DundeeWealth is launching a national speaker series devoted to educating the sandwich generation of Canadians who are challenged with supporting ailing parents and managing the impacts on their families.

Travelling to six Canadian cities, two guest speakers – neuroscientist Lisa Genova and Evelyn Jacks, tax expert and President of the Knowledge Bureau – will discuss both the personal and financial impacts of a parent’s sudden disability or illness.

“In Canada, rising life expectancy has created an aging population in which care of the elderly falls increasingly to family members,” says Jacks. “DundeeWealth’s ‘Coping with Care’ speaker series considers ways to manage this challenge through practical strategies that help alleviate some of the financial pressures.”

The speaker series is inspired by DundeeWealth’s Snapshots program, an educational tool for financial advisors to help clients through various life events, including their first child, retirement and ailing parents.

“At DundeeWealth it is a priority that we continue to meet our clients’ personal financial needs,” says Richard McIntyre, executive vice president, head of retail at DundeeWealth. “Helping them care for their aging parents is exactly the type of enhanced client experience we want to provide as a firm.”

Genova, a Harvard-trained neuroscientist and author of Still Alice, a novel about a 50-year old women’s sudden descent into early Alzheimer’s, understands the human impact of coping with a disease affecting many elderly people.

“Being prepared to handle a parent’s disability or illness can dramatically improve the situation for everyone involved,” says Genova. “Part of that is understanding, from your parent’s perspective, what it’s like to live with a disease like Alzheimer’s so you can better care for them.”

The first ‘Coping with Care’ event will take place in Toronto on October 11, then to Vancouver (October 12), Saskatoon (October 13), Montreal (October 18), Ottawa (October 19) and Halifax (October 20). To register for a free event, visit www.dundeewealth.com/CopingwithCare.

IE