This episode contains a powerful story of resilience through the challenges of battling a rare disease. Amy Gietzen has done this for over 20 years, as she’s become one of the foremost advocates for Scleroderma patients. She is a patient ambassador for Patients Rising, a community outreach volunteer at Steffens Scleroderma Foundation, advocate for the National Scleroderma Foundation, and more. She shares so much in this episode and there’s no doubt you’ll walk away knowing you just spent 12 worthwhile minutes listening to a special human being! We hope you’ll enjoy watching this episode! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Todd “TJ” Keitz has been primary caregiver and patient advocate since June 2018 for his parents, who each are faced with serious illness. This journey led him to create the…

We had a VERY special guest (and addressed a very important topic!) for the 1st Caregiving Insights episode of 2024! Todd “TJ” Keitz, Founder of this blog, Caregiving Insights, and My Care Friends, was truly honored to welcome the former Governor of Wisconsin, Martin J. Schreiber. Marty is a wonderful human being, who cared for his wife Elaine for 19 years along the Alzheimer’s journey. In this episode, he shares so much insight into the journey of a caregiver for someone with Alzheimer’s and how to love both people — the woman he first fell in love with and was his rock (and glue of the family), and the second woman that didn’t know who he was. Marty is kind, engaging, funny, caring, loving…and realistic…

This episode of Caregiving Insights was so meaningful for host, Todd “TJ” Keitz! When he met Lance A. Slatton earlier this year before the launch of My Care Friends, it was apparent their commitment to caregivers and patient advocates was in alignment. As they discussed Todd being a guest on Lance’s podcast All Home Care Matters, they both learned so much about each other – including where their passions for the caring industry were born. They had an instant connection and Todd asked Lance if he could “turn the camera around” and have him as a guest on Caregiving Insights. Without hesitation, he said “absolutely” and in this episode you will learn so much about Lance – why and how All Home Care Matters came…

As we shared last month, there are over 5.4 million caregiving youth in the U.S. and countless others around the world. In this episode of Caregiving Insights, My Care Friends’ Founder/CEO Todd “TJ” Keitz sits down with 18-year old Kaylin Jean-Louis — caregiver, radio host, motivational speaker, and founder of Kaylin’s Caring Konnection. Kaylin graduated high school earlier this year and since 2016 along with her mom has been caregiver to her grandmother and great-grandmother. So, how did she have time to do all she’s done — and at such a young age? Watch this uplifting episode and hear all about it. We think you’ll be as impressed by her and her story as we are. She’s well spoken and mature beyond her years, with…

There are over 5.4 million caregiving youth in the U.S. and countless others around the world. Childhoods are altered and often missed out entirely for these kids. The U.K. is light years ahead of the U.S. when it comes to supporting them. How can the U.S. be better? Who is identifying these kids, how are they supported now, and who is advocating for them? One — and only one — national organization in the U.S. has been working on this for a long time. It’s called the American Association of Caregiving Youth or AACY. In this episode of Caregiving Insights, My Care Friends Founder/CEO Todd “TJ” Keitz sits down with AACY Founder/President, Connie Siskowski to learn more. Connie is a CNN Hero and has received…

Nathaniel Hawthorne. Profound. Emotive. Reflective. It’s been just over five years since my mom’s health crashed in June 2018 and life changed in many ways. Her Systemic Scleroderma journey since then has been challenging, starting with 17 hospitalizations in 22 months and a number of them life threatening. If that weren’t enough, shortly after her 17th hospitalization my dad was diagnosed with high-grade bladder cancer. That journey included surgery, two rounds of both chemo and radiation, and a prognosis in December 2021 of one year to live after it had metastasized to his lungs. Miraculously, and shooing away any bad juju for saying this — both of them are relatively stable at this time. They made it to this point through some very uncertain times,…

I returned June 17 from three weeks away — from caregiving and patient advocacy responsibilities for my parents. The travel to California and Colorado was planned last October, to mark the five year anniversary of my mom’s health crash in June 2018. For those who have read this blog and/or watched Caregiving Insights episodes, you know the ups and downs and all-arounds the journey has been. (If you haven’t, I invite you to read my earliest blog posts Caregiving: A Journey Like No Other, Beginning of the Journey, and Kidneys and Heart and Lungs, Oh My! for a sense of the journey.) While I traveled a bunch in 2022, this was truly the first appreciable amount of time I’ve had to myself since 2017. To…

Are there any legal protections for caregivers under the law? What are the basic differences between ADA, FMLA, ADEA, FCRA and FLSA, and do they apply to an employee’s caregiving situation? Are there baseline legal responsibilities for employers when it comes to providing PTO? How are employers large to small dealing with PTO for employees? These and many more questions are explored by Todd “TJ” Keitz in this episode of Caregiving Insights, with guest Jamie Dokovna, attorney and shareholder at Becker and Poliakoff, P.A. in West Palm Beach, Florida. Jamie has been an employment law attorney for over 17 years. She has extensive experience helping employers and employees understand an often misunderstood (or not understood at all) area of the law. We hope you find…

Not to be missed! This is truly for everyone, with lots to consider no matter your age, socio-economic standing, etc. Long-term care insurance is an often misunderstood and confusing topic, in and of itself, and related to overall LTC planning. In December, our founder Todd Keitz was fortunate to have Kelly Augspurger, CLTC®, CSA, LTC Insurance Specialist and Co-Founder of Steadfast Insurance as a guest on Caregiving Insights. Kelly is well-respected in her field and coincidentally this week has served as a moderator and panelist at the ILTCI – The Intercompany Long Term Care Insurance Conference. I’m grateful for Kelly’s time and excited to finally have posted the episode for all to see. She shared a wealth of knowledge and insight on many long term care planning topics, which are very important…