Kristie King and Antonia Harbin-Lamb are hosts of the Caregiver Conversations podcast. “We thought it was a good way to come together, talk to different people and get people while they were inside and not having access to a lot of things,” said Harbin-Lamb. (Courtesy photo)
As the number of caregivers grows, so do the podcasts, reaching listeners worldwide with topics including identifying support services, self-care, life planning, advocacy, medical advancements and personal stories. Two caregiving podcasts, All Home Care Matters and Caregiver Conversations, both started in 2020 in southeast Michigan and now reach a global audience.
Livonia-based All Home Care Matters launched as a response to the pandemic. The podcast and YouTube show are produced by Enriched Life Home Care Services, which offers caregiving support ranging from meal preparation and transportation to personal care. The company hosted free support groups and community events across southeast Michigan to share caregiving resources that were halted during the pandemic. Podcast host Lance A. Slatton, who co-founded the company with his family, started the podcast to fill the resource gap until public gatherings could return.
“People were needing this information, they were needing to know that they’re not alone, they’re needing to find that support through peers that are going through a similar situation,” he said. “So the podcast was like, ‘Hey, we can still help these people.’”
The podcast was meant to be a short-term endeavor – maybe just a few months – but quickly grew beyond his family’s expectations. Six years later, they’ve produced more than 500 episodes, which are downloaded 7,000 to 10,000 times a week by a global audience, Slatton said. Their YouTube channel has over 110,000 subscribers, and Slatton said it has generated more than 26 million views.
While Enriched Life Home Care Services still hosts community events, Slatton said the podcast reaches significantly more people and extends far beyond southeast Michigan.
“If we were able to go to one or two places a day, it would take months to reach the numbers that we’re reaching with the show,” he said.
Elder Law and Advocacy Center started the Caregiver Conversations podcast with a grant from the state of Michigan, led by host Antonia Harbin-Lamb, an elder law attorney. Like Slatton, Harbin-Lamb created the podcast to get resources to people. Although the podcast emerged during the pandemic, she said it had been in the works beforehand to support an informational gap they identified for caregivers.
“We thought it was a good way to come together, talk to different people and get people while they were inside and not having access to a lot of things,” she said. “They would be able to listen to these podcasts and find their way through the caregiving experience as they were suffering in isolation and everything that was going around them.”
The Southeast Michigan Senior Regional Collaborative, a nonprofit that supports the needs of the region’s aging population, took over funding for the podcast in 2024 and Executive Director Kristie King – Harbin-Lamb’s longtime friend – joined as co-host.
Harbin-Lamb is now the chief operating officer of the Hannan Center, a nonprofit that also supports older adults in Michigan, and said episodes on self-care and male caregivers have been among its most popular. The hosts also found a common theme of many people’s hesitancy to label themselves as caregivers. For them, caring for loved ones is a natural part of life, they said, but not identifying themselves as caregivers can limit their access to resources.
“[It’s like when] they do a note in the hospital, and it says, ‘accompanied by daughter’ as opposed to ‘accompanied by daughter, the caregiver,’” King said. “That identification is so that caregivers become part of the conversation in the hospital, they’re part of the care team…As much as we hate to be labeled, sometimes that label will help along the way.”
Podcasts can feel like a companion
You Li, a journalism professor at Eastern Michigan University, said podcasting often offers listeners a more personal connection to information than they would find with traditional media, and podcasts can feel like a companion.
“It’s based sometimes on first-person narrative, so it definitely has more personality, and it can strengthen the connection between the narrator…and the audiences,” she said. “By using first-person voice, you can share more emotion, more personal experiences, opinions and sometimes observations. You can even use more dramatic storytelling techniques, instead of the traditional detached, neutral, third-person voice.”
Inkster resident Derrick Barnett has been listening to Caregiver Conversations for a couple of years and said it has helped him feel less alone coping with the stresses of caregiving. Barnett was the primary caregiver for his uncle for four years and now cares for both of his parents, including his father who has advanced dementia.
“You feel more equipped with certain things, especially when you’re dealing with thought processes and frustrations,” he said. “[You] know that that’s normal and how to take care of yourself, that’s really a big thing.”
Barnett said, as a caregiver, his free time is limited, and the ability to listen at his convenience is crucial.
“Now I come home [from work], and I’ve got chores to do…and if I do sit down, I’m falling asleep,” he said. “I don’t have time to read a newspaper or something like that. With the podcast, while I’m driving home on my 45-minute commute, I can throw it on and listen to it and then pause it when I want to.”
Dakota Roberts, 25, has been the full-time video editor for All Home Care Matters since its beginning but found himself an unexpected follower as well. The Monroe resident said caregiving wasn’t something relevant for him until both of his grandfathers fell into decline, one with Parkinson’s disease and whom he lives with – and the other with dementia. He found himself to be a surprising resource to his family.
“I’ve learned I have all this wealth of knowledge that I didn’t ask for, that I’m so thankful for now,” he said. “I apply almost everything that is talked about…and it helps me with answering family questions, but also just taking care of my grandfathers.”
On a broad level, Roberts said the podcast has taught him how to care for his grandfathers with patience. Specifically, it’s given him the tools on how to approach sensitive topics, like persuading his grandfather to give up his gun before his dementia worsened to become a safety risk.
Roberts said even if you don’t think you need this information now, you likely will at some point.
“You could have something change today, and all of a sudden you’re thrown into this world of caregiving,” he said. “If you’re not prepared… it will be so much more difficult.”
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