Introduction

A few years ago, both of us experienced one of those profound events that blessed, saddened, enlightened and honored us - and changed our lives forever. We each found ourselves in the position of being the primary caregiver for our parents. Now we have come together to produce a made-for-Public-Television series on the subject.

Why have we done this? It's because of what we didn't know then and what we've learned since … and we've learned many things. We learned how very vulnerable a care recipient is - that look in his or her eyes which speaks simultaneously of need and resentment. We learned how complex our emotions are; that somehow, regardless of our relationship with our parents, we felt obliged to care for them ourselves. We learned the frustrations of not knowing where to go for information, of being cut out of conversations because no one is interested in a job which is all-consuming and yet could take years. We learned that we, as caregivers, were ghosts - needy souls who didn't know how to carry on a "normal" conversation and lead a "normal" life, but rather spent our time arranging for groceries, baths, doctors visits, prescriptions, haggling with insurance companies and wading through a morass of government regulations as we tried to find help. We learned that caregiving is both an honorable act and an act of honoring another.

As we've reflected on our experiences and spoken with and documented the experiences of others, we've also learned that we are not alone.

Through this PBS series, we hope that we will remove the shroud from caregiving and caregivers. It is our dream that caregivers will be able to find support and relief within our familial and social systems and that those in need of care find that their lives are honored by caregivers. We further dream that individuals, regardless of their status in life, will band together to enact the necessary systemic changes needed within our government and our society to begin to meet the burgeoning demands placed on them.

If we were to have one wish for you, it would be that when you are faced with the challenge of being a caregiver or a care-recipient, you will not be alone - that you will experience the awesome honor of sharing this mystical time with your loved-one and that you will each find peace in the experience.

Please take this Action Guide and use it. Use it to raise the profile of caregivers and care-recipients within your community. Help your family and friends who are taking care of someone-- a parent, a child, a relative, a friend or a spouse-- discover that they are caregivers. Identify resources within your community that will assist them and others in their acts of caregiving. Join with others to form a caregiving coalition in your community and spread the word to the media, to your elected officials and to the public that caregiving for the sick, the frail, the elderly, the dying is an issue that will not go away. Now is the time to effect systemic change. Caregivers need your support. They need your care!

Thank you for getting involved.

Harry Wiland and Dale Bell
Executive Producers

Forward to Section 1 | Back to Action Guide Index