PAID Medical & Family Leave….Will it become law in Wisconsin?

This is the Empowered Caregiver Show.

If you are a caregiver or know someone who is, this show is meant to uplift you through

education and support, while also lifting up every caregiver's invaluable role in society.

Now here is the Empowered Caregiver and your host, Liza Helen Brand.

Hello.

You are listening to the Empowered Caregiver and I am your host, Liza Helen Brand.

And today I am joined by producer extraordinaire, Erin Zommers.

Hello, Erin.

Hey, Liza.

Thanks for having me on.

Well, I am glad that you were able to help me out today.

I don't think I've had the opportunity to work with you a while.

So nice to see you again.

Yeah.

It's been a bit.

Yeah.

Valentine's Day.

Curious.

Do you have any big Valentine's plans?

Nope.

I'm single and good with that.

So I mean, yesterday I just stayed home.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know what was funny?

I actually went to the gym last night and I was working out and I thought I saw a guy

checking me out and I'm getting old.

So I'm like, that guy just checking me out and then I thought, well, you know what?

It's Valentine's Day.

That's maybe where the single men go, right?

Maybe.

Hit the gym.

Looking for love.

I doubt that was the case.

I probably had something hanging off my face that he was looking at.

But anyways, I did end up going out with my husband and it was funny because there's

a bar at the end of our street because we're in Wisconsin, right?

There's got to be a bar at the end of the street.

Excuse me.

And so we really hadn't given it any forethought.

But I'm like, you know what?

Let's go out and let's go to this bar at the end of the street.

They actually have good food in a big menu.

But you could see the couples come like trickle in one by one, you know, like kind of

with a, I don't want to say a cone of shame.

I mean, just thinking of the dog with the cone of shame.

You know, obviously the people that put no forethought in, in reservations and going

all out, they all ended up with me and my husband at the bar at the end of the street.

But it worked.

So this weekend, I'm going to Catalina Island, California to see my, my daughter, who

which I have not seen since last year, the 4th of July.

So that's part of the Valentine's present, I guess, is taken that trip.

So it wasn't just the bar at the end of the street, but I, I did kind of have to chuckle

as we all came in one by one with our heads down like, yeah, this is where we ended up,

the bar at the end of the street.

But speaking of Valentine's and relationships.

So last week in preparation for Valentine's Day, I did a show with Robin Schnitzel.

Oh, I set her name wrong.

She cursed me because I was so afraid last week that I would say it wrong.

I'm forever saying it wrong, Schnitzelur, Schnitzelur, that's what it was, Robin Schnitzelur,

from relationship therapy of Madison.

So Robin had so much insight on what it takes to make relationships work.

I had talked to Robin about the foundation of what a strong relationship looks like,

what to do if you don't start out with that strong foundation, how to advocate for

what you need in a relationship without creating friction.

Someday Aaron, when you're there, I'll tell you, it's not always easy, right?

Saying what you need, saying what you want with not stirring the, stirring the pot.

So we had a nice conversation about that and then how to deal with resentment and that

is something that really can play in, in the caregiving role and what are some strategies,

excuse me, for keeping relationships going strong.

So in case you missed that, you can find it on Facebook, Spotify, Apple and Google

podcast, or you can go to the Civic Media website.

I highly recommend that you check it out, Robin, is just a wealth of knowledge and wisdom

when it comes to making relationships work and who can't use a little advice and encouragement

and support on that.

So today I just wanted to spend some time kind of focusing on advocacy.

I know that I've said this many times in the past, but my mission for doing the show,

the empowered caregiver, is to support, advocate, educate and celebrate family caregivers

everywhere.

And so on the advocacy front, there are several different builds out there that would directly

impact family caregivers.

Before I talk about the proposed legislation, including paid family leave, let's start

with who is a caregiver, you know, who am I getting up every week and trying to support

educate, advocate and celebrate.

And what I'm referring to is the family caregiver is one of the one in five Americans that

is responsible in some part for the well-being of a friend or a loved one.

This can be a child taking care of an aging parent or it could be someone taking care

of a person with a disability.

There are also grandparents out there raising grandkids, loved ones caring for veterans,

those who are chronically ill, those struggling with mental health and drug addiction is huge

in our country right now and I'm so glad that it's giving our it's gaining traction and

getting the awareness and the attention that it needs and deserves.

But those are all people that fall under the caregiving umbrella, the people that are

responsible in some way or have taken on the responsibility of supporting someone else

and you know are responsible for their well-being, overall well-being or a portion thereof.

And of course you could say that raising children definitely falls under the caregiving umbrella,

the difference there is children, hopefully if you do it right, become more independent

and leave the nest and go out on their own.

Whereas those caring for elders or chronic conditions, it's really something that's a life-long

responsibility.

So the big love it former first lady Roslyn Carter, who unfortunately we lost last year,

November, founded the Roslyn Carter Institute for caregivers and she had once said there are

four kinds of people in the world, those who have band caregivers, those who currently

are caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who will need caregivers.

So currently there are over 53 million caregivers who are caring for someone who is aging, ill

or disabled.

So that's not even taking into consideration those that are that are raising children when

we're talking about the 53 million American figures.

And due to many factors such as the baby boomer, generation getting older, you know people

are living longer, more people are living independently and they want to stay in their homes.

So the need for caregivers continues to increase.

But not only the need continues to increase, but unfortunately since the pandemic, the

number of people who are in the paid caregiving or direct support workforce, as sometimes

it's referred to, continues to decrease.

As people are seeking out higher paying jobs that quite frankly are less stressful.

A lot of paid caregiver jobs are low pay without benefits and they come with, you know, physical,

emotional stressors involved in this day and age.

It's much easier to go to your local fast food establishment, make just as much and not

have to deal with some of those stresses and responsibilities.

So, you know, addressing the paid caregiver crisis is something else that we definitely

need to be looking at and talking more about.

It's estimated by the year 2030, the demand for home health care is anticipated to grow

by 46%.

Aaron, can you think of anything that has a growth rate of like 40 for 46% on the horizon?

No, I mean, most of the jobs I can think of that have really big growth rates like in

the technological sector, like software development or something, it's big, but I'm pretty

sure it's not almost 50%.

Yeah, no kidding.

So there's going to be a need for over a million new home care jobs and the next, where are

we?

In the next six years, they're anticipating over a million jobs open and needing to be

filled.

So one reason that I want to spend some time today talking about the advocacy piece is that

clearly caregiving crisis in the USA needs to be addressed.

We need to start having this conversation.

The amount of people entering the workforce in the caregiving industry continues to decrease,

which means that the role of caregiving is going to continue to fall on family members,

primarily those that are women and women of color are disproportionately impacted by

the caregiving crisis.

And while it's always been human nature to care and support our loved ones, that role

is continuing to change and quite frankly grow over time.

So for many people, it is becoming or it can become unsustainable, managing the logistics

of caregiving, driving a loved one to appointments, managing complex medical systems that don't

always communicate well with each other, dealing with insurance companies and governmental

agencies like social security as well as paying for expenses.

You know, it was estimated at one time that caregivers pay on average $7,000 a year out

of pocket on expenses for their loved one.

I can only imagine with inflation where we're at today.

So taking into consideration all of the responsibilities that are placed on caregivers, a lot of times

the caregiving role itself becomes a full-time job or at least can feel like a full-time

job especially when you're working a full-time job.

And so, you know, it's not sustainable for everyone.

And what happens is when the caregivers are feeling stressed and overwhelmed first, they

start to neglect their own health and well-being.

For many, they start to feel extremely isolated and alone in this journey, which of course

can lead to their own mental health concerns and conditions.

And for many, it also impacts their ability to work.

So their own financial well-being is at risk.

And before you know it, now you have two people that are in need of help.

So when we come back, I want to talk with Francesca Hong about the paid family leave and

how that can support family caregivers in Wisconsin.

You are listening to the empowered caregiver and I am your host, Eliza Helen Brand.

And today I am talking about advocacy in caregiving.

And it's a conversation that I feel like we need to have more of.

There are many Wisconsinites in our great state that are caring for someone else that

are struggling.

And for some people, the position that they're in is not sustainable.

And the caregivers truly are the backbone of our nation.

They're doing a lot of the work, a lot of the driving logistics, caring, everything that

it takes to make sure that their loved ones are cared for.

And they're doing this often times without pay support or even respite, even the opportunity

to have a break.

So I think it's something that we really need to start talking about.

It was funny, actually it wasn't funny at all, it was quite sad.

I was Google researching something caregiver crisis and articles were popping up from 2005.

That's almost 20 years ago that they were putting out articles that we are in a caregiver

crisis.

And it's only in increasing, you know, as I've mentioned, people are living longer, people

are living in their homes, they want to be engaged in the community, they don't want

to be an assistant living or institutions if they don't have to be.

So that is wonderful and great and that's what we strive for.

But those people might need some support along the way and somebody has to do it.

And when nobody is there to do it, it falls on family members because it, you know, we

take care of one another, that's what we do or at least that's what I hope we do.

So today I wanted to talk a little bit about the advocacy piece of that and some of the

legislation that is proposed.

I'm going to have joining me Francesca Hong who just put out yesterday paid family leave.

So we're going to talk about what that looks like, what that means for Wisconsinites and

how that can benefit them to allow them to stay in their job, to have financial security

and really support those that are struggling the most, those that may be working part time

or entry level jobs that don't have the support system, the safety net that they need.

And why this is a good thing, you know, this is a good thing for Wisconsin and our economy.

We want to attract workers, right?

We need workers.

What is the benefit to a worker having good benefits, right?

Having the ability to go and and take care of someone, if you need to do that and not

worry about losing your job or how that's going to impact your own personal finances.

So I can't wait to talk to Francesca a little bit more about that.

There are definitely other things that are in the works.

There is the care act that was out there that needs more support, that requires hospitals

to identify a caregiver upon discharge, make sure that they understand the discharge process.

And you know, have the means and resources available to provide the care at home.

Wisconsin is one of only a few states that does not have that.

It's strongly opposed by the Wisconsin Hospital Association.

I believe if I'm saying that correctly because it's, you know, adding more, more mandates

and then nobody wants that that I can understand.

But we need to make sure that when people are leaving the hospital that the people that

are responsible to take care of them, understand what they need to be, what they need to be

doing.

I am like the last person you would want to have taking care of you in a medical situation.

So I would rely heavily on those, excuse me, those professionals to give me the training

and guidance that I would need to take care of a loved one.

So that's a piece of legislation that I encourage everyone to call.

And get behind there is the Abel Act, which should be signed into law.

The Abel Act allows people with disabilities to put money into their savings account, believe

up to $17,000 per year into an Abel investment account that shields them from not being able

to receive public benefits.

There's a lot of public benefits out there.

If you receive, if you have more than $2,000 in assets, you no longer qualify for things

like social security disability.

Well, in a lot of communities, you need more than $2,000 in your bank account to be able

to put down on a lease, you know, so you can live somewhere.

So how do you, how do you do that if you own $2,000 and now all the sun, you don't qualify?

So the Abel Act, which Wisconsinites currently can participate in.

I have a son that is on the autism spectrum.

We have an Abel account for him.

I believe it's out of Pennsylvania.

So it's being completely administered by, you know, a company out in Pennsylvania, they're

getting the money, the benefits that go along with it.

And it's something that we should have available here in Wisconsin.

So that is another piece that you can call your elected representatives and let them know

this would benefit me.

This would benefit a loved one to be have this savings program, investment program available

in which they can put money in yet still qualify for social security disability.

And that money can be used in many different ways.

There's very little restrictions that go along with it.

So that is definitely people are something that would benefit people within our state.

There are a few other ones out there that come to mind to me.

One is I've heard about Bill SB 703 relating to establishing a palliative care council.

This one I honestly don't think I know a lot about, but it is, you know, palliative care

is a big and growing industry.

Let's see why I just want to re-roll quick what it says here that this bill established

within the Department of Health Services, a palliative care council which includes members

of a statewide group of medical clinical professionals and experts in the provision of palliative

care services as well as patients and family members of patients who have experienced

a receiving palliative care.

So this bill would require a council to consult and advise DHS regarding the outcome evaluation

of established palliative care programs, the economic economic and quality of life effectiveness

of palliative care that is provided along with curative care, curative treatment and the

mechanisms for frequency and adequacy of reimbursement for palliative care.

So I most definitely need to reach out to Senator Jesse James and Rachel, I don't know if

I can say her name Guavara, have you heard of that one before?

I don't know.

Let's see what there is to know in regards to the legislation regarding palliative care.

But there is a lot of different bills and proposals out there that impact family caregivers.

And I want to make sure that I spread the word and give the attention that they need so

we can make the calls and say, hey, you know what?

I need this.

This would help me.

And my family, I think you should say yes to this or the case may be, no, don't say no

to this.

This is not what me and my family needs.

When we come back, I am going to be talking with Francesca Hong who is very passionate about

creating paid medical and family leave for all of us constantly.

You are listening to the empowered caregiver and I am your host, Liza Helen Brand.

And so what I would like to dig into today is Wisconsin paid family and medical leave

law.

And one issue that really impacts family caregivers and it was just released yesterday by Francesca

Hong.

I guess it would be a modification.

Would that be correct Francesca?

Well, currently in Wisconsin, there is no paid leave policy.

It is family medical leave, but it's not paid leave.

And so this would be an acting paid leave for the state.

Okay.

So I was wrong right out of the gate.

So we are talking about paid family medical leave.

Okay.

So let me back up one step.

First of all, let me welcome you Francesca.

Thank you so much for joining me on short notice today.

I am so thrilled to be able to talk to you and learn more about the work that you're doing

on this.

So thank you.

Absolutely.

It's a pleasure to be here.

So right out of the gate, one of the things that's different than what we have now because

what I wanted to do is kind of read what we currently have in place and have you tell

me what the new proposal is and how it's different.

And then where it starts out is by the word paid.

So you are looking for people to receive income while they are gone.

Let me ask you this, do you know how many states are currently doing that?

There are 11 states that have passed paid leave and then a couple that are very far along

in the process, which include Michigan and there are a couple different ways states

have passed this either through referenda or legislatively.

Okay.

And have we seen with the states that have passed it?

Have we seen any impact on outcomes?

This is too early to tell what what can we learn from the other states?

We know that California has had phenomenal outcomes in terms of healthy parents being

able to return to the workforce, this being able to give a little bit of a gap to folks

who are in caregiving who have to be like me or in this same which generation of having

to care for young ones as well as our aging parents and as well as there will be some

data coming out of Connecticut as well.

Wonderful.

I can't wait to get my hands on that.

So currently in Wisconsin, the law applies to all employers with 50 or more permanent

employees, employers with 25 or more employees must provide notice describing the employees

leave policy.

So employees are covered if they have worked for the same employer for more than 52 consecutive

weeks and for the last 1000 hours in the preceding 52 week period.

So let's start there with what you're proposing is that the same or would there be changes?

There would be progressive changes and so this would apply to employers in a tiered system.

So basically the fewer employers you have, you may have a lower contribution amount.

So small businesses under 50 employees would be able to participate.

We also instead of a timed eligibility requirement, it would be a thousand dollars in wages earned.

And so this truly helps those workers who are lower income, lower wage workers or folks

who may be industries, maybe in industries like the service industry or working part time

or self employed.

Okay.

So it's not based on the 1000 hours over the over the past year.

Gotcha.

Okay.

And so currently it says covered employees must allow up to six weeks of family leave in

a 12 month period for a the birth of the employee's natural child or if there is an adoption

in place.

So I am assuming does that stay the same or is there changes there?

Yes.

It generally stays the same.

You are eligible to take family leave, to take care of grandparents, step parents, foster

children.

And so it expands on that eligibility.

And then for folks who are needing to take leave for military reasons for safety as well

as caregiving.

And so you can take leave under this policy to care for an aging parent or someone who needs

medical attention.

And then those who may be survivors and need time to recover and heal from instances of

abuse.

Okay.

So it's really expanding on what you can use this leave for and to whom it applies.

Right now I think it is a child's post domestic partner or parent.

I believe if I have a correct.

So this is really expanding to to anyone would it be safe to say anyone that you are are

responsible for their well-being in in some way.

And almost anyone.

So domestic partners, siblings, siblings in law, grandchildren, other blood relatives as

well as chosen family because we know that for some, especially those in the queer community,

they may not have official domestic partnership, but you can be eligible under the chosen family

definition.

Wonderful.

And currently it says employees may take no more than eight weeks of family leave in

12 months.

How about that?

Would that stay the same or would that change?

The leave amount increases, but it's still for 12 months.

And so you can take up to 12 weeks of either medical or family leave or a combination of

family and medical leave for up to 14 weeks.

Okay.

And is there anything else in the bill that that changes or expands what's already in

place?

So we really wanted to center on those who are not always in the conversation.

So workers of color, black women, folks who may be lower wage earners.

And so we changed the amount that is received.

So you can get up to 90% of the state average weekly wages as opposed to the median wages,

which really does help part time workers and potentially minimum wage workers.

So it's really designed to help those that are really most vulnerable and most impacted

by quite frankly, the caregiving needs.

Exactly.

Also have the fewest opportunities and have to make the most difficult choices between

losing work or losing a paycheck and caring for a loved one.

You said that's so much better than I attempt to do.

Oh, that's wonderful.

That's wonderful.

So walk me through this process.

You present out this press release yesterday.

And there's a handful of people backing it as well as stakeholders in the community.

But of course, I always say on the show over and over and over, we absolutely have to

call, write, email, our elected officials and let them know that hey, we're behind this.

This makes sense.

This will help me.

It's sometimes, you know, really, I don't want to say the only way, but that's what gets

you listening, right?

When people are calling and say, I need this, I need this.

So walk me through what listeners can do and what the process looks like from here.

Currently the bill is circulating for co-sponsorship.

So community members can reach out to their state senators and their state representatives

emailing them, calling them writing letters, including a personal story is always really

important to talk about why paid leave matters.

I think it's also important to note that paid leave is a broadly supported bipartisan

issue.

It is essentially, it is an essential part of the care infrastructure.

And I say infrastructure because just like roads and bridges, ensuring that care policies

like paid leave, expanding childcare, making childcare more affordable and ensuring that

our caregiving workers are protected is all part of ensuring that we have a more sustainable,

stronger and healthy economy.

Amen to that.

And that is, you know, why I do this show because we need to make caregiving sustainable.

It impacts way too many people, it can, if not, you know, done correctly, have negative

implications that mostly fall on women and underserved populations.

So it's absolutely something that we need to get out and talk about and address and

come up with solutions like the ones that you proposed that will support family care

caregivers because quite faint, you know, quite frankly, they're the backbone right of

the state.

They're doing a lot of the heavy lifting so that everything else runs as smoothly as possible.

And too often they're invisible and folks don't realize that these are not jobs that can

be automated.

We had a bill come out about AI and efficiencies in the workplace and folks who are taking

care of our aging parents, our loved ones who have to choose between being healthy and

caring for maybe a new baby in the family and having to go to work.

This absolutely impacts, again, the sustainability of our economy, but also what impacts the sustainability

of our economy the most are healthy families and individuals.

Amen.

Again, I love how you say that and explain it.

They're so true.

So let's stay on this process.

People need to call.

People need to write.

People need to email and say, Hey, we need this.

Then what?

Where does it go from there?

Exactly.

And I love that you are highlighting the importance of advocacy and community members voicing

this because not only is it about telling our lawmakers that this is needed, it's letting

them know that they on they need to move it along in the legislature.

So demanding a public hearing so that the public can come in and share their stories about

why this policy is so important, demanding after that an executive session.

So we can continue to move the legislation through the process, getting a full vote in

the assembly and making sure it goes through that process in the Senate.

And hopefully at some point, you know, we, we see it on the governor desk for hand

design.

We know that legislative Democrats and our governor broadly support paid leave and other

caregiving policies and we need this in order to strengthen our workforce and address

many of our workforce challenges.

This is a win-win-win policy that's going to have drastic impact not only for our workforce,

but again, ensuring that we have healthy families and individuals.

So I have to ask, actually, I totally just lost my, I lost my train of thought, I have

just so many wheels spinning here on this topic because I do think that it is really important.

But okay, I know where I was.

There's going to be objections, right?

What do you foresee the objections being and how do you respond to those?

The thing that always comes up from the opposition party is the fiscal impact.

But what we need to recognize that it is the underfunding, defunding and not investing

in our families that have brought us to a place where we have severe workforce challenges

where people not often want to make Wisconsin home and those who we are homegrown want to

leave because we don't have policies like affordable childcare investments in paid

leave and ensuring that those who are aging have spaces to grow to and people to help

take care of them.

And so paid leave policy, even though there is an initial investment, which we can take

out of our over $4 billion surplus, after that, this policy is self-sustaining.

So between employer contribution and employee contribution, even though not everyone is

going to be taking out a paid leave, a paid leave program and participating in it, it

will be self-sustaining because folks who know how important this is will continue to

contribute into this date.

So this social insurance program is to make sure that, again, not only do we have a healthy

workforce, but we have communities that understand the importance of care.

So it's about making that investment and not thinking about it as having a fiscal impact

on the state's and the state's dollars.

Well, I love that you say that in the way of making a financial investment because it

always drives me crazy when people say, how are we going to do that?

How are we going to pay for that?

Well, nothing is free in life.

We are paying for it now and employers are paying for it now.

Like you said, there's not people there to work.

Why aren't there people there to work because those people are at home caring for their

loved ones and they don't have the ability to manage both.

So you're paying for it there when there's constant turnover and you're placing ads

and training people, you're paying for it there.

So we're paying for it.

We're definitely paying for it.

So instead of it being in a negative way, a negative consequence, I absolutely love

that you're out there like, let's do this right and support our Wisconsin families.

Thank you so much, Francesca, for the work that you're doing and I look forward to talking

to more about it in the future.

You are listening to the empowered caregiver and I am your host, Eliza Helen Brand.

I want to give a huge thank you to Francesca Hong on the work that she is doing for paid

family medical leave for all in Wisconsin.

It is so needed and I encourage everyone to call, write, email, your elected officials

and let them know that this is a good thing that would help not only you as a family caregiver,

but also quite frankly the whole economy of the state of Wisconsin.

We need to be able to support family caregivers in the workplace because what happens when

we don't is they leave the workplace.

So big thanks to Francesca.

I can't wait to talk to her more.

She has a handful of bills.

She is really a leader in proposing things that will support Wisconsin families and when

you support Wisconsin families, there is where you see a trickle down.

I'm not sure about this trickle down economics.

It's that some people think is the way to go, but when you support the families in our

state, it makes a huge difference.

It allows them to be whole, to attend work, to engage in the community and it's just a

good thing.

So I can't wait to talk to her more about some of the other work that she's doing.

I also have coming up Cody Green from the National Alliance for Mental Illness.

43.8 million adults experience mental illness in any given year.

That's about one out of five adults have some form of mental illness and nearly one in

25 or 10 million adults in America live with serious mental illness.

I'm just so surprised these past few weeks, all of the stories of people that are struggling

with bipolar and schizophrenia that are just coming up on my radar, just both learning

and reading more about mental illness and also some of them close to home.

So it impacts a lot of people and like I had said earlier, I'm glad that we're giving

mental illness the attention that it finally really needs and deserves.

I think COVID really created a lot of emotional distress for a lot of people and it really

put a spotlight on the need for us to be able to talk about and to have the support and

resources available for all of us to protect our mental health because it is crazy.

It is a crazy world out there and there is so much information dumped on us daily.

So I cannot wait to talk to Cody Green more and he has his own personal experience.

It's really a fascinating story.

He was diagnosed with being schizophrenic and he had taken care of his mother for years

who was also schizophrenic.

So so much wisdom, I'm sure that he can offer us with his story so I can't wait to talk

to him.

I'm also going to have Kelly Pickens on from undivided attention in Madison.

She does evaluations, management and treatment of ADHD in females that are 18 and older.

Someone that has ADHD, also another person I cannot wait to talk to.

This is a DSM 5 condition that impacts a lot of people.

I think it's growing.

It's on the rise.

I don't know if it's just being diagnosed more or with technology and everything that's

being thrown at us that we're all just our brains are developing in a way that we have

an attention span of about five seconds.

I know personally ADHD can be really hard to function and deal with and it can be hard

as a caregiver to be a caregiver for a child or a loved one that has ADHD because sometimes

it just seems like a behavioral problem and it can be hard to understand the needs or

the struggles.

So I can't wait to talk to her and learn more about that subject.

And then also I'm going to be having Alex Greenon from Red Beard.

First question I'm going to ask him is why the name Red Beard?

That I don't know.

But he is a bodywork practitioner as he's the founder of Red Beard actually.

So he has a full team of bodywork practitioners, movement therapists and nervous system

specialists and mental health experts.

They offer services in person in Madison and Boulder, Colorado, but then also online

for people all around the world.

And what really drew me to him is I'm kind of fascinated right now to be honest with you

on just trauma, how it impacts people, how it shows up later in life.

I think we all have a level of past trauma that we have dealt with in some way.

I think probably very few of us had to leave it to be their white picket fence, everything

perfect lifestyle.

We carry some of that.

It shows up.

It shows up in health conditions.

And it's another thing that greatly impacts caregivers.

I can't wait to learn from Alex Green's teaching and wisdom.

I have taken some of his online classes and they were very neat, very cool.

So lots of great guests coming up in the next few weeks.

I also would like to thank Wisconsin Family and caregiver support Alliance.

They are a sponsor of the show.

So it's just a organized group in which you yourself could join its individual members.

They also have organizations.

I know the Department of Health and Human Services has a representative.

There's people from the ADRC's, but there's also individuals that can join

and they're looking for people to join.

So you can learn more about them and have access to countless resources

by visiting wisconsincaregiver.org or you can find them on Facebook.

Their Facebook page is Wisconsin's Family Caregiver Support Programs.

I'm going to say that one more time because it's long and it's different than the Wisconsin

Family and caregiver support Alliance, which is also long.

So you can find them on Facebook.

I encourage you to check them out there.

If you are a family caregiver, they post a lot of wonderful information

and that's Wisconsin's Family Caregiver Support Programs.

And I also wanted to point out that on the WisconsinCaregiver.org website,

they have access to a free program called Teralta.

Teralta is there to help you manage challenging care situations at home.

Whether you register, you have access to an online library of short courses,

skills training, useful local resources and support.

This is a free service provided by the state of Wisconsin, so I encourage everyone to go

check it out.

Thank you so much and I can't wait to connect with you next week.