What does it actually feel like to have dementia and what does it take to die well with it?
P.K. Beville has spent her career answering the first question. As the founder of Second Wind Dreams, a non-profit organization that fulfills dreams for older adults living in long-term care, and the creator of the Virtual Dementia Tour, P.K built a simulation that has put hundreds of thousands of people inside the experience of dementia, reshaping how caregivers, clinicians, and families understand the disease from the inside out.
But somewhere along the way, P.K. noticed a gap: all that hard-won empathy tended to stop short of the one moment that needed it most, the dying. So she created Empathetic Transitions, a dementia death doula training built on the belief that how we die with dementia matters, and that caregivers shouldn't have to walk into that room unprepared.
In this episode, we go into the places most people look away from:
- Why death with dementia is different from death with other diseases
- What "social death" looks like and why it often begins long before physical death
- The emotional and impossible choices around feeding at the end of life
- What a good death with dementia can actually look like
This is a conversation about fierce compassion, for the living and the dying alike.
Rosanne Corcoran hosts Daughterhood the Podcast, conversations for adult children caring for aging parents, from dementia and caregiving to finances, end-of-life planning, and grief. More at https://daughterhood.org
Daughterhood The Podcast: For Caregivers
Daughterhood the Podcast is hosted by Rosanne Corcoran, whose caregiving journey began with the dementia diagnosis of her fiercely independent mother. That diagnosis opened the door to 12 years of sandwich caregiving, caring for aging parents while raising children.
Rosanne brings her authentic voice to each conversation and talks with experts in all fields about the challenges caregivers face when caring for their aging parents. Each episode offers practical guidance and honest conversation on dementia, caregiver support, financial and legal planning, end-of-life decisions, and grief. Whether you're just noticing changes in a parent or deep in the caregiving years, you're not doing this alone.
As Rosanne knows firsthand, caregiving is filled with uphill climbs, stress, and grief, all while trying to do the best you can every day. Join her in Daughterhood.
Rosanne cared for her mother over a 12-year span, from supportive caregiver to in-home, sandwich caregiver for her mother’s final 6 years.
After experiencing first-hand the stress and isolation caregiving brings along with the lack of meaningful resources for caregivers, Rosanne created Daughterhood The Podcast: For Caregivers.
In each monthly podcast, Rosanne carries her experience as a primary in-home caregiver and Daughterhood Circle Leader into each interview. Along with strategies and resources, this podcast also provides listeners with the comfort of knowing they are not facing these challenges alone.
The podcast’s subject matter has ranged from practical advice like dealing with dementia behaviors, to siblings and caregiving, to end of life issues, grief and everything in between. Guests have included physicians, best-selling authors, dementia experts, caregiving advocates and thought leaders.
Rosanne has been featured in CNN Health, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Barron’s, Next Avenue and others. She is also a proud member of AlzAuthors.
Next Avenue named her one of their Influencers on Aging 2024 and Agingcare.com named Daughterhood the Podcast: For Caregivers #1 in their list of Essential Caregiver Podcasts. Rosanne also facilitates multiple Daughterhood Circles monthly.