Maude’s Awards with Marilyn Raichle, Part 1

*The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.

The following is a podcast from a qualified senior care provider heard on the answers for elders radio show. And welcome everyone to answers for elder’s radio and we are so excited to have a brand new guest here on our show and we’re looking forward to having our audience today listen to something in the senior care that takes a little bit of a different direction, because this is a lady that is really involved in innovation and Alzheimer’s care and the organization is called MoD’s awards and we’re very excited to have the executive director with us, Marilyn Rakeel, and Marilyn, welcome to the show. Thank you so much. It’s a pleasure to be here, Marylyn. We’re excited to have you on the show because we oftentimes will talk to providers and we’ll talk to people that are there for our families, which is great, but you guys have kind of come into a brand new position in our industry, I guess is a better word, because you’re really raising the bar in and how we’re caring for our loved ones with Alzheimer’s Dementia, and one of the things that I’m very well aware of and I guess there was a statistic that was given to me lot not too long ago that Washington state has over three hundred thousand seniors that or, you know, individuals that are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and they’re being cared for by close two hundred and fifty thousand caregivers. Isn’t that the right statistic? In trying to remember? Yeah, and rationally it’s like three million. Yeah, naturally three million. And of course one of the things that’s so powerful about you know and overwhelming is the increased rate it that people are being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s strict these but also there’s so many amazing breakthroughs that we are having as as a care community and as people in the industry, and one of the things that I was really impressed about your organization is really how you guys have taken a different approach to raise the bar. So merely, would you give me a little bit of an overviewed for our listeners about moths awards and, you know, tell us a little bit about your background? Well, my background is I was as oblivious to all timers as the next person and it was been my mother and father both developed the disease. I became first a sort of reluctant care partner with very little knowledge about how to do this, and then, as my mother’s case develop, I became a really passionate character and learned so much. And so when I have the opportunity to help advance the agenda of Moud’s awards, this was a gift. And it began. It began with Richard and mods fairy, and this was a remarkable couple. They lived the American dream. He was a profoundly successful business executive, Co founder Corn Fairy, and she was his matriotic, extraordinary. She was his silent partner, she was good will ambassador, mother to six, grandmother to twelve and Great Grandmother Two, three and as he was, my goodness, the wind beneath his wings. And in two thousand and thirteen he became her principal care partner and, like so many of us in this position, you know very little about how to do this and you’re looking for anthonies. And he devoted his life from that point to try to find ways to bring joy and happiness to her wife. He read that would deep re ask questions, he went to conferences and he couldn’t find the answers that he was looking for and he developed MODs awards and MoD’s awards is this extraordinary forum to discover, to clerate and to share innovative ideas and practices of care that will enhance the lives of persons living with dementia, your care partners and their families. One of the things that I’m so impressed with is because, as I was a caregiver from my mother for the last six years of her life, had some she had some dementia, not not to the point where she was not conscious of, you know, her surroundings, but she would get things, you know, mixed up. She always knew us and things like that. But I learned through time and my my experience was basically through trial and error that I learned there were certain ways to approach her, certain ways to have conversations that may have been, you know, a little different than, you know, what I was expected, you know, would have normally been. And I also learned that there’s a lot of different breakthroughs. Through The Times that I’ve been in the industry myself, I have learned so many amazing breakthroughs that we just don’t even think about and so having, you know, an acknowledgement of the or organizations and that are out there in the community that are making a difference and making these you know, taking the time to innovate and find ways to break through to our seniors to suffer from Alzheimer’s and dementia, I think is so admirable and say, you know, I’m very excited about what you guys have to share with us today. And and it’s so unncessary because you find people saying they’re so eager and they’re so anxious to find ideas and it is this astonishment. A number of people say, I need to know more, what can I do? And so, which is not and the thing that’s extraordinary that monster words because as Richard began this to try to find ways to improve and enhance his wife bought five it quickly became let’s share this with as many people as possible, and so it we had our first year of awards this year and he is giving out a hundred thousand dollars in awards every year, three organizations at twenty Fivezero and individuals at five thousand each. And it is it is it’s extraordinary that the innovations that were finding, but also the innovations that will come our way. HMM. Well, and I think the thing that’s really good about that is that there is an organization that is actually, you know, rewarding our industry for a change. And I and you know, one of the things that you know, that’s hard right now as I don’t think that our care providers and our healthcare, you know, personnel are getting the you know, the gratitude that they deserve. You know, they’re kind of the silent sufferers with Covid nineteen and all the things that we’ve been through in this last you know, time, time, nine, ten months now, it’s crazy. But you know, when we look at, you know what, all the sacrifices that they do and even especially now, with everything that’s going on in the you know, in the world today, an individual with dement it doesn’t necessarily understand why their family has it come to visit them, you know, or they don’t necessarily understand what’s happening, or every day they have to be reminded or different ways. So understanding that piece, it gives the ability for you know, you guys to acknowledge them, to say thank you for all the things that you do which is amazing. That’s so. And let’s not really the fact that that number of care partners are our family members with their loved one serving at home, so they’re not in organization institutions, and that the number of unpaid family care partners is is huge and they are are really looking for answers. So we’re trying to reach out to everyone. Well, I am so glad to hear this and again to our listeners. We are talking to Marilyn Rachel and Maryland, is the executive director of MoD’s awards and MODs awards. Again we’re talking about breakthroughs in understanding and acknowledging organizations that are really doing positive, innovative things for, you know, our seniors and our individuals that are suffering with Alzheimer’s disease and, obviously, family caregivers and what you call a care partner, which obviously we’ve got a lot of spouses out there that are dealing with, you know, that challenge of you know, how do I deal with my loved one? How do I, you know, how can I keep this up as they start to decline? And there’s just so many different scenarios out there. So to be able to have something that is a you know, is a positive effect. That kind of moving the bar, raising the bar in art industry. You know, I’m really excited to hear a little bit more as we spend this hour together talking about how are we doing that? What what’s happening and so so, just getting back to Richard and to mud. So they started the organization. Tell us a little bit about more about where the organization is right now. Well, we just got our first year. So we opened applications last March and we had eighty applications in our first year and so we amazing lisory board that helps us make these decisions. And so we out of those eighty applications, we rewarded three organizations in Seattle and five individuals and they’re all making really interesting decisions. And the thing that’s really interesting about Seattle and western Washington is there is so much in the Seattle area for people, so many resources, and the farther away from Seattle you go, the few are they are. There are and it is it is really interesting. One of the things that really mattered to us is how can these innovations be replicated? And so one of the things we’re doing is that we’re also not how we’re sharing all these innovations so that we actually have created a digital book of all of the innovations that came our way, the eight winners, but also sixty eight other innovations came from all over the country or people to look at and to see. To this help me? Is this applicable to my life? And you have this booklet on your website? Do not? Yeah, so, if you go to www mods awards dotorg, you will find a link and you can download it and you can also order a printed copy. And you know, the thing is, how it helps our families today is tell us a little bit about how this, this book, will help your family, our family. Well, so that we have there were four categories of applications yet, but world categories, and one was making connections. How can we people to keep people connected to communities and and active in their communities in the world around them? So that was making connections and we actually got a huge number of applications in that category. And then we have one that was cultivating help, something a category with it cultivating a long term physical help of person’s living with dimension. And then there was how we support care partners to education, training and support and the other one is treating by designs. It’s a really interesting category which is like your physical environment, things like stopped up clothing, and so when all those categories, they some would a fly to your lives and some would not. So you can go through this book and go through each category and see all these different innovative practices and summer products, summer books, and it’s it’s really inspiring to see them all. And so next year, and would thinks of what is going to be even bigger, since this was just start first year and it will have a national scope next year. Well, we’re excited to hear more. And so for everyone go to mud award is dot org. Is that correct? It’s got Org Mont Awards or not? Dot Mark a moment and we’re going to speak more about this throughout the hour. So Marylyn and I will be right back right after this. Answers for elders radio show with Susan Newman. Hopes you found this podcast useful in your journey of navigating senior care. Check out more podcasts like this to help you find qualified senior care experts and areas of financial, legal, health and wellness and living options. 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