Last week, I received three requests in one day from people asking for help to write their parents’ stories. I regularly get these types of unsolicited requests but not usually three in one day, all from people in the Orlando area. I didn’t think much more about this pleasant coincidence and reached out to the three who contacted me.
One person mentioned that she heard about me on NPR. I’ve appeared on both the radio and television shows of Growing Bolder, so I figured she must have seen or heard a replay of one of those interviews, but that wasn’t the case.
On Thursday, July 13th, the nationally syndicated radio show 1A Speak Freely with Joshua Johnson out of Washington, DC, discussed “How Storytelling Can Improve the Care of People with Alzheimer’s.” The show featured two topics close to my heart—the importance of sharing people’s stories and the care of those with Alzheimer’s; my dad suffers from this disease.
What started for former journalist Jay Newton-Small as a desire for workers at her father’s memory care facility to know the man behind the disease turned into a project now called Memory Well. Journalists from around the country now combine photos and short biographies, which are stored at residential memory facilities, to inform employees about the people under their care, ones who often can no longer share this information on their own.
I later learned that twenty minutes or so into the program a friend from Orlando, Rod Stewart (not that Rod Stewart), called into the show and talked about Writing Your Life and the work I do to preserve people’s stories. How cool is that! Thank you, Rod!
Apparently, the three people who inquired into my services that day had heard the same show and Rod’s comments as well. If you’d like to listen to this interesting and informative feature, click here. My friend calls in about twenty minutes into the show.
Then tune into Intersection on Orlando’s 90.7, WFME to hear my interview with host Matthew Peddie, Friday at 9:00 a.m. My segment airs second in the lineup, probably ten to fifteen minutes after the start of the show.
Is there someone’s story you need to capture before it’s too late? If so, I can help with projects designed for a variety of budgets. Let’s talk. Email me at patricia@writingyourlife.org.
