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Episode 7 · Caregiving

Carol Bradley Bursack

Author, columnist and certified dementia support-group facilitator; author of Minding Our Elders

On Retirement Navigator

Before a Parent Needs Care: The Talks and Papers to Have Ready

Carol Bradley Bursack

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“You are phenomenal if you step up. You are phenomenal for being there. You won't get every day right. You won't do everything right.”

— Carol Bradley Bursack, Episode 7, at 38:33

About Carol

Author, columnist, and consultant Carol Bradley Bursack spent over two decades caring for a neighbor and six elderly family members. As a result of this experience, she wrote Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories, a portable support group for caregivers. Her dedication to other caregivers eventually led her to become a certified dementia support group facilitator.

Carol’s websites, Minding Our Elders and Minding Our Elders Blog, include links to helpful agencies, articles rich with information and comfort, and resources for caregiver, boomer, and elder needs. Her long-running newspaper column, also called “Minding Our Elders,” is available weekly in multiple newspapers online and in print. Carol is the spokesperson and writer for Egosancares.com, is “Ask Carol” on the Egosancares website, and manages their social media.

She also facilitates an incontinence support group co-sponsored by Egosan and SenecaSense.com. Carol facilitates a caregiver support group for Leslie Kernisan, MD of Better Health While Aging, and is interviewed regularly by A Place for Mom and serves as an article reviewer for the company. Throughout the years, Carol has written hundreds of articles for Agingcare.com, HealthCentral.com, and others.

Because of this ongoing work, Carol’s been interviewed on national radio shows, including NPR’s Talk of the Nation; Senior Solutions, produced by Detroit Area Agency on Aging; and Wisconsin Public Radio. She’s routinely interviewed by newspapers, magazines, and on major websites, including Reader’s Digest (Digital), Next Avenue, Salon.com, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The USA Today Network, Chicago-based Make It Better magazine, The Upside of Aging, Booming Encore, US News & World Report, and Market Watch, and more. Besides authoring “Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories,” Carol wrote ‘Swimming upstream in a media library,’ a contribution to “A Handbook for Media Librarians,” edited by Katherine Schopflin, Hardcopy published by Facet, 2008, and online, 2018.

She’s contributed to other dementia and caregiving titles including “Dementia: Frank and Linda’s story: New approaches, new understanding, new hope,” (Lion-Monarch, March 2010); and was a content editor for “Finding Joy in Alzheimer’s: New Hope for Caregivers” (2015), by Marie Marley, Ph.D., and Daniel C. Potts, MD, FAAN. She wrote a foreword for the second edition of “Wishes to Die For: Advance Care Directives that Grant Caregivers Lasting Peace,” by Kevin J.

Haselhorst, MD (2015), as well as for “Caregiving Both Ways” (2019) by Molly Wisniewski. She is also a contributor to an anthology edited by Marita Golden titled “Us Against Alzheimer’s: Stories of Love, Family, and Faith” (2019). Carol finds joy in supporting others as they struggle through their challenges and by indulging in her love of reading.

Credentials

  • Author, Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories
  • Columnist, “Minding Our Elders,” weekly in newspapers
  • Certified Dementia Support Group Facilitator
  • Two decades caring for a neighbor and six family members
  • Featured on NPR's Talk of the Nation and in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal

What you'll learn


  • How caregiving often begins unexpectedly—and how to adjust
  • Simple ways to start important family conversations early
  • Key legal documents to consider (wills, power of attorney, care preferences)
  • Managing caregiver stress and avoiding burnout
  • The role of support groups and why they matter
  • Navigating family dynamics and sharing responsibilities
  • Practical ways to care for yourself while caring for others
  • Why no caregiver gets everything “right”—and why that’s okay

In this episode


  • 00:00Meet Carol
  • 01:41How Caregiving Found Her
  • 05:02Why She Wrote Minding Our Elders
  • 06:36Suddenly a Caregiver
  • 10:13Start the Conversation Early
  • 11:42Easing Past Resistance
  • 13:06Get Your Own Documents Done First
  • 20:08What a POLST Form Does
  • 21:20Planning Before Burnout
  • 24:34Make Time for Yourself
  • 27:30When One Sibling Carries the Load
  • 30:37Give Each Sibling a Job
  • 33:07When No One Sees Your Work
  • 35:10Online Support Groups
  • 38:01Forgive Yourself
  • 39:36Where to Find Carol

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