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Sheryl A. Fairbanks, BA (she/her/hers)

Community Principal Investigator
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

Sheryl Fairbanks is active in making a difference in her community – and is visible again.

Her theory: In American culture when you have paid work you are visible. As a caregiver, you become invisible, valuable only to those you care for and their close community. When caregiving ends, you are ultra-invisible (with no purpose).
Then what is your value? How do you regain self-esteem?

After a 25-year corporate career as an information technology senior project manager, Sheryl partnered with husband Warren Wolfe as co-owners of Aardwolf Book Co. It was created to republish Warren’s updated popular book Checklist for Aging: A Workbook for Caregiving, based on his 1991 26-week newspaper series, first published as a book by the Star Tribune. Sheryl’s did everything but rewrite Warren’s book.

In 2002, Sheryl became the primary caregiver for her mother with dementia, worsened by heart surgery, and for her father with chronic physical decline. Both parents died at home in hospice.

The couple co-facilitated a caregiver support group for eight years. Twelve years of caregiving radically changed their lives. They searched for a program similar to a caregiver support group that might help them adjust but found nothing. People suggested they start their own program.

In 2016, the Former Dementia Caregiver Re-Entry Initiative (DCRI) was launched. Today, the twice-monthly group continues online. It has inspired other groups. More than 60 former caregivers have helped each other find new purpose and meaning. To encourage more groups, Warren and Sheryl are completing a book with the working title When Caregiving Ends, Who Am I Now?

Since March 2022, Wolfe and Fairbanks have been Community Principal Investigators with a research project at the University of Minnesota assessing unmet needs among Black former caregivers, and whether their program might be useful to this community.

Disclosure information not submitted.

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