Connections

Sharing stories that resonate in all of our lives

According to statistics compiled by the National Family Caregivers Association, an estimated 50 million or more adults in America have provided care for an elderly, chronically ill or disabled family member or friend during the past year.

Yet family caregivers are Americapis silent majority, grappling each day with the physical, emotional and financial stresses of looking after a loved one and, in many cases, feeling overwhelmed and alone, which leads to a dramatic breakdown in their own home and work lives. With the number of family caregivers projected to increase considerably over the next 20 years as the baby boomers begin to age, we at WHYY are taking steps to help the people in our diverse communities meet these exacting demands.

WHYY has leveraged all of our on and off-air resources to produce programming on WHYY-TV and FM, host community events, and develop a special resource guide to shed light on critical family caregiving issues too often ignored in todaypis media, and empower family caregivers to make informed decisions in their lives and on behalf of those they love.

This month, we are proud to present Circle of Love, a new three-part WHYY-TV series that takes an intimate look at the lives of caregivers here in the Delaware Valley, produced by WHYY Wider Horizons and WHYYpis Caring Community.

Wider Horizons is our multimedia service that works to make a difference in the lives of those in "the second half of life" by partnering with the Caring Community, a coalition formed by WHYY and comprised of volunteer representatives from more than 100 community-based organizations serving individuals and families who are dealing with chronic illness, caregiving and end-of-life issues.

Together, Wider Horizons and Caring Community identified four families from different walks of life and provided them with digital cameras, encouraging them to record and share their daily struggles and joys through personal video diaries.

Combined with footage taped by WHYY, these first-hand Circle of Love accounts a "Living With Alzheimerpis" on January 21; "Children With Special Needs" on January 22; and "Caring for an Aging Parent" on January 23 a examine what life is really like for family caregivers and their loved ones as they deal with such health issues as autism, Alzheimerpis disease and depression and offer support and inspiration for other family caregivers throughout the tri-state region.

Following the broadcast of each Circle of Love program, viewers can call WHYY at (215) 351-2095 to speak directly to heath care professionals and to obtain our free caregiver resource guide. Additionally, people can access a wealth of caregiving resources a including video and audio archives of related programs and links to the Web sites of WHYYpis Caring Community members a anytime at www.widerhorizons.org.

On Monday, January 12 at noon, Dr. Dan Gottlieb will present a special program on Alzheimerpis disease on WHYY-FMpis Voices in the Family™, which we will distribute to public radio stations nationwide. On the program, Dr. Gottlieb will preview The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimerpis (airing Wednesday, January 21 at 9 p.m. on WHYY-TV), a groundbreaking national television program introducing families whose lives have been changed by Alzheimerpis, which currently affects nearly 270,000 people in the Delaware Valley alone and five million nationwide.

Dr. Gottlieb will also host a community meeting about Alzheimer's in the spring, and WHYY will present a series of community events and screenings around the Circle of Love documentaries.

Our sincere thanks go to Sound Partners for Community Health, a program of the Benton Foundation, funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which is dedicated to improving health and health care for all Americans, and The Patricia Kind Family Foundation for their generous support of Circle of Love and our ongoing community outreach to complement this unique, first-person television series.

They understand, as we do, that connecting people to each other on a local level can greatly impact national efforts to bring about changes that will profoundly affect all of our futures.

Best regards,
William J. Marrazzo
President and Chief Executive Officer