Your Turn to Care Hosted by Holly Robinson Peete Debuts on KCET

YOUR TURN TO CARE HOSTED BY HOLLY ROBINSON PEETE

DEBUTS ON KCET

Docuseries explores the critical issues around caregiving for aging loved ones and features leading experts on aging, including acclaimed author Gail Sheehy.

Actors Hector Elizondo, Monica Potter, Robert David Hall and Patricia Richardson share personal caregiving stories with viewers.

LOS ANGELES--February 23, 2012--KCET, the nations largest independent public television station serving Southern and Central California, announced a new original documentary series on caregiving hosted by Holly Robinson Peete called Your Turn to Care, airing on KCET March 7 at 8 p.m. (repeats 3/8 at 2:30 p.m. and 3/10 at 4:30 p.m.) and March 14 at 8 p.m. (repeats 3/15 at 2:30 p.m. and 3/17 at 4:30 p.m.)

The new documentary series produced by KCET explores a challenge that Americas growing generation of baby boomers were never prepared for: taking care of ailing or aging loved ones. Four, half-hour episodes focus on different families who find themselves at pivotal stages along the caregiving path, offering viewers solutions and hope through inspiring stories and a multitude of resources (full episodic descriptions below).

Robinson Peete, an acclaimed actress and award-winning author, takes viewers on journeys into this often heart-wrenching passage of life exploring the overwhelming challenges faced by caregivers of every ilk. She also shares her own experiences of caring for her father who had Parkinsons disease.

The documentaries also feature personal stories of caregiving from actors Hector Elizondo (Last Man Standing), Monica Potter (Parenthood), Robert David Hall (CSI Crime Scene Investigation) and Patricia Richardson (Home Improvement).

In addition, expert voices from across the community will help contextualize these complex issues for viewers. They include:

Gail Sheehy, best-selling author of 16 books on aging and key passages of adulthood, including Passages in Caregiving: Turning Chaos into Confidence

Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez

Dr. Gary Small, a renowned expert at UCLA who studies longevity, aging, Alzheimers prevention and memory, and best-selling author of seven books, including The Alzheimers Prevention Program

Dr. Fernando Torres-Gil, director of the Center for Policy Research on Aging at UCLA, and author of more than 80 articles and six books, including The New Aging: Politics and Change in America

Viewers can also access the shows robust companion web site (www.yourturntocare.org) to explore a wealth of additional information, such as extended interviews and back stories, helpful links and resources as well as tips from guest experts.

Your Turn to Care is made possible by MetLife Foundation, California Community Foundation, The Lippey Family Trust, Gladyce L. Foster.

Episodes include:

Episode 1 focuses on two families. We meet the first at the beginning stages of caregiving, when even talking about planning for the future is an issue no one wants to address. The episode shows the talk the family has with an aging parent which covers such topics as, Who has power of attorney?, What should go into a health directive? and How can I draft a will that is stress free? The second family is dealing with the issue of taking the car keys away from an aging parent as well as the desperation felt by the mothers loss of her drivers license. When the mother is required to take a driving test at the age of 75, her very independence is at stake.

The episode concludes with a profile of WISE Connections, one of several membership-based community groups sprouting up across the country. These communities, part of the growing Village Movement, pool their resources to provide practical services to their members, so that seniors may continue living independently in their own homes.

Episode 2 illustrates the constant burden placed on the caregiver and how it can be overwhelming for the entire family. Three caregivers and their families are profiled; a male caregiver taking care of his wife who has a frontal lobe disease; a daughter who has put her life on hold to take care of her 95-year old father; and a daughter who has moved her parents in with her and struggles to juggle her own busy life with the demands of being her parents caregiver.

Episode 3 deals with three families who discover they cant do it all and need to reach out for help from institutions and elder care professionals and attorneys. This highly emotional decision can be extremely costly if you dont have long-term care insurance or qualify for government assistance. The world of assisted living facilities and financial benefits is complex and difficult to navigate especially, when a crisis occurs.

Episode 4 explores the final chapter of caregiving and how palliative care can change the way both the patient and his or her caregivers take this final journey. And, Steve Lopez, renowned writer for the Los Angeles Times reveals his own personal story of caring for his aging father. While the episode explores the inevitable, it also shares the stories of three remarkable super seniors who are re-defining what it means to grow old. Today, we are both taking control over how we die and discovering ways to prevent it as long as possible.

ABOUT HOLLY ROBINSON PEETE

Actress, author, talk show host, activist and philanthropist, Holly Robinson Peete has been touched by the entertainment industry all of her life. Her television career as an actress dates back nearly three decades. Her life experience has led her to becoming a voice for her father, her son and her community.

In 1996, Robinson Peete and her husband, former NFL quarterback Rodney Peete, formed the HollyRod Foundation, inspired by her fathers courageous battle with Parkinsons disease, with the mission to help improve the quality of life of people with Parkinsons. Then in 2005, inspired by their

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