Welcome And Mark’s Care Story

Rayna Neises 0:04

Hi, I'm Rayna Neises, your host of a Season of Caring podcast, where we share stories of hope for family caregivers, pushing past the busyness and loneliness of caregiving to see God even in this season. Today, I'm excited to introduce you to Mark Wilson. After Mark's mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, Mark left his 22-plus-year career as leadership and human resource executive for Taco Bell to take care of his mom full time at home. Mark discovered that his love and passion for his mom, his passion to learn, and his executive career leading leadership development, talent, and training, including training in Breakthrough Thinking, helped him lead care to achieving breakthrough results for his mom, where she lived three times longer and happier than anyone expected. In addition to writing his combo memoir and how-to playbook on his journey with his mom, Mark is a passionate advocate for the disease, leading Alzheimer's support groups, advocating in DC and Sacramento, and leads various fundraising and patient rights activities. Welcome, Mark. I'm glad to have you here today.

Mark Wilson 1:12

Thank you so much, Rayna. I'm so happy to be here. I love your podcast and everything you do. Thank you so much

Rayna Neises 1:17

Thank you.

Diagnosis And A Home Care Mission

Rayna Neises 1:18

So tell us a little bit more about mom and what caregiving looked like for her

Mark Wilson 1:23

Yeah. Well, my mom, I mean, she was, she was the most amazing mother ever. I'm, I'm a little biased of course, but she was a kindergarten teacher for her whole career, but even though she worked, she figured out how to spend time with my sister and I. I have memories of her, helping me with, you know, spelling and vocabulary and, you know, always made time for us and always, somehow just did it all, and, always had a good, positive, fun attitude about things. Never resentful or anything. Anyway, she was amazing and then, she got this diagnosis. It was so funny. I was kind of in your classic denial, you know? My sister was saying, "Something is wrong, Mark. We gotta get her tested."

Rayna Neises 2:00

Hmm.

Mark Wilson 2:00

"Oh, you know, she's, you know, she's starting to age, you know? It's probably just normal." And she said, "No, no, we're gonna..." She's a little more, my sister's a little bit more pointed than I am. She's like- And I said, "Okay, let's get her tested." And sure enough, she had Alzheimer's and vascular dementia. The neurologist is like at UC Irvine, which is like one of the best in the country, said, "Well, yeah, that's what she has." And I said, "I don't know anything about the disease. I'm- nothing about it. What... How long does she have to live?" said about, "It's hard to say, but she also has some coronary things going on, maybe five years between the two problems."

Rayna Neises 2:34

Mm.

Mark Wilson 2:34

I was going, gonna prove this little woman wrong." I won't say anything, what I was really thinking, but I was like, "Okay." And I didn't know how I was gonna do that. Had no clue, but I just went on a rampage of learning. I like researched everything and anyway, found out that there's, there's no cure for the disease, Alzheimer's, but there's lots of little things with, quote-unquote, some evidence that helps longevity and

Rayna Neises 3:01

Угу

Mark Wilson 3:03

And so kind of had lists and lists of things I wanted to do, and so I knew I had to do it, had to take care of her at home to do all these things.

Rayna Neises 3:11

Ja

Mark Wilson 3:12

you don't have control over everything. So I thought, "Okay, I'm gonna do that." And then, but I realized that that's, you know, full-time plus, plus job. And so I went to my boss and I said, "I'm so sorry, I have to leave." He's like, "Are you nuts?" You're like not even early retirement eligible. You're like too young to leave." I said, "No, I have to." It was like hardest thing I've ever done, taking care of my mom at home, but also the most joyful, rewarding. I mean, I have no regrets at all. In fact, it was one of the best th- things I've ever done in my whole life. And so, and I helped her. So she ended up living much longer with all my dozens of experimental things I tried between nutrition and cognitive stimulation programs and art therapy and physical therapy to the house every week to keep her mobile and strong and safe and bunch of other things. Anyway, and it worked, you know, really, and she was happy. And because of my HR background, after about two years, I knew I needed some home care help. just couldn't, I couldn't do it all myself. And I,

Rayna Neises 4:09

Ja

Mark Wilson 4:09

a... I don't know how people do it. I know there are caregivers, caregivers that don't get help. They do it all themselves. But you, if you do that, you're better than me. 'Cause I couldn't do it myself. Anyway,

Rayna Neises 4:20

I agree

Mark Wilson 4:21

background, was the pickiest I found really, really, really good caregivers for my mom. And, and They were amazing and kept my mom very happy and safe, and they were like delights. And we're... It's so funny, my mom's passed a few years ago, but my sister and I are, are still really close friends with my mom's caregivers because they were a family.

Rayna Neises 4:42

Yeah

Mark Wilson 4:42

the agencies paid them whatever they paid them, but there was zero turnover. They worked for us for like seven, eight, nine years, and

Rayna Neises 4:50

Wow

Mark Wilson 4:50

And nobody left because they were happy. And, they... I kept emphasizing the mission. The mission was helping my mom live longer and happier, and they liked being part of that.

Rayna Neises 5:00

Yeah.

Mark Wilson 5:01

yeah.

Rayna Neises 5:01

Yeah, we found the same thing. Mark, how old was your mom when she was diagnosed?

Mark Wilson 5:05

She was diagnosed at 72.

Rayna Neises 5:08

Okay. That's about the same as my dad

Mark Wilson 5:09

she ended up living to 88.

Rayna Neises 5:12

Mm-hmm.

Mark Wilson 5:12

might have, we don't have time to go through this, but she might have even lived longer, but she was a victim of a medical mistake that, that

Rayna Neises 5:18

Mm.

Mark Wilson 5:19

led to infection and sepsis, and that's another whole...

Rayna Neises 5:22

Yeah.

Mark Wilson 5:22

get crazy when I start talking about that because it was, like, so wrong.

Rayna Neises 5:25

Yeah

Mark Wilson 5:26

She should have had a peaceful, you know, loving death, and it was not that at all, and it should have been.

Hiring And Leading Great Caregivers

Rayna Neises 5:32

It's tough. It's tough. Just like you said, finding the right caregivers, it can take time, and I think that's one of the things I want to encourage, our family caregivers. When you have home health coming in, when you're paying people, and sometimes people even with hospice, like no, you're not paying the bill, but Medicare is. These are your employees,

Mark Wilson 5:50

Definitely

Rayna Neises 5:51

hard when somebody hasn't been in the workforce and they haven't had to manage people to really put that hat on. But you are. You are their boss. And so it's really important to realize that because you set the tone, just like you said. You lay out the mission, you set the tone, the expectations, if you aren't providing feedback, then nothing's gonna change. So you also have to have that feedback in there

Mark Wilson 6:14

Those are all really good things, and, I don't wanna get too promote-y on my book, but in my book I have how do you interview the caregiver, the questions to ask, how do you evaluate expectations of your caregiver. I even have a section on coaching a caregiver. Because caregivers probably know more about caregiving than you do, 'cause they're professionals, but my workplace, I had experts that worked for me that knew more about their specific part than I did, but I knew enough to be able to ask questions and get them to discover ways to improve. that, I used that with the caregivers, 'cause I asked them questions and th- they helped identify what they could do better if they weren't perfect, 'cause I wanted perfect guys.

Rayna Neises 6:51

Yeah.

Mark Wilson 6:53

Yeah

Rayna Neises 6:54

it's tough, and as you mentioned, it's not necessarily a well-paid job, and so that's one of the things that can be challenging. But at the same time, when you build that relationship and they're part of the family, then they do stick around, and we found that as well. We had a lot come and go, but that was because our expectations were high, and we found that some expected to be able to just sit on their phone and not do anything. And like you, it was like, "No, we have lots of activities and a lot of engagement that we're asking you to do, and that's, that's what we're looking for," so

Mark Wilson 7:27

I ha- in my book, I have four, four reasons to immediately send a caregiver home. That's one of them, being on their phone too long. And I learned these the hard way, 'cause I, you know, at the beginning I, I br- you know, brought some people in that I thought were good and they weren't, and it's like, "Bye-bye. Go home.

Rayna Neises 7:42

And it's easier when you're living there. When I would go out to take care of my dad, I was there. And so though I might, I was free to come and go when there was a caregiver there, I saw and heard a whole lot more than my sister who just popped in here and there, you know? So it can be challenging, but it definitely is a big piece of it, is learning how to, to manage the people and how to get everybody on the same page

Mark Wilson 8:05

That's so important. I mean, having a good care team, I mean, it was everything, 'cause then I could focus on the overall medical care. I could focus on all these different ideas I had to help her live longer and happier. But if I was-- I mean, in the beginning, oh, at like year two, I was so stressed from not sleeping, and I wasn't even, like, thinking broadly and systemically.

Rayna Neises 8:25

Mm-hmm.

Mark Wilson 8:26

I got these caregivers, and then I was able to deploy a lot of these ideas that I didn't have the mental energy when I was caregiving full-time.

Rayna Neises 8:33

Yep.

Mark Wilson 8:34

yeah

Rayna Neises 8:34

And like you said, there are some that are doing it full time, but I'm always encouraging look for resources, find a way to get some time to breathe. Because just like you said, that's what you need. Your brain can't When you're always on call and you're always anticipating what needs to happen next, you can't process new ideas or ways to care for yourself or to care for them well. So it's important to find that team

Mark Wilson 8:56

I lead some support groups and things for Alzheimer's Association, and people come in that are just doing all the care themselves, and they are fried.

Rayna Neises 9:04

Mm-hmm.

Mark Wilson 9:04

and we almost always like, is there anybody that can help? Family members?" You know, "You have

Rayna Neises 9:08

Ja

Mark Wilson 9:09

To use, you know, for outside care? Anything?" I mean, come on. So yeah

Rayna Neises 9:14

Yeah, and, and caregivers probably get tired of hearing that, but it's because we know it's true.

Mark Wilson 9:19

Do. Yeah, they do.

Rayna Neises 9:20

and we started out that way because my dad was living in his home alone, and so in order for that to happen, we had to bring care in. We just knew that the care, needed to be a piece of that. They needed to be a part of the team. But I was really thankful when we found those that we really could be confident in and stuck around. So it's a big task, but it's so worth it to actually help train the team and get them there.

Mark Wilson 9:43

set of amazing caregivers, I mean, our caregivers just fantastic. They were loving, they were caring, they had a strong faith and family orientation, which brought the character to the relationship that was so important. My mom was number one because they knew how important this mission was to me, and they knew, you know, that the faith was important, and my mom was a very faithful person and always went to Christian schools growing up. And so they knew all those things, so they would pray with her, they would love her, and it was like... And, and as a care- I call myself a care leader in the book, but as a care leader, you just have so much joy because you see your loved one being taken care of so well that you can step back, relax, and, and focus, you know, where you need to focus, so.

Rayna Neises 10:32

Yeah, it's amazing, and I agree that is such an important piece of it, and I think that faith part of it made such a big difference in pray- even I tell people in my, in my support group, if you don't have a caregiver, you're looking for a caregiver, pray f- that the Lord will bring them because they are out there. And I do agree that character, that common character makes such a big difference for families

Mark Wilson 10:55

Yeah. it's remarkable 'cause I actually, I wasn't a s- when I interviewed these, when I looked for these caregivers, it wasn't a criteria that they be Christian or faith-based, but being loving and caring and compassionate was, and I th- I don't think it's a coincidence that faith-based people have this love and care and compassion and, and strength and commitment, and they work together. So

Finding At Home Resources Fast

Rayna Neises 11:17

definitely. So what would be one thing that was most surprising to you about caregiving?

Mark Wilson 11:23

Well, I think a couple things. One is I was surprised. Like, when I went on this journey to find all these things to help my mom, I wasn't sure if it would work because there's like, it's not proven, it's not FDA kind of stuff.

Rayna Neises 11:35

Yeah.

Mark Wilson 11:36

surprised how man- how much of an impact it made. My mom was happy. She was very healthy, I mean, for a horrific disease, and she lived, you know, way longer. could have e- w- wasn't for this malpractice, she might have lived even, you know, even four or five times what they expected. So these things work, and I wasn't sure if they would, so I was pleasantly surprised at how wonderfully they worked. I, I also was surprised that doing this care at home, not easy, but it was more doable than I thought. I found out that you can get any resource at home that you can get in a facility. I had home caregivers. I found a, an amazing home dentist that came to the house to do actual real dentistry work. You can get doctors to come to the house. I mean, you can get... People were like, "Really? I didn't know that." I mean, you can... I was surprised that you can get almost, n- well, not almost, every single kind of care you get in a facility at home. You just have to kind of find them. And I used my agencies that I work with to identify all these resources. And

Rayna Neises 12:37

Mm.

Mark Wilson 12:38

I learned that, a lot of people are surprised by this, but I had several agencies that I drew from. This is kind of the idea of a talent pool in HR I learned about. Having one agency limits your talent. But if you have like four or five agencies, then you're gonna have a lot bigger talent pool. They're gonna have more connections with some of these other resources to bring in. And so I think that was a, a breakthrough idea too

Rayna Neises 13:00

Yeah. Yeah, that's definitely not something we did, but I think that's amazing when you think about that 'cause it does make so much sense. And again, the resources of the people that are doing this all the time, and there are amazing resources out there, and so many of them have personal stories, and that's why they do it. The hairdresser comes to your house because she knows what it's like to try to get her mom out of the house or her aunt or whatever, her grandma, you know. And so there are those services, and so many times people, don't realize. And I think another piece that they don't realize when they look at placement is how much control over all those things you lose. I know we did a lot of herbs and a lot of non-traditional medicine as well, and that would not have been an option if my dad was in a facility because they want everything prescription based. And so it's interesting the things you can play with and see what's gonna make a difference. Some things helped, some things didn't, but, yeah, it was fun to be able to try to find new things and, and experiment with them

Mark Wilson 14:00

Yeah, totally. In a facility, you lose all that influence. And again, being an executive for my whole career, it's like I would be so frustrated if I couldn't, like, make things happen. It's my nature to lead and make things happen.

Rayna Neises 14:12

And it's good to know that about yourself too, I think. It makes everybody's life easier. Share one time that comes to mind of when God really showed up for you in your caregiving

Holy Moments And Caregiver Strength

Mark Wilson 14:22

Oh my gosh, there's so many, so many of those. But the one that comes to mind is that, Well, a couple, but one that's like, I remember one of my mom's caregivers was very faith-based, and I was like outside her room and I saw, Luisa was her name, and she was like praying with my mom. And my mom lost her speech early on. Her, her mind was still there, her personality was still there, but she couldn't speak, and that's sometimes that happens with dementia. I, my-- Luisa was praying with my mom, and my mom couldn't respond and pray with her, but I could just see her face. I mean, she knew what Luisa was doing and how important that was, and her face was like glowing. She was happy and

Rayna Neises 14:59

Hmm.

Mark Wilson 15:00

I knew God was touching the two of them, so beautifully. And then it made me happy 'cause I could see how powerful that was, for my mom. Luisa was just... She was an angel around that. She would do that, a lot, and my mom would just respond so beautifully to it,

Rayna Neises 15:16

Yeah, I love that. We also attracted Christian caregivers. Majority of those that stayed with us were very faith, oriented. And it was interesting because it was not a big piece of our home growing up. And when I was talking to one of the older caregivers that would put him to bed at night, she said she would always ask him, "Can I pray with you?" And he would say, "Oh, well, of course." And that they prayed before they went to bed at night, and I thought, "Oh, wow, that is so neat," because that was not something he and I did because it wasn't something we had done growing up. And so it was so much fun to see how God just sent the right people, and in different ways, how they brought joy to my dad and gave him a well-rounded life, compared to just being stuck with me all the time. And so that's one thing, too. I think as caregivers, we kind of think we're irreplaceable, and there's so many things about us that are, but sometimes those different personalities and different experiences can bring a lot of joy to our loved ones, too

Mark Wilson 16:12

Big time. Totally. Yeah. No, I was-- There were many other, I call them holy moments. I got-- I picked up that phrase from a Matthew Kelly, talks about holy moments. I could cite lots of them that are just special and, and important for myself and for my mom, and, and it was just... You could just feel God's blessing in the care and, and, and in how my mom responded and how well she did, so

Rayna Neises 16:37

We have to make sure that we don't stay so busy we miss it. And so that's one of the reasons why I love the stories that people share, because it does help us to look for God if we're in the trenches and we're forgetting that He's right there with us, because that can happen sometimes whenever things are really crazy, for sure, so.

Mark Wilson 16:54

In my book, the first pi-- I-- the five pi-- breakthrough pillars in my book, the first one is self-care. 'Cause if you as a leader are not effective a-as a care leader, and you're not strong, and, and so that's number one. And I would very regularly pray as one of the components of how I got strength. And there's other things in the book I talk about, but, but find out what's, you know, what's important to you to get your strength and whether it's prayer or, you know, kind of getting in touch with your mission. My mission was to help my mom live longer and happier. So those things were internal sources of strength for me, and I don't think I could have done it without them, so.

Rayna Neises 17:33

Mm-hmm. Such a good point, and it kind of leads to one of the questions I like to ask is what's one thing that you do to live content, love well, and care without regrets?

Mark Wilson 17:43

Oh my gosh, that's such a good question. Um, well, I pray. I still pray. My mom has passed five years ago, but it's still important to me to be part of, you know, God's family and pray and, you know, I'm not perfect, but I work at it. So, and you know, and then I... My mission now to help people is one too. I, I get a lot of satisfaction out of all the things I do to help families that are dealing with Alzheimer's and dementia.

Rayna Neises 18:07

Mm-hmm.

Mark Wilson 18:07

these support groups are such a blessing because, oh my gosh, the people come in... I had one last night, in fact. People come in, they're crying, they don't know what to do. And not just me, the whole group just rallies around these people. I mean, it w- it made me cry last night 'cause some lady was really struggling, and two people came up to her and hugged her. was like, oh my it was so great.

Rayna Neises 18:32

Mm-hmm.

Mark Wilson 18:34

And you could

Rayna Neises 18:34

Yeah

Mark Wilson 18:34

you could just see her smile and be so happy with that love. And so that makes me feel good when I, we, you know, I can organize these things and lead these, these groups and so forth. And then, you know, doing Washington DC, going to DC and trying to present to Congress for bills that the Alzheimer's Association wants. I mean, all those things are just so, so good. And then, know, I've gotten such amazingly rave reviews about my book and promoting that 'cause it's a lot of content in there that it'll help people.

Rayna Neises 19:01

Mm-hmm.

Mark Wilson 19:02

I'm trying to... I give away a lot of copies just to help people and, you know. And so I'm doing that and, and it's, it's such a blessing because, you know, my boss said, "Why don't you come back to work? You're still, you know, not that old." I said, "No, no. I have, I have a, I have a new mission now," and I'm... And it's so rewarding, you know, and so fulfilling, so to help people.

Rayna Neises 19:22

I think that's one of the things that surprised me after the journey was over, was when the Lord asked me to, to be honest about what we did and, and how it went, and what I did well and what I didn't do well, and, and to be able to encourage others that are going through the season because it is just a season. And what we do with what we learned is also maybe the next season. So that's what it's been for me, and it's been a real blessing

Mark Wilson 19:47

Oh my gosh. So helping people. mean, in my work career, you know, I'd help people, but the focus. But this is

Rayna Neises 19:54

Mm-hmm.

Mark Wilson 19:54

It's all volunteer work. You know, it's all about helping people, and it's just so rewarding when people respond and, they'll tell me that the, the group was so effective and so helpful, or somebody will reach out to me and say, "Oh my gosh, that, that piece in your book was so helpful to me." And you know, so it makes me just glow that I can help

Rayna Neises 20:12

Yes.

Mark Wilson 20:13

That's my goal now, so.

Rayna Neises 20:14

So if you're listening and you've read either of our books, a review or even just reaching out, it can be such a blessing. People don't realize how much it helps us to just know that, that it matters, that what we're sharing is making impact. Because many times both talking on a podcast and writing a book, you're just putting it out there and, and you don't always get the feedback. So it's always a blessing whenever we do.

Mark Wilson 20:38

Yeah

Five Pillars Of Breakthrough Care

Rayna Neises 20:39

So share with us a little bit more about your book, Mark, where it's available and, just some of the things that

Mark Wilson 20:45

Yeah,

Rayna Neises 20:45

are in there for us

Mark Wilson 20:46

I talk about five pillars of breakthrough care, and I mentioned the first one already, self-care, self-energy. You're the care leader of the whole process, so you gotta be strong. And if not, if you're not high on the... Like, there's a tool I learned, Mood Elevator. If you're not high on the Mood Elevator and high on the Accountability Ladder, you know, nothing great happens. And so that's, like, number one. Number two is common sense safety. 'Cause If your loved one isn't safe, then they're not gonna be healthy, they're not gonna live longer probably, and they're not gonna be happy if they're not safe.

Rayna Neises 21:18

For sure

Mark Wilson 21:19

So there's lots in the book about, you know, I did a lot of things there, and they're not expensive, and they're not hard to do. There's, like, there's a l- checklist in the book about how do you keep your environment safe if they're at home. If your loved one's in a facility, what to look for to make sure safety lives in the facility too. Being an HR person, if your facility is not good, find another one.

Rayna Neises 21:39

Yes.

Mark Wilson 21:39

of it.

Rayna Neises 21:40

Yeah

Mark Wilson 21:40

that's two. Number three is kind of the longest section of the book. It's called Leading the Finest Care Team Ever, and it's all about the things we talked about. How do you hire great caregivers? How do you lead them, coach them? And their, your extended team. It includes your doctors, what to look for in a good doctor

Rayna Neises 21:54

Yes

Mark Wilson 21:55

how to evaluate your doctor, when to fire your doctor and, and other resources that are extended team, like physical therapy and speech therapy and, so that's kind of the extended team. And number four is kind of a hodgepodge of, you mentioned some of it, n- nutrition, supplements, medications, sort of that, that piece. 'Cause there's lots of, lots of interesting insights about nutrition as useful supplements, which by the way, doctors don't like supplements, but I found them very helpful.

Rayna Neises 22:24

Yes.

Mark Wilson 22:25

And, medications, because some of the medications that doctors prescribe are really helpful. Some pitch in the out- I mean, like, lot of doctors, like, will throw sleeping pills at people, and some of the sleeping pills will actually send you in the wrong direction with Alzheimer's and dementia. And so some medications are not good, and others are good, so I talk about those trade-offs. And then the last pillar is interesting because it is called breakthrough surround sound of love, happiness, care, and safety. And ba- it came from a little project I did at Taco Bell be- before I left with the head of marketing, and we had 13 restaurants in Tucson, Arizona, that are, like, playground restaurants, that basically the CEO said, trust you guys. Do anything you want to experiment with the marketing sales or in the people part of those restaurants." And so we tried all kinds of things, and I brought in a consultant that was experiential design expert, and he kind of created the model of, okay, when, when a customer thinks about Taco Bell, they go in there, they experience things, have touch points, and, like, dozens of touch points. See, smell, feel, experience. And I, and I kinda borrowed that when I thought about my mom's care. I thought- Well, my mom has, you know, every day, every week, every month has touch points, whether they're, you know, getting up, safety things, or their happiness. I talk about how do you create the surround sound of, of love and caring and fun and safety for your loved one. And so that's, that's another kind of whole piece. And so it's like how do you create a great environment? My mom was a kindergarten teacher, so we, we surrounded her with all kinds of fun-loving kindergarten kind of stuff. Stuffed animals, pictures that she would draw we'd put up like you would a kid, and all that fun. And we'd, we'd do that mobile when we'd take her out every day on her adve- we'd call it an adventure. We would, dress up her wheelchair with stuffed animals and fun things. And even though she couldn't talk, kids would come up to her and say, "Ooh, can I touch that?" You know? My mom would

Rayna Neises 24:22

Mhm.

Mark Wilson 24:22

just beam with so much

Rayna Neises 24:23

Beam.

Mark Wilson 24:24

because she loved kids,

Rayna Neises 24:25

Ja

Mark Wilson 24:25

kids wanted to kind of approach her and look, look at her wheelchair. So that's kind of the physical environment. Then the people environment just as important. That means don't have anybody have any contact with your loved one that's not fun, loving, caring, whether it's a doctor or a caregiver or friends. I mean, they all have to show that consistently Surround Sound of love, caring, fun. And you as the, as a manager of your loved one's environment, got curmudgeons and cr- critics and, you know, bullies, get rid of them. I d- I don't care who they are, whether they're friends, family. Coach your friends and family. Coach your caregivers. If a doctor is a curmudgeon, find a new one or try to coach them. Doctors don't like to be managed and led, but you can do that sometimes. So So yeah, that's, that's all, that's pillar number five, the Surround Sound. So, so be- because I was a leadership development expert, I kind of infused a lot of leadership thinking into the book too. Like how-- what's the mindset of a leader? What are some, I call it mindset shifts. How do you shift your mindset? So things like shifting your mindset from, you know, caregiving is a burden, it's so hard, to it's a

Rayna Neises 25:35

Mm-hmm.

Mark Wilson 25:36

'cause you can make a difference in your loved one's life. That's one of four big mindset shifts. So there's a lot of leadership. I drew lessons from what have leaders done that are great in history, and how do you apply that to caregiving and, you know. So there's a lot of that in the book. It's, it was a fun book to write. It's so funny. I didn't-- a couple podcasts for UC Irvine 'cause I knew the people over there, and after my mom passed, they said, "You got some really creative ideas. Do a couple podcasts for us." And I did, people came out of the woodwork and they said, "You have some amazing ideas. I've never heard these things. Why don't you write a book?" And I thought, "I don't know how to write a book. I've never even thought about writing a book." So, but I did. And I just like every one day I did some notes and then, you know, six months later had a draft. And then... it just, it just flowed once I started because it just was so clear that some of these things were just so intuitive for me that it was, it was easier to write actually. It was harder to get a publisher, but it was easier to write.

Rayna Neises 26:30

Yeah, that's a whole nother conversation, isn't it? So remind us again about the name of the book and the bes- best place they can get it

Mark Wilson 26:36

Yeah, thank you. It's, the book is called Breakthrough Alzheimer's Care, you can get it on Amazon, barnesandnoble.com. If you wanna learn more about the book, if you go to my website, my website's called boldcareleader.com, boldcareleader.com. There's some tools that I give away free if you wanna give a- give me your email, I can send them to you on the website. And, and then the podcast I've done, including this one, will be on the website as, as other educational kinda things. So anyway, yeah. So

Rayna Neises 27:05

That's great

Mark Wilson 27:06

biased. It's a book, it's a good book. It's actually been gotten a lot of awards and, and kudos from experts in the field, and so I'm a l- I am biased, but I think it's a pretty good book if you're a, family caregiver at home, or even if... A lot of the ideas can be applied to a facility. Not quite as easy to control, but you can use some of these ideas in a facility too.

Rayna Neises 27:28

All right, great. Thank you so much, Mark. I really appreciate that. I will put links in the show notes

Mark Wilson 27:33

Perfect

Rayna Neises 27:33

so if you are looking for that, audience, definitely visit aseasonofcaring.com/podcast and find it there.

Mark Wilson 27:40

Perfect

Rayna Neises 27:40

All right, Mark, thanks again for being here today. We really appreciate you sharing your wisdom

Mark Wilson 27:45

I love that your whole podcast and how it's, caregiving and supportive and faith-based and all those things are so important to me as well, Rayna. I'm so grateful that you included me. Thank you

Rayna Neises 27:55

listeners, thank you for joining us today for Stories of Hope with Mark on a Season of Caring podcast, where there is hope to live content, love well, and care without regrets. If you have medical, legal, or financial questions, be sure to consult your local professionals and take heart in your season of caring. So

*Transcript is an actual recount of the live conversation