisions. Lindsay is committed to transforming how our society cares for seniors and supporting caregivers with practical solutions that make a real difference in people's lives. About LTCareNav: LTCareNav's mission is to guide families through the complexities of aging and long-term care by bringing together planning, resources, and caregiver support across the entire care journey.

All Home Care Matters and our host, Lance A. Slatton were honored to welcome Seth Low-Tufo as guest to the show. About Seth Low-Tufo, Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer at A Place for Mom: As Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of A Place for Mom, Inc., Seth Low-Tufo is focused on strengthening core operating processes and identifying opportunities to grow the business profitably. He is responsible for all aspects of the company's Finance function, including strategic planning, investor relations, controllership, accounting, tax, liquidity management, and treasury operations. In addition, Seth is responsible for the company's Legal, Human Resources, and Data & Analytics functions. Seth is an experienced leader with proven ability to drive transformational change. He joined A Place for Mom following more than a decade at GE. Most recently, Seth was CFO of GE's Onshore Wind Americas business, the leading manufacturer of wind turbines in the U.S. In this role, he rebuilt the finance function and helped drive 50% revenue growth while improving operational efficiency and accountability. Earlier in his career, Seth was the Financial Planning leader for GE Capital's $200 billion asset disposition process and head of Pricing for its $90 billion commercial lending and leasing business. Seth earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics and economics from Wesleyan University. About A Place for Mom: A Place for Mom is the leading platform that guides families through every stage of the aging journey. We simplify the search for senior care by offering free, personalized support—and when families are ready, we refer them to partners from our network of over 15,000 senior living communities and home care agencies. Our mission is to guide caregivers and their loved ones to a confident place, so families can focus on what matters most: their love for each other.

All Home Care Matters and our host, Lance A. Slatton were honored to welcome Ilihia Gionson as guest to the show. About Ilihia Gionson, 2021 Dole Caregiver Fellow, Hawaii: In Hawaiʻi, caring for the elderly is part of the native culture. So when it was time for Ilihia to care for his father Anthony, he naturally stepped into the caregiver role. Anthony was born in Hawaiʻi in 1947 and served in Vietnam in 1966 when he was 19. His time in Vietnam, with a climate and people who reminded him of home, was one of a series of transformational moments for him. Hawaiʻi had only recently become an American state, and he returned home to a mother close to the end of her life. In the decades following his return, he worked very hard for his family, including being a caregiver to his wife with a genetic kidney disorder and another son with an intellectual disability. Ilihia believes his tireless work ethic was his father's coping mechanism for dealing with the invisible wounds of war. It was not until after Ilihia's mother and brother passed away that Anthony transformed from the caregiver to the care recipient. Ilihia learned about his father's post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) when his father started going to grief counseling sessions and began unpacking his invisible wounds resulting from his service. Anthony lives with Ilihia, his partner and their daughter, who all help care for him. As his father's primary caregiver, Ilihia manages his appointments and medications, performs household chores, and listens to his father when he needs to talk. Anthony's PTSD and anxiety make it difficult for him to participate in group activities, so Ilihia works hard to get his father out of the house, including getting him to the proper medical care and therapy. Ilihia is the Chief Public Affairs Officer of the W. M. Keck Observatory. As a fellow, he hopes to help other veterans and caregivers in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific who struggle with access to VA resources. He also hopes that by sharing his story, he will help other caregivers self-identify and seek out support. About the Elizabeth Dole Foundation: The Elizabeth Dole Foundation is the preeminent organization empowering, supporting, and honoring our nation's 14.3 million military and veteran caregivers—the spouses, parents, family members, and friends who care for America's wounded, ill, or injured service members and veterans. Established by Senator Elizabeth Dole in 2012, the Foundation works to empower military and veteran caregivers, their families, and their communities through programs, partnerships, and advocacy that drive innovative, impactful, and sustainable solutions. About the 11th Annual National Convening: Registration is now open for the Elizabeth Dole Foundation's 11th Annual National Convening – and you won't want to miss it! Join us on May 19, 2026, in Washington, D.C., at the iconic Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, where leaders, advocates, and caregivers from across the country will come together for a powerful day of connection, conversation, and action. If you are unable to join us in-person, you can register for virtual attendance using the same link. Last year, Convening attendees helped us begin to develop the National Blueprint for Action—a practical, solutions-driven roadmap designed to strengthen support for the 14.3 million military and veteran caregivers nationwide. Now, as we officially launch that Blueprint, we commit to act—bringing together caregivers, business and industry leaders, and policymakers to advance a nationwide Culture of Caregiving. Inspired by thought-provoking plenary speakers, you will participate in interactive working sessions and breakout discussions to learn how you can make a difference. In-person attendees will also experience our dynamic Innovation Expo, featuring more than 30 organizations across military and veteran services, healthcare, and beyond. There, explore valuable resources, spark meaningful connections, enjoy a complimentary headshot, and take a moment for yourself at our chair massage station.

All Home Care Matters and our host, Lance A. Slatton were honored to welcome Elizabeth Field as guest to the show. About Elizabeth Field, Chief Operating Officer at the Elizabeth Dole Foundation: Elizabeth Field joined the Elizabeth Dole Foundation in February 2024 as its first Chief Operating Officer. Prior to that, she served as a Senior Executive Director in the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) Defense Capabilities and Management Team, where she led a broad body of work related to military quality-of-life issues, as well as defense management, business operations, and reform. A recognized expert on the Department of Defense, she has testified several times before Congress, and her work has been featured by various news outlets, including National Public Radio, CNN, and The New York Times. Before joining GAO in September 2017, Ms. Field served as Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights. Ms. Field also previously served as Assistant Inspector General for Audits and Inspections at the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, which was charged by Congress with conducting audits, inspections, and investigations to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Afghanistan reconstruction effort and to detect and deter waste, fraud, and abuse. Ms. Field's first tenure with GAO lasted from 2002-2010, during which she worked primarily as a Senior Analyst in the International Affairs and Trade Team and conducted fieldwork in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. From 2000-2001, she served as a Jacob K. Javits Fellow on the Public Health Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Ms. Field holds a Master's Degree in Public Policy from Duke University and a Bachelor's Degree in History from Davidson College, where she graduated cum laude. The proud daughter of an Army veteran, she lives in Washington, D.C. with her two sons, Graham and Henry (a West Point cadet), and their rescue dog, Maisie. About the Elizabeth Dole Foundation: The Elizabeth Dole Foundation is the preeminent organization empowering, supporting, and honoring our nation's 14.3 million military and veteran caregivers—the spouses, parents, family members, and friends who care for America's wounded, ill, or injured service members and veterans. Established by Senator Elizabeth Dole in 2012, the Foundation works to empower military and veteran caregivers, their families, and their communities through programs, partnerships, and advocacy that drive innovative, impactful, and sustainable solutions. About the 11th Annual National Convening: Registration is now open for the Elizabeth Dole Foundation's 11th Annual National Convening – and you won't want to miss it! Join us on May 19, 2026, in Washington, D.C., at the iconic Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, where leaders, advocates, and caregivers from across the country will come together for a powerful day of connection, conversation, and action. If you are unable to join us in-person, you can register for virtual attendance using the same link. Last year, Convening attendees helped us begin to develop the National Blueprint for Action—a practical, solutions-driven roadmap designed to strengthen support for the 14.3 million military and veteran caregivers nationwide. Now, as we officially launch that Blueprint, we commit to act—bringing together caregivers, business and industry leaders, and policymakers to advance a nationwide Culture of Caregiving. Inspired by thought-provoking plenary speakers, you will participate in interactive working sessions and breakout discussions to learn how you can make a difference. In-person attendees will also experience our dynamic Innovation Expo, featuring more than 30 organizations across military and veteran services, healthcare, and beyond. There, explore valuable resources, spark meaningful connections, enjoy a complimentary headshot, and take a moment for yourself at our chair massage station.