Educating, providing hope is goal of episodes

When Lori Stryer and David Bolinger tell people about RIVR Media’s new podcast, “Living Our Best with Memory Loss,” they keep hearing the same thing: I know someone with memory loss.

“There are so many people that are affected,” said Stryer. For Bolinger, it’s his aunt. For Stryer, it’s her mother, and her husband, Bob Stryer.

“About 10 years ago, I started seeing a change in Bob, and I didn’t understand what was going on,” she said. “There were certain things that I was seeing that were so unlike him in character.” Even once Lori Stryer talked to her husband about what she’d observed, he was reluctant to get the changes checked on, she said.

It wasn’t until Bob Stryer had a stroke that he received an official diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment, a result of deterioration that happened both before and because of the stroke.

The inspiration behind ‘Living Our Best With Memory Loss’

Lori Stryer joined a support group, Alzheimer’s Tennessee, Inc.’s Memory Café. The group’s podcast inspired Bob Stryer, and he told his wife they should start their own, Lori Stryer said.

Lori Stryer knew that RIVR Media was capable of taking on the project. “We have the cameras, we have the mics … editors … we have everything at our fingertips,” she said. With the help of director of operations Bolinger, “Living Our Best With Memory Loss” began to come together.

RIVR opted to record both video and audio for the podcast so viewers would be able to follow faces and names more easily. “It’s more intimate that way,” Bolinger said.

In addition to appearing on the show, Bob Stryer assists by regularly coming into the RIVR office to review cuts, Lori Stryer said.

‘There is a good life you can continue to lead with a diagnosis’

The primary goal of the podcast is education, and to provide hope, Lori Stryer said. Her wish is “for people to be able to relate and see there’s a good life you can continue to lead with a diagnosis.”

Episodes are to feature individuals with diagnoses, their caregivers and a series of experts in the field. It’s important to Bolinger and Stryer to feature those experiencing memory loss. While recording, there are times when these folks have challenges reading notecards or recalling their next point, but Stryer says she and Bolinger are right there to help.

“We don’t want to cover that up,” she said. “We want to be as authentic as possible.”

Since beginning recording, the podcast has hosted Adria Thompson, a speech pathologist and certified practitioner specializing in dementia care, whom the team plans to have as a recurring guest on the show. “Her insights have been invaluable, especially in setting up our studio to better accommodate guests with cognitive decline,” Bolinger said in an email to Knox News.

Bolinger and Stryer hope to continue featuring experts who can offer insights on everything from available medicines to ongoing clinical trials to general care tips. “A big communication circle is what we’re making,” Bolinger said.

“This is truly a heart project for both of us, and this means a lot to me, and also to Debo (Bolinger), in that we’re able to help people. And it’s helping me. A lot,” Stryer said.

“The more we’ve been involved in it, we just can’t believe how many lives are touched by this,” Stryer added.

How to watch or listen

The first episode of the podcast is scheduled to release in late June on the YouTube channel @LivingOurBestWithMemoryLoss.

Hayden Dunbar is the storyteller reporter. Email hayden.dunbar@knoxnews.com.