About Us

Elaine Sanchez

Author, Speaker, Founder CaregiverHelp

Based on her extensive experience of caring for family elders, Elaine K Sanchez developed a passion for helping others manage the emotional stress of caregiving. She is the author of the unflinchingly honest and surprisingly funny book “Letters from Madelyn, Chronicles of a Caregiver,” and the founder of CaregiverHelp.com

Elaine started writing and speaking about caregiving in 2004. Together with her husband, Dr. Alex Sanchez, she developed multiple CEU courses for long-term workers and mental health professionals. She wrote articles and facilitated a national call-in support group for Aetna’s Caregivers Employee Resource Group for more than five years. She delivered keynotes and breakout sessions at caregiving and healthcare conferences across the US until 2020, when all her scheduled events were canceled due to Covid. 

Determined to continue helping caregivers manage the emotional stress of caring for those who cannot care for themselves, she had a production studio built in her home and transitioned to making virtual presentations. 

In the fall of 2020, she felt compelled to combine her real-life caregiving stories and practical survival strategies into a video-based caregiver support group program that would be available to caregivers whenever they needed a little support or encouragement to get through a bad day or a sleepless night. She had the opportunity to refine her new program over the course of the next several months as she developed and delivered it to a caregiver support group sponsored by WACOG, the Western Arizona Council of Governments.  The new CaregiverHelp Support Group Program was launched on June 15, 2022. 

Elaine’s masterful story-telling and her practical, applicable self-care strategies help participants develop new skills for managing their anger, guilt, depression, and grief. In addition, participants learn about the importance of getting their end-of-life documents in order. They develop strategies for managing dementia-related challenging behaviors, including stress, triggers, sundowning, and surprising and inappropriate sexual behavior.

Elaine knows there is absolutely nothing funny about Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and other long-term progressive and degenerative diseases. However, caregivers who have heard her speak and those who have taken her course appreciate how she brings humor to some incredibly delicate and challenging caregiving issues. They come away from each session feeling validated, connected, and empowered to care for themselves.

Dr. Alex Sanchez

Director of Education

 

Dr. Alex A Sanchez earned his Master’s in Counseling and his Doctorate in Educational Psychology at New Mexico State University. He had a long and distinguished career in education. He retired from Oregon State University in 2015, where he spent 13 years teaching a doctoral program in Community College Leadership. 

Previously he served as President of Central New Mexico Community College in Albuquerque, NM, President of Rio Hondo College in Whittier, CA, Vice President for Community and International Programs at the University of New Mexico, Academic Dean at New Mexico Military Institute, and Founding Director of Dona Ana Community College in Las Cruces, NM. 

Alex retired from the Air Force Reserve as a Colonel after serving at the Air Force Academy, the Air War College, and Headquarters, U.S. Air Force in the Pentagon. He has served on numerous community, university, and non-profit boards at national, state, and local levels. 

In addition, he cared for his first wife, Amey, through her terminal illness with lung cancer. He provided financially for his mother-in-law until the end of her life. After he and Elaine married, he partnered with her to care for her parents from a distance for nine years. In 2006, at age 80, Elaine’s Aunt Jean moved from Florida to live close to Elaine, Alex, and their large family. Together they cared for her until her death shortly after her 90th birthday.

Alex’s extensive experiences with caregiving combined with his educational background have contributed significantly to Elaine’s keynotes, workshops, and the development of the CaregiverHelp Support Group Program.