Keynotes and Workshops

Creating a Caring Community

NAB Approved for 3.75 CEU’s for long-term care administrators and nurses

Keynote – 45 to 90 minutes

Workshop – 2 1/2 to 3 hours

Caring for those who can no longer care for themselves is physically and emotionally exhausting. Because of the physical demands and the associated emotional strain, both family caregivers and professional caregivers have a tendency ignore self-care, and they frequently encounter situations that cause them to experience anger, guilt, depression and grief.

When both types of caregivers understand the challenges and rewards experienced by the other, they can work together more effectively to provide the best possible care for their care receivers.

With a unique delivery that touches the heart and tickles the funny bone, Elaine delivers a message that bridges the gap between family and professional caregivers and helps build caring communities.

Her presentations are based on her unflinchingly honest and uproariously funny book, Letters from Madelyn, Chronicles of a Caregiver, and Dorothy’s Journal (a book in progress). Madelyn Kubin, a Kansas farm wife, (Elaine’s mother) wrote letters to her during the six-years she cared for her husband following his debilitating stroke. Dorothy Tucker is a nurse who journaled her thoughts and experiences during the 30 years she worked in nursing homes and Alzheimer’s care communities.

By comparing and contrasting the experiences of these two women, Elaine provides insights into the challenges and emotional stress experienced by both family and professional caregivers. She offers practical, applicable step-by-process to help them implement their own personalized caregiver survival plan, tips on dealing with challenging behaviors, and insights on how both types of caregivers can work together to provide the best possible care for the patient.

Elaine has been been described as a combination between Garrison Keillor and Erma Bombeck, but don’t let the entertainment value of this program fool you. The message is profound.

Both healthcare professionals and family caregivers love the keynote and workshop, because it speaks to the heart of all that is good about caring for those who can no longer care for themselves; it gives attendees permission to be human, and it offers strategies for dealing with others when they are most vulnerable, demanding, and sometimes disagreeable.

“Your presentation was from the heart. It was authentic, and you touched us at the core of our humanity.” – Inova Leadership Institute

“Elaine is unsurpassed as a speaker on elder care. She puts her heart, her incredibly savvy insight and amazing sense of humor into her work. Original, inspiring, hilarious, down to earth, and practical all in one!” – MS Department of Mental Health-Alzheimer’s Division