EPISODE SUMMARY
In this 14th episode of Wisdom Shared, Dr. Carole Blueweiss shares her own wisdom in an interview by Kathy Cocks for her podcast, Knowledge for Caregivers. In the episode, Carole brings her expertise as a Doctor of Physical Therapy to offer thoughts on movement, exercise, and wellness for older patients discharged from the hospital who are being cared for by family or home health aides. Carole also shares about life with her mother who has experienced challenges as she ages. As her daughter, Carole says that she has witnessed many changes, "and yet she inspires me every day." Dr. Blueweiss reframes growing older as a blessing, despite the unpredictable challenges that often arise. And she believes that there is more we can control as we age than we are led to believe. In this episode, learn why we owe it to ourselves to become more aware of the changing bodies every day and we learn from Kathy, in her amazing podcast, Knowledge for Caregivers, how encouragement and support can go a long way to helping our loved ones as they age with compassion and dignity.
Kathy Cocks, Podcaster and Interviewer
Kathy has been a registered nurse for over 30 years, working in intensive care, with disabled school children, dialysis, and now in the community with the geriatric population. She works with families and their loved ones to find the right solutions for their situation and maintains an active network of partners to help navigate the eldercare journey.
Knowledge for Caregivers Podcast
https://www.kathysconsulting.com/podcast
Contact Kathy:
Website: https://www.kathysconsulting.com
Email: info@kathysconsulting.com
School of Life Book Collection:
https://www.theschooloflife.com
Contact Carole Blueweiss:
Website: caroleblueweiss.com
Email: clevpt@gmail.com
[00:00:00] Carole Blueweiss: Welcome to Wisdom Shared, where parents are the experts and connection inspires change. I am your host, Carole Blueweiss. And today, on my 14th episode, I will be sharing some of my own wisdom as I include an interview conducted by Kathy Cocks on her podcast, Knowledge for Caregivers. Kathy is a geriatric nurse and her podcast is filled with wisdom for anyone who has aging parents or takes care of someone who is elderly.
[00:00:32] I include it here as the conclusion of season one of Wisdom Shared because I felt that it was important to join my guests in their journey to share with others their lived experiences. In my case, I was asked to speak as a professional doctor of physical therapy, and offer my thoughts about movement, exercise, and wellness for seniors who are discharged from the hospital and are cared for by family members or by home attendants.
[00:01:00] But I am also living a similar journey myself with my 85-year-old mother who I look forward to visiting as often as I can. My mother has her share of challenges. Arthritis, hearing loss, spinal stenosis, balance dilemmas, to name a few. As her daughter, I've witnessed many changes, and yet she inspires me every day.
[00:01:24] I have learned so much from her strength and resilience. She often says jokingly to people that assist her, don't grow old. And I always say under my breath, what she means is take care of yourself so you can feel young. And then I say to my mom, Mom, if we don't get old, we die. So maybe you can stop saying that.
[00:01:46] I am 57. My take is that growing older is a blessing despite its unpredictable challenges. The good news is that I have learned from research and clinical experience that there is more we can control about how we age than we are led to believe. In this interview, you will hear some of my ideas. I hope this episode will inspire those of you lucky enough to still have your parents in your life, and to those of you who are growing older yourselves.
[00:02:14] It is my belief that we owe it to ourselves to become more aware of the changes our bodies go through every single day that affect our balance, our flexibility, our strength, our minds, and our overall posture. Now let's listen to Kathy's interview with me from her podcast, Knowledge for Caretakers.
[00:02:36] Kathy Cocks: Hi, I am Kathy and the host of this podcast. I have been a geriatric nurse and helping seniors and their families for the past 10 years. I am passionate to educate all those who are on this caregiving journey with me.
[00:02:58] Welcome back to this podcast, and I'm going be doing an interview this time. I'm interviewing Carole Blueweiss. She is a doctor of physical therapy, a geriatric clinical specialist, and a movement educator. On top of that, she also has her own podcast, Wisdom Shared. The reason I wanted to talk to Carole and share her with my audience is that when I go into so many homes, my biggest concerns are falls.
[00:03:30] So that's why I wanted a physical therapist to talk to us, because they're the ones that really address a lot of these issues that have to do with falling. Tell me, when you're looking at an older person, especially, and there's concern about falling, what are some things that you're looking at to evaluate their risk of falling?
[00:03:50] Carole Blueweiss: Well, there are certain standardized tests that we do, and we usually do at least three because they all measure different things. And it really depends on the person and how they are in terms of their physical abilities as to which tests are chosen. But there's no one test that can say, oh, you're at risk for falls.
[00:04:15] I'd say the most important test is time it takes to walk, I think it's six meters, the six meter walk test. They've shown in research that your risk for falls increases with the slower walking speed, depending on if you are a community ambulator or if you're somebody just getting out of the hospital and you just need to be safe at home.
[00:04:43] It's important to do a test that shows how fast or how slow are you walking, because depending on that and comparing it to a chart of norms, it is a reliable way to judge the risk for falls. And then another one is called the TUG test, which is basically sitting in a chair, walking from the chair about 10 feet, turning around, and sitting down again.
[00:05:12] And again, that's compared the time it takes to do that is compared to norms, which of course are just norms, but it gives you a ballpark figure. And then there's walking at your regular pace, and then there's walking at your fastest pace. And then there's also dual tasking. Having someone do that while they're counting backwards or multiplying by seven.
[00:05:36] Because that's a real realistic situation where people aren't just like walking 10 feet, turning around, and sitting down. They're thinking about something and you want to see how are people, those kind of things. But again, it always depends on the individual. And you want to do those basic tests.
[00:05:52] Another one is what's called the Romberg test, where you have someone put their feet together, their feet hip-width apart, maybe have them one foot behind the other. Do each one of those with eyes open and eyes closed. And that gives the therapist information and the client information about their balance system.
[00:06:13] And it's all together, those three things kind of give a lot of information in a very short amount of time, and you can really know if somebody is at risk or how much risk or are completely safe, pretty much, to go home from the hospital and also to be safe in a nursing facility or to be safe in their home and/or to be a community ambulator.
[00:06:37] Kathy Cocks: When you do those tests, about how long does it take you to do type of evaluation?
[00:06:44] Carole Blueweiss: It really doesn't take long. But it, what takes a long time is you're talking to the person and, you know, getting them set up. And it depends on what kind of facility you're in. Ideally, you can do those three tests in 20 minutes and then ideally you have time to work on something specific that the person needs.
[00:07:05] But actually in doing those tests, you're still giving therapy, so to speak, because you're walking, you're getting up from standing to sitting position. You're, there shouldn't be any real coaching going on, but just by virtue of moving, you're getting some treatment and that usually leaves about 10 minutes to do some other treatment.
[00:07:24] It's tricky. That's probably the trickiest thing about working with anybody really in a clinic is the time. Because ideally we'd have more time than we have, and it would be considered a third maybe of the treatment, and then the rest would be much more treatment. But given that many clinics, you're lucky if you have half an hour one on one, that would take up about two thirds of the half hour. Ideally, you have an hour and then more time to do other things.
[00:07:52] Kathy Cocks: Right.
[00:07:52] Carole Blueweiss: So they're not, the assessments aren't done every time you see them. They're done generally as needed or once a month.
[00:07:59] Kathy Cocks: Correct. So once you do an assessment, let's say you're like, definitely they need physical therapy. You do your assessment, how do you, in a simple lay way, how do you sort of develop a plan from there?
[00:08:16] Carole Blueweiss: Well, I guess I'd have to ask you to be more specific at, are we talking about a plan at home or a plan in the hospital setting or a skilled nursing facility? And I only say that because it really, again, depends the environment and how much assistance the person might have, because a lot of these things need to be done with some supervision.
[00:08:40] Kathy Cocks: Correct. So I think I would probably imagine more in the home. Most of the time the clients we see, they sort of go hospital, then they go rehab. And so when they're in a lot of those settings, they are getting a lot of intense treatment, either nursing or rehab.
[00:08:56] Carole Blueweiss: Right.
[00:08:56] Kathy Cocks: And so the families are not, they're kind of involved in that. They're kind of kept apprised of the process, but then all of a sudden when they go home, the families become a little more involved in this process because, you know, they feel like they're more responsible for mom and dad or their loved one at that point.
[00:09:14] So probably it would be more if they're in the home, you know, they've had probably some therapy and it's, they can go home now. So they have a little bit, I guess, of independence, but they still probably need some therapy.
[00:09:27] Carole Blueweiss: Right. Well, you know, my belief is everybody needs therapy. It's like, you know, personal training, you know, we can always be better. We can always be stronger. And especially if you're coming home from a medical facility, you know, they're basically discharging people much earlier than they used to because they need the beds. And then there's the insurance criteria. So you're not necessarily being discharged because you are just fine.
[00:09:53] You're being discharged because they need the room. So usually home care is covered if you have Medicare. If you are homebound at home, and that would be I think two to three times a week, somebody would come in and evaluate whether you need PT, OT, whatever services. And if you're deemed high level, in other words, that you're not homebound and you're able to leave the home, then you'd get prescribed outpatient physical therapy.
[00:10:22] And in both cases, and even when you leave rehab, the ideal situation is that you're given home exercises. And those are the one way to keep up a little bit with a routine to stay stronger. They're usually given at the level that they are at at that time. The ideal scenario is that they get reevaluated.
[00:10:44] Let's say they're home and they're discharged with just home exercises that somehow they get checked on again because probably, if they've been doing the exercises, they become too easy and then they need the next level of challenge. It's a little tricky. Some would say like home care, it's very hit or miss because they come in maybe for 15 minutes. You don't get a whole lot done.
[00:11:09] So these days it's really very important that people do their own exercises, whether it's with the home health aid, with a family member or even themselves. But it's big thing is motivation and creating a routine. The other thing I would say about that is in an ideal situation, I think you're teaching the person who's going home how to make their everyday life exercise.
[00:11:32] Every time you get out of a chair or every time you sit down, if you've been given proper coaching about that, that will strengthen a whole lot of muscles and give a lot of flexibility and range of motion to many joints. So that can be an exercise and that would count. And as a matter of fact, one of the tests given, not necessarily for falling, but just for a very good general conditioning test is sit to stand.
[00:12:00] And you time somebody, how many times they can stand up in 30 seconds. That's a very important skill. And you can instruct the person to, let's say, put more pillows on their chair to make it a higher surface. So that makes it easier. And then you can instruct them as that gets really easy, they can take the pillows away.
[00:12:22] And so I think it's important to empower the people when they go home, to explain to them the different levels. Like so when you get to like being able to do 20 of these and it seems easy, then go ahead and make your surface lower. Or do it while you are passing a can of beans from your right hand to your left hand or do it while you're looking right and looking left.
[00:12:46] And there's, because there's all kinds of scenarios that therapists are trained on how to make the exercise more challenging. Because people don't get so much consistent therapy, it's important that somehow the client can know themselves how to challenge themselves. I think the most dangerous thing about working with people that are older is that actually, ironically, they don't get challenged enough. I think the idea is that if you're just kind of getting by and you don't feel like it's difficult, it's too easy.
[00:13:14] Kathy Cocks: You know, I really liked what you said about making everyday life exercise. That's such a profound statement. Can you expound on that a little bit? Like find that motivation is so hard, but I like what you said is make everyday life exercise, so maybe it won't feel like a chore to them.
[00:13:35] Carole Blueweiss: Sure, yeah. I mean I think that it sounds so obvious, right? I mean, I don't know when exercise, there's a whole book written about that when the word exercise started. But basically it's about movement. Just understanding that well, probably sitting in a chair for more hours than you're standing is not a good idea.
[00:13:52] So the idea that bending down, for example, to put dishes in the dishwasher, that's considered squatting and you're working your hamstrings, your coordination, your thinking, your hands are doing one thing, your feet are doing another thing. If you take that activity and bring in breathing and you bring in what is the lighting situation? Is it dark in the kitchen? Is it light in the kitchen? All that will have an influence on the difficulty of the exercise. And so if you are having difficulty doing something like that, you'd probably want the lights on very brightly, because that helps you have better balance. And if you want it to be more challenging, you could dim the lights, let's say.
[00:14:32] I mean, that's just one example. You could be standing on a floor which makes it easier for your skeleton to have better balance. Or you can make it more difficult and stand on a pillow, and that makes it more challenging. In general, if you just do it the regular way, it's good exercise if you just keep moving.
[00:14:52] So bending down to get the clothes out of the dryer, bending down to put the clothes in the washing machine, lifting the clothes in and of itself, that's weight lifting. You know, just everything you do basically can be considered an exercise. It's just a matter of using your imagination and creativity to make it challenging.
[00:15:09] One I'd like to give is for balance. When you're going to brush your teeth, first of all, being aware, it's very important awareness, like so you know what's your safety parameter. So if you need to have two feet and you need to be holding on with two hands in order to brush your teeth, and then you can let go obviously with one hand and brush your teeth.
[00:15:28] If that's all you feel safe and comfortable doing, then that's what you do. To challenge yourself, in that situation, you would want someone near you that's guarding you and ideally you would do that and have a challenge. So maybe stand on one leg and do it,. And you might only be able to do that for one second.
[00:15:46] But the idea is that you keep trying to do that over time, over days and weeks, and you'll see that it would increase because your body will learn. So our brains are very plastic. You know, there's all the research coming out now about neuroplasticity. So if we don't use our bodies, we're gonna lose those connections in our brain.
[00:16:04] And reversely, if we use our bodies, our brain wakes up and can make new connections at any age. So it's really important to understand that because then that's, I think, motivating. So you want to be challenged. It's okay if it's difficult. Changing the surface that you stand on, changing the lighting situation, changing the height, those are all ways that you can increase or decrease your actual environment to make a task more or less difficult. And the trick is finding the right amount of challenge.
[00:16:37] Kathy Cocks: You brought up something that I thought about because a lot of times when I'm visiting with people who are thinking about bringing some help in the home, I always say, are you having trouble changing your sheets?
[00:16:48] Because sometimes they're like, I don't know what your caregivers can do. And so I've always said, they've always told me, oh yeah, that's the hardest thing for me to do is change my sheet. So I'm always like, well, our caregivers can do that, but now you've challenged me to, maybe I need to say our caregivers will help you do that.
[00:17:02] So maybe they can do some of that process of putting on their fitted sheet. And then the caregiver can help them so that they're doing it together. And so that's still sort of an exercise for them. So that's kind of what you're saying, right?
[00:17:15] Carole Blueweiss: Yeah. I mean that's a great example of, you know, there's something called learned disuse, and that's when you do everything for somebody. And that tends to happen in nursing homes. There was a big study about that, how half the group were told they had to let's say, water the plants. And half the group were told they did not have to. And you know, eventually the ones that weren't challenged lost much more skill than the ones that were constantly, you know, let's say watering the plant.
[00:17:48] So yeah, ideally you're working up to where you are at the time. So that that skilled assistant would do just enough. The person needs help, but not too much and not too little. But for sure not too much. And then that person will feel also, a lot of this is emotional and, you know, it's a whole person.
[00:18:11] And when you get older, you just feel like, you know, it's harder to do things and it's frustrating and you're not able to, especially if you've come back from a situation where you're in the hospital. So the more you see that you can do for yourself, it builds up your self-esteem and your self-image. And then it also will help motivate you to continue to move and do more and more.
[00:18:35] Kathy Cocks: Do you find, because I'll be honest, you know, my dad has been doing tennis, habitat, all that stuff. And the pandemic hit and he went home, sat in a chair, and watched tv. So he didn't get Covid, but now he doesn't walk very well. But he also lives alone. Do you find that people who live alone, does that sometimes cause them to sit more? Do you know if there's anything on the research or am I just shooting out of left field on that?
[00:19:00] Carole Blueweiss: Well, I'm sure there is. I can't cite any specific studies, but I can say that research does show that being social makes a huge difference in everybody's ability to cope with almost everything in life, and especially as you get older. Because the tendency is to be more alone and to have depression and to feel isolated and not useful in society. That, in and of itself, will start that decline. Whereas if, on the other hand, you have that social interaction or the group of guys saying, hey, let's go out for a walk, or let's go to the pool and do our exercises, or let's go for a round of golf, or let's go eat anywhere, really, walk to the corner.
[00:19:40] No matter how difficult it might be, just having that social connection makes for a much more likely scenario that that person will move. So it's very, very difficult during this Covid time when people are isolated and they can't be social. It's a huge challenge and it's really unfortunate. So that's where, you know, you have to be on the phone with your dad talking to him.
[00:20:03] But in my experience with my own family, you know, for some reason, that's a good research study, is people don't necessarily listen to their family members. So best to maybe get a friend of that, of your dad's, to call, have them call your dad and say, hey, let's at least talk on the phone and let me see your kitchen.
[00:20:22] Let's FaceTime. Let's do a little walk around our houses. You know, you just have to be creative. But it's tough with the technology and the older people at this point. Some of them are better than others. And so it's a challenge.
[00:20:35] Kathy Cocks: The other thing that I've noticed in older people, I think it was first time it was actually a friend of mine, you know, his wife went in the hospital. She walked in, but then she didn't, she wasn't walking when she came out. You know, it was five or six days laying down, so she didn't have use of her muscles. Or another lady, she went in the hospital, she's like, why can't I walk? And they were like, you haven't used your muscles in like six months. When they get to a certain point, is that something that's gonna be hard to reverse as they get older? Is it difficult to reverse? Is it better to prevent? What are your thoughts on that one?
[00:21:09] Carole Blueweiss: Yeah, my first question would be where were these people that they were bedridden for that long because that's pretty unheard of in this day and age. Because we all know how lying in bed, I think it's two weeks, can reverse any kind of forward momentum you've had in terms of muscle building and you can lose a lot of muscle mass.
[00:21:30] And that on top of the fact that at a certain age, we have what's called sarcopenia, which is a lessening of muscle mass, which tends to happen physiologically as we age. So it's not that we can't gain muscle. Absolutely we can. It's all the more reason why the last thing you wanna do is rest too much or stay in bed too much.
[00:21:49] So for sure it's about prevention that that never happens to begin with. And then it really depends on the person's, you know, was this person an athlete? And then they can have that kind of gung-ho like, I'm gonna work through this. I'm gonna get better. I can see where this can go. And they have that attitude already in their system versus someone who was always a couch potato.
[00:22:09] And they're gonna be at a much less advantageous situation because you can't change someone's behavior. Let's put it this way. It's very hard to change someone's behavior at a time when they're already being challenged physically. So then, so to answer your question, you should just never let that happen.
[00:22:27] Kathy Cocks: Right. I wish that was true. You know, it's just, it's just difficult. Like you said, my dad's long distance, My brothers, they do live in town, but we all work and it is hard to get over there and be like, come on Dad, let's, you know, let's move. And I didn't realize what was going on because I live 12 hours away.
[00:22:43] So, to wrap it up, if you were to give, you know, a couple of recommendations. I know you've covered them in detail. What would you recommend to, you know, family members of older people or older people to try to, you know, prevent falls and not lose those muscle masses?
[00:23:02] Carole Blueweiss: The first thing I wanna say is encourage them to move. And I have to say that the reality is that sometimes saying those things to somebody who you've said this to over and over again, it just doesn't get abided by. And I think that just has to be discussed and talked about. Ideally, your loved one, your family member, should be moving more. But the reality is that they may be depressed or they may not want their daughter telling them what to do, and then that could all backfire.
[00:23:35] The textbook would say, encourage your family member to move as much as possible, do as much as possible for themselves, engage in social activity, be with your friends as much as possible, and laugh a lot because they say laughter is a remedy for everything. And if you have, you know, feeling that you're isolated or you have pain, to reach out to somebody so that you can get help.
[00:24:02] Of course, there's a lot of social networks out there that are set up to help people that are aging. Like Silver Sneakers. And AARP has a lot of programs. There's a lot that's out there and it's just a matter of finding what your loved one wants to do and motivates them to do. And often I think that once they do something that they enjoy, then they'll wanna do it again.
[00:24:30] So if someone's reluctant to go, let's say join a swimming group, but they do it just once and they feel how they feel afterwards, then they're more likely to go back. Or just, you know, it takes time and it takes connecting with that person so that they trust you, that you have their best interest in mind, that they should listen to you, and you just have to also find a way within their behavior or their interests, what will make it motivating for them.
[00:24:58] Kathy Cocks: Those are great pieces of advice and I do want you, and the reason I was drawn to you, when we took this podcasting class together and then connected over different things is you also have a passion for caregivers, though most of your podcast relates to parents who have special needs children.
[00:25:17] So just give a little blurb about your podcast in case people do want to listen to your podcast. Give us the name and just, you know, a couple of sentences about what it's about.
[00:25:26] Carole Blueweiss: Sure. I started a podcast called Wisdom Shared. I had come across parents who had extraordinary children with challenges that, unfortunately in our society of ableism, were just not necessarily taken seriously or seen for what they are, and a lot of misunderstanding. And yet these parents were just so, such advocates and have learned so much in their struggles to work with their children and obviously get them the best education, the best therapies and all that.
[00:26:04] And I thought, wow, there's so much that gets reinvented and reinvented and reinvented. What about listening to these parents so that other parents could hear what others have done and how they've coped? And it's sort of morphed. It has morphed into more than just children with disabilities.
[00:26:20] It's morphed into people with challenges and how relatives and friends and have dealt with it, and what can we all learn from them as healthcare workers and teachers and parents who don't have those challenges, how do we treat these people and maybe become more aware that just because someone looks different or acts different, maybe they need a little extra connection. Not to avoid them, as often happens in our society of this able, normal, you know, way of being.
[00:26:53] And the other thing too was this. It's so confusing now with learning what's true and what's not true. And I really wanted to get these parents to talk because it's their story and they are experts of their own lives.
[00:27:06] And no one can really argue against that, or no one can really not believe them because it's coming from them. So I thought it was just a nice reality check just to be able to listen to someone and just hear a story.
[00:27:19] Kathy Cocks: And, you know, I listened to, I haven't listened to all yours, but, you know, I think I told you about the one that you interviewed, I think she had cerebral palsy and then like the next week, I met an adult and they had their little card. And I was trying to figure out, now what were those things that the mom wanted us to interact with her daughter. And I really enjoyed that. So you never know when you're going to encounter these people in our society and how they wanna be approached and not stared at and different things.
[00:27:47] Carole Blueweiss: Katherine, I have to say this, and I'm so glad you brought this up. What it's come down to also is that if we are lucky to live long enough, we are all gonna have a disability. And I'm learning that from these parents. Why? Why is it that we have to struggle so much to meet the criteria of this normal?
[00:28:09] Why can't there be more accessibility because there are people at, you could get hit by a car the next day and you are all of a sudden in that category. Of course you could live long enough, eventually you might need an elevator. So we are all in the same boat and in the aging population, it's a great, I don't know if it's a metaphor or what, but to look at growing older as a well, let's, I have a quote that I found, that Betty Freidan says. She said, "Aging is not lost youth, but a new stage of opportunity and strength." I think that no matter how disabled we become, you know, we're still our same person. We just can't do what we did before. And we have to build a different strength to live the life we want to live.
[00:29:08] And I think these parents of these children are learning prematurely, maybe, but they're learning what we'll all end up learning eventually. So we might as well start thinking about these things.
[00:29:20] Kathy Cocks: Thank you. Thank you so much, Carole. I appreciate you being on the show and sharing your podcast information and also just all your knowledge of physical therapy. I could pick your brains forever, but we also know we have to live in a time limit, so maybe I'll come back.
[00:29:37] Carole Blueweiss: Anytime, Katherine. And thank you for inviting me. It was a lot of fun talking to you.
[00:29:48] There's so much I've learned from my guests on this podcast. We were all creatures of change, born with unique qualities that contribute to society in many different and important ways. Growing older is one way, which if we are lucky enough, we will continue to age and inevitably probably need accommodations to have accessibility and compassionate consideration for the different challenges we will face.
[00:30:13] Wisdom Shared has made it crystal clear to me that the more we understand others in their processes, embrace diversity, and the more we can appreciate each other, whether it's in old age, being born with a so-called disability, or becoming disabled after birth by illness or accident, we are all more alike than different.
[00:30:33] We pay others a strange but valid compliment when we accept all people as versions of the same complex and imperfect creatures we know ourselves to be. I have come to understand from my guests that whenever we encounter a stranger, we are really not encountering a true stranger. We are encountering someone who is in basic ways, very much like us, despite surface evidence to the contrary.
[00:30:59] Therefore, nothing fundamental stands between us and the possibility of responsibility, success, and fulfillment. These last two sentiments have been borrowed from the School of Life book series, which I will include in the show notes. Let's take a sneak peek at some of the interviews coming up on season two of Wisdom Shared.
[00:31:21] We will begin the new year with a three part series, beginning with Audrey, the mother of a daughter who was born with dwarfism. Jillian, the daughter, also joined me as my guest, and then the two of them spoke with me and each other discussing their lives as an average-sized parent raising her short-statured daughter and Jillian's perspective living in an average height world.
[00:31:43] I learned so much from both of them. You'll hear from a mother of a 10-year-old boy who was born with spina bifida and relies on his wheelchair. They worked tirelessly to build a neighborhood playground that is accessible in every way to every child. We will hear from a stepmother who helped raise her stepson who was born blind.
[00:32:08] We will hear a few parents of children who have been challenged with food and drug addiction, and you will hear from some of the kids themselves who will speak about what it is like to be them. All this to say, there's a lot of wisdom coming up and I look forward to producing these episodes so that the wisdom spreads and helps as many people as possible.
[00:32:28] Please subscribe to Wisdom Shared and help me spread the word. It's been a great year, and I'm looking forward to season two. So stay tuned in January on caroleblueweiss.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. And don't be shy, leave a review. Thank you very much and happy holidays.