SC Barg
Thirty years ago, on a rainy Fourth of July, my brother Gary drove a rental truck to a local magazine printer's warehouse to pick up copies of the first issue of Today's Caregiver magazine. he loaded the issues onto the truck and then spent the entire next week delivering the magazines to hospitals and care facilities across my community.
Four months later, we created caregiver.com and were able to instantly interact with and support family caregivers around the nation and even the world. Yet, it is the first few days that will always be indelibly etched in my mind. As we shared the magazines with caregivers in waiting rooms across Southeast Florida and watched them flip through the pages, it was tremendously gratifying to see the recognition pass across their faces that maybe they weren't so alone after all.
Back then, we could never have expected what we had all gone through while caregiving through a pandemic, including the increase in visibility for family caregivers and enhancement of technology to help serve caregivers or the interest in self-care by family caregivers.
Countless other such moments have occurred across the country over the past 30 years at over 300 in-person (held in 28 states) to well over a quarter of a million family and professional caregivers) and 12 virtual Fearless Caregiver Conferences.
Whether virtual or in-person, we have been blessed by all these conversations and by the opportunity to share them here with you in this newsletter, on caregiver.com, in person and in the pages of Today's Caregiver magazine.
Gary spent the rest of his days doing what he loved most: talking to, sharing with, supporting, and learning from the real healthcare experts in the world—family caregivers. This August will be a year since his passing.
We will be remembering and sharing the many conversations he had with the "Caregivers with Famous Faces" with you over the coming months of our 30th anniversary.
As we share the award winning articles, tips, tools and techniques learned from family professional and celebrity caregivers - we celebrate Gary's mission of empowering caregivers to become Fearless Caregivers.
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