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'Plan Now: Caregiving Your Parent'
TV28 presenting program on challenges of aging parents

by Dolores Fox Ciardelli

How do you start planning when your elderly parents are in need of support or care? What resources are available?

"Plan Now: Caregiving your Parent," produced by Tri-Valley Community TV, provides answers to these and other questions to help individuals navigate their way through the challenging task of caregiving their parent. The show is part of an educational series.

The episode currently being broadcast on TV28 features Carol Bush and Luz Maria Saldana, case managers from the nonprofit organization Senior Support Program of the Tri-Valley. They answer questions about how to deal with current situations and also how to start planning.

They also address such issues as how far in advance should you talk to your parents about their plans and what do you say? What types of services might your parent be eligible to receive? What is financial Power of Attorney? What do you do when you don't know where to turn?

"Plan Now is targeted toward someone in the sandwich generation caring for elderly parents on one end and children on the other," said Rosemary Young, board member, Senior Support Program of the Tri-Valley. "What sort of questions may arise and where do you start looking for answers? This show helps provide a vision about planning for lives in transit."

"Being a caregiver for your aging parent can sneak up on you," said TV28 Executive Director Melissa Tench-Stevens. "It can be an overwhelming, scary experience. This program provides invaluable information to help viewers start planning to be a caregiver for their parent or ill spouse.

"The program also supports caregivers who were not planning on taking that path in their lives but have fallen into it and now don't know where to turn," she continued.

"Plan Now: Caregiving for Your Parents," which is 30 minutes long, is scheduled to air on Channel 28 at the following times through August:

6 p.m. Mondays

1 p.m. Wednesdays

8 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. Saturdays

Senior Support Program of the Tri-Valley is an independent, nonprofit agency serving seniors over 60 in the cities of Pleasanton, Livermore, Dublin and Sunol.