Susan Farese MSN, RN Untangles Poetic Expressions in Dementia Care

Poetry, whether reading or writing it, can be a powerful tool to ease our dementia caregiving journey, allowing us to express our deepest emotions, unravel our confusion and angst, and learn from and understand others. Susan J. Farese, MSN, RN is the author of Poetic Expressions in Nursing: Sharing the Caring, poems written when she became a nurse poet in the 1990's. Heartbreaking memories of losing her grandmother, Ann, to early onset Alzheimer's when she was a young teen inspired her first poem, Ann's Zest Ends.  In this episode, we discuss how witnessing her grandmother's decline as a child profoundly impacted her even 50 years later, why a chance scene in a movie inspired her to start writing poetry, and the value of poetry as expression for nurses and caregivers. A native of New Jersey, Susan has decades of experience in health care and communications, including military and civilian nursing practice, management, education/training, public speaking, research, and consulting. She is owner/president of SJF Communications, based in San Diego, California. SJF Communications provides public relations, marketing, social media, websites, writing, filmmaking, acting, public speaking, mentoring and photography. She currently teaches "Capturing Your Creativity with Haiku" workshops and has published poetry and articles on a variety of topics. In addition to being on the advisory board of San Diego Film Week, Susan is a member of SAG-AFTRA,  American Legion Post 43, Veterans in Media & Entertainment, San Diego Writers Ink  the San Diego Press Club, the Southern California Writers Association, the Army Nurse Corps Association.  Since 2017, she has been a Mentor in San Diego State University’s Aztec MentorProgram. April is National Poetry Month Please join us on April 18th at 2 pm when we present Poetry for the Dementia Journey, an AlzAuthors Live! Virtual Q&A featuring several of our poets. Subscribe to our website at alzauthors.com to receive notice of these events. After the Podcast Read Susan's AlzAuthors post: Susan J. Farese Reflects on Alzheimer’s and Nursing in Poetry Buy the book: Purchase Poetic Expressions in Nursing: Sharing the Caring Note: We are an Amazon Associate and may receive a small commission from books sales. Listen to Susan read Ann's Zest Ends, her tribute to her grandmother, on Audible Connect with Susan Website Facebook Business Page  Instagram @sjfcommo  Twitter @sjfcommo Contact: [email protected] *** About the Podcast AlzAuthors is the global community of authors writing about Alzheimer's and dementia from personal experience to light the way for others. Our podcast introduces you to our authors who share their stories and insights to provide knowledge, comfort, and support. Please subscribe so you don’t miss a word. If our authors’ stories move you, please leave a review. And don’t forget to share our podcast with family and friends on their own dementia journeys. We are a 501(c)(3) charitable organization totally reliant on donations to do what we do. Your generosity will help cover our many operating costs, which include website hosting and maintenance fees, service charges to keep things running smoothly, and marketing expenses to promote our authors, expand our content, improve our reach, and more. Our ongoing work supports our mission to lift the silence and stigma of Alzheimer’s and other dementias. To sustain our efforts please visit https://alzauthors.com/donate/ . Thank you for listening. We are a WCN Featured Podcast. Proud to be on The Health Podcast Network.   Want to be on the podcast? Here’s what you need to know. Thanks for listening. AlzAuthors.com Shop our Store