Meet Our Featured Contributors

Peggy has worked in the healthcare industry for 38 years, yet has gained her greatest insight into aging, illness, and the benefit of nursing homes as a caregiver for her mother, who lived with multiple sclerosis for over 40 years. Now a grandmother herself, Peggy is furthering the conversation about the challenges and joys of caring for loved ones—and how nursing homes can help.

Challenged by a professor to write for publication, Peggy published her first article in 2010 and her mother’s memoir, Life in the Slow Lane: I live in a Nursing Home and I like it, in 2017. She learns daily from her writing coach and is currently writing her own book, which will tell the triumphal story of her mother’s struggle with MS, from a daughter’s perspective.
Peggy and her husband Steve live in Florida with their dog Kaci.

She can be reached at misurpa@gmail.com or:

Sandra Robbie is the Emmy-winning writer/producer of the PBS documentary Mendez vs. Westminster: For All the Children / Para Todos los Niños. This film shares the surprising story of the landmark 1947 Orange County civil rights case that helped make California the first state to end school segregation, paving the way to Brown v. Board of Education seven years later.

Sandra has spoken across the country about the Mendez case at venues including the Smithsonian Institute, Harvard Law School, Stanford University, the U.S. Department of Education, USC and UCLA. She served as a consultant on the 2007 U.S Postal Service commemorative Mendez v. Westminster stamp and for a White House speech honoring the Mendez case. She has received honors for her Mendez and diversity work from organizations including OC Human Rights Commission, OC NAACP, MANA, OC Black Chamber of Commerce and the Mexican American Bar Association of Los Angeles.

Sandra is ready to take this powerful history to the next level and is developing Mendez Museum for Peace & Freedom in Old Towne Orange, just four miles from Disneyland, connecting the history of Mendez v. Westminster to the American civil rights story. She is also the founder of Random Act of Mendez, a new community tradition celebrating PEACE. Her first traveling exhibit, The US Bus, will launch in Orange County in September 2018. It is her passion to see that we celebrate Mendez and each other for the contributions we all make to the freedoms we enjoy every day.

Adrienne Gruberg is one of the millions of baby-boomers now in the middle of the caregiving crisis. After six years caring for her husband and mother-in-law, Adrienne founded The Caregiver Space, an online social network and resource library, catering exclusively to a caregiver’s needs. The Caregiver Space is a non-profit organization committed to giving caregivers a space to find support, comfort, connection and relief.

Iris Waichler, MSW, LCSW is the author of Role Reversal How to Take Care of Yourself and Your Aging Parents. Role Reversal is the winner of 5 major book awards. Ms. Waichler has been a medical social worker and patient advocate for 40 years. She has done freelance writing, counseling, and workshops on patient advocacy and healthcare related issues for 16 years. Find out more at her website http://iriswaichler.wpengine.com/ or on Twitter: Iris Waichler

Trish Hughes Kreis works as a full-time Legal Administrator and is a freelance writer, blogger and videographer who advocates on behalf of her disabled youngest brother, Robert. Robert lives with intractable epilepsy, has an unwavering faith and a delightful way of declaring everything excellent.Robert has lived with Trish and her husband, Richard, for three years and they do their best to keep him happy, healthy and, well, excellent.

Trish’s advocacy work includes working to expand the definition of family to include sibling care under the California Family Rights Act and Family and Medical Leave Act. Trish has also participated in a number of interviews on managing life as a working caregiver.

Trish also does her best to navigate the maze of social services and government programs available to help Robert and keeps him entertained with an endless supply of word search puzzles and game shows. Trish is the author of Forever a Caregiver, 365 CaregivingTips: Practical Tips from Everyday Caregivers and 365 Caregiving Tips: Travel and Respite. She can be reached through her blog www.RobertsSister.com

G-J Heins is a caregiver, wife, mother, volunteer, speaker and author. She has been caregiver for her husband since his diagnosis with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) at the age of 55 in December 2009. Prior to that, she was her dad’s caregiver for two years.

She teaches Keep Your Brain Buff at the Senior Center, speaks and teaches for the Alzheimer’s Association, co-authored the book “After the Diagnosis” and 365 CaregivingTips: Practical Tips from Everyday Caregivers and has contributed to the Caregifters book series.