Lisa interviews Dr. Wolfgang Spangenberger, a former Chief of Surgery and Oncology Specialist. He has also worked as a Mediator, helping families navigate the emotional challenges of a serious health crisis. Drawing on his experiences, Dr. Spangenberger has authored several books to support caregivers and their loved ones, offering actionable guidance for facing long-term care. In today’s episode, Lisa explores Dr. Spangenberger’s latest book, The Unexpected Marathon: Your Guide to Long Term Caregiving, due out in January, 2025. His new book addresses the growing need for supportive resources for family caregivers, providing strategies to prevent caregiver burnout, how to create routine, less stressful environments, and manage the physical and emotional toll of caregiving, plus much, much more. Don’t miss this very informative episode!

Mentioned Resources:

For more information and how to access Dr. Spangenberger’s free, extended excerpt and worksheets from The Unexpected Marathon, please visit LTCMarathon.com

About the Guest:

Dr. Wolfgang Spangenberger is a pioneering figure in minimal invasive surgery and a former Chief of Surgery, with more than 30 years of experience as an Oncology Specialist. In addition to his medical career, he has worked as a Mediator, helping families navigate the emotional challenges of a serious health crisis. His latest book, The Unexpected Marathon: Your Guide to Long-Term Caregiving, addresses the growing need for supportive resources for family caregivers.

About the Host:

Author Lisa Skinner is a behavioral specialist with expertise in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia. In her 30+year career working with family members and caregivers, Lisa has taught them how to successfully navigate the many challenges that accompany this heartbreaking disease. Lisa is both a Certified Dementia Practitioner and is also a certified dementia care trainer through the Alzheimer’s Association. She also holds a degree in Human Behavior.

Her latest book, “Truth, Lies & Alzheimer’s – Its Secret Faces” continues Lisa’s quest of working with dementia-related illnesses and teaching families and caregivers how to better understand the daunting challenges of brain disease. Her #1 Best-seller book “Not All Who Wander Need Be Lost,” was written at their urging. As someone who has had eight family members diagnosed with dementia, Lisa Skinner has found her calling in helping others through the struggle so they can have a better-quality relationship with their loved ones through education and through her workshops on counter-intuitive solutions and tools to help people effectively manage the symptoms of brain disease. Lisa Skinner has appeared on many national and regional media broadcasts. Lisa helps explain behaviors caused by dementia, encourages those who feel burdened, and gives practical advice for how to respond.

So many people today are heavily impacted by Alzheimer's disease and related dementia. The Alzheimer's Association and the World Health Organization have projected that the number of people who will develop Alzheimer's disease by the year 2050 worldwide will triple if a treatment or cure is not found. Society is not prepared to care for the projected increase of people who will develop this devastating disease. In her 30 years of working with family members and caregivers who suffer from dementia, Lisa has recognized how little people really understand the complexities of what living with this disease is really like. For Lisa, it starts with knowledge, education, and training.

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.

Do you have some feedback or questions about...