AARP’s ‘Care to Laugh’ Town Hall Provided Humor and Much-Needed Support for Caregivers

Family caregivers got the chance to laugh and receive some expert tips and advice at “Care to Laugh: Juggling Caregiving With Humor and Help,” AARP’s first town hall dedicated to the complicated issues surrounding caring for loved ones and friends. Host and comedian Jesus Trejo — the subject of AARP’s 2018 documentary Care to Laugh and a millennial caregiver for both his parents — performed his caregiving-based stand-up comedy for the live and streaming audience of thousands, followed by a Q&A roundtable with featured experts.

The Las Vegas event allowed caregivers to pose questions to renowned pros including Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, clinical psychologist Dr. Sherry Blake, AARP financial ambassador and author Jean Chatzky and clinical social worker Lori Nisson. Topics ranged from issues that impact the “heart” (the emotional and social aspects of caregiving) to those related to “health” (navigating medical systems, advocating and coordinating care) and the “wallet” (dealing with the costs of care, holding down a job and working with insurance, Medicare or Medicaid).

Here are a few of the questions the experts tackled.

Jill from South Carolina: My mother has the start of dementia, and I am trying to navigate her Medicare plan. How does Medicare support caregivers of people with dementia?

Secretary Becerra: Medicare recently instituted a new policy that allows us to pay doctors to provide family members with the caregiver training that they’ll need so they know that they’re doing the right thing for their family member who is having issues with dementia and other issues like Alzheimer’s.

In July, we announced also a policy called GUIDE, an improved dementia experience model, which gives people who are providers of care a better idea of what resources are available to them and also gives them some of that instruction and training, because … we’re seeing this more and more in homes and families where they are taking the responsibility to try to help care for their loved ones as long as possible.

If you log on to our Medicare website, you’ll be able to find a lot of this information.

Erin from Las Vegas: I live with my mom. And you know I love Mom dearly, but these past couple of weeks, especially with Thanksgiving, she’s just challenging me on every decision I make, kind of getting on my nerves. How do I get a little more patient?

Dr. Sherry Blake: One of the things you have to understand up front is not that they’re giving you a hard time. They’re actually having a hard time … and given that they’re having a hard time, you don’t take it personally.

Just make sure you’re caring for yourself, so your patience [level] is normal. It’s very normal to be impatient, and it’s easy when you’re exhausted and tired.

Lori Nisson: There isn’t a harder job than caregiving. Neither of you asked for the situation. So try to lead with empathy. …