About Me
Hello, I want to take a minute to introduce myself. My name is Donna Steigleder. I’m a former registered nurse, Healthcare Human Resources Director, 28-year caregiver for my husband, who had primary progressive multiple sclerosis with quadriplegia until his death in 2024, mother of three, grandmother of 9, and faithful follower of Jesus Christ. I grew up in rural SW VA (Franklin County) and live in rural C-NE VA (King William).
I want you to feel confident that you can trust what I share with you. Rest assured, I’m not going to ask you to join a cult, subscribe to a program for 19.99/mth., or vote for me in the next election. My only purpose for creating this website is to make your life easier.
That said, if I were in your shoes, I would still want to know if I could trust the writer.
As a reader, I would want to know whether the writer had the training, skills, or experience to decide what was important to share with their audience. Therefore, I’ve included a thorough account of my education, background, work experience, and training to help you answer that question.
God blessed me with a wonderful life filled with learning opportunities that few people experience. During my nursing career, I gained experience in almost every nursing specialty available at the time, except pediatrics and obstetrics, and since then, I have gained familiarity with the complexities of healthcare organizations, from the healthcare infrastructure and supply chain to professional practice and the business office, as well as regulatory mandates and the cultural norms that affect decisions. I have insight into almost all of it, and I plan to share that knowledge with you.
My Goals for this Website are Simple:
- To provide connections to specialty resources that can help caregivers obtain information about their family members’ condition and treatment needs.
- To provide essential information about the caregiving process, i.e., caregivers must know how to give safe care to their family members (care recipients) and how to do so without harming themselves.
- To provide basic information about related caregiving information such as financial aid, healthcare systems, medical conditions, advocacy, and associated topics.
- To share with readers my own experience as a caregiver. (i.e., I wrote a blog for twelve years. During that time, I shared openly about how I felt emotionally and the challenges I experienced. Hearing how others feel can sometimes confirm that your own emotions are not unique and are normal, especially the negative ones.)
- To encourage churches to support caregivers and other homebound families in crisis using tools I developed to assess needs and develop support programs.
- To share my faith with others who may find that it can help them as much as it has helped me. (i.e., My faith is an essential part of my caregiver journey. Failure to talk about my faith journey would leave a huge hole in the telling of my story for it is my faith that kept me sane and my feet on the ground.)
Donna describes the way in which her educational course work and work experience helped prepare her for life as a family caregiver and gave her the knowledge necessary to provide the information required for the scope of this website.
Donna believes that each life experience prepares her for future challenge. Furthermore, she believes that God uses all things toward the good of mankind though she might not see that purpose at once. Therefore, she trusts that though the journey might be turbulent, she can move forward with confidence that God has her back, and each struggle is nothing more than preparation for what lies ahead.
With that said, she sees each phase of life as a faith journey covered with stepping-stones. As she steps on each stone, she discovers either a new teachable moment or a greater challenge designed to build character or develop a new skill for the future. Though she does not seek motivation through trials, she recognizes that struggles build perseverance and perseverance builds strength, which helps her face greater challenges protecting herself or others. Therefore, no experience is a waste. Each experience brings wisdom and greater confidence in facing the future.
