Yvette Nicole Brown Details 'Guilt-Ridden Choice' to Place Dad with Alzheimer’s in Board & Care Home After 11 Years (Exclusive)

• Yvette Nicole Brown has been her father’s primary caregiver since he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease
• The actress has experienced all sides of care over the past 11 years and hopes to “fight for every other family carer” to make their journeys easier
• Now, she’s exclusively announcing to PEOPLE the launch of her new podcast, Squeezed, to shine a light on the caregiving experience and let others know they’re not alone

About 12 years ago, Yvette Nicole Brown noticed that her phone conversations with her father were strange. “He wasn’t there anymore,” she says.

The actress, who is now 53 years old, finished filming the 5th season Community and decided to move her father from Ohio to California to live with her. Not long after, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s disease — the most common form of dementia — is a degenerative brain disease caused by complex changes in the brain following cell damage. It progressively affects memory, thinking and behavior severely enough to interfere with everyday tasks.

Brown says she left everything for her father. Having mostly lived with her mother growing up after her parents divorced, she felt strongly about caring for her father and spending time with him. However, it was bitter due to the circumstances.

“There was this moment of like, wow, my dad is going to live with me for the first time, and then he’s not even capable of experiencing this the way I’m going to experience it,” she tells PEOPLE. “Dementia is strange in that at some point they kind of lose their sense of self and are no longer the person they were. So with my dad, there are some days when he’s 100% there and there are some days when he’s not.”

“But it was the easiest decision I made because, in my opinion, he taught me so much. How can I not jump in and be there for him when he needs him? My dad comes first,” adds Brown, noting that she even asked to be released from her contract for Community because she couldn’t endure a 16-hour day on set while taking proper care of him.

Courtesy of Yvette Nicole Brown

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As his primary caregiver, Brown says she was like his “cruise director” for more than a decade, making sure he ate and was clean and comfortable. It is important that “his day goes the way he wants”, she explains.

“I always put his needs above my own, and I did more putting his needs above my own because I want him with me. I need him with me,” she continues. “It’s not a difficult decision for me to put him first at all.”

Still, she says, being a caregiver is hard — and it’s gotten harder recently.

A few months ago, her father had a bad fall and broke his hip, which required surgery and intensive rehabilitation.

“He’s at a point now where he can’t be with me in the house anymore because he’s not walking anymore,” Brown says, referring to moving her father into a boarding and nursing facility. “So now she’s less of a day-to-day carer and more of his daughter – I wasn’t able to be just his daughter for 11 years.”

“Leaving him in the care of other people was a very difficult thing and a very heartbreaking, guilt-ridden decision. But the goal was to get the best care for him, and that’s not me anymore,” she says, adding that she visits a nursing home several times a week to be by his side.

Courtesy of Yvette Nicole Brown

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Brown says she has experienced almost every caregiving issue over the years and knows firsthand the challenges that can come with that responsibility.

The most eye-opening aspect of her journey was navigating the health care system, she says, acknowledging that it’s a harsh reality for many families.

“The red tape you have to jump through just to get basic care for your loved one is shocking,” she says. “I had to fight for his physical therapy. I had to fight for his wheelchair. I went through two or three appeals processes where he should have been discharged from his care facility before he was ready.

“I shouldn’t be fighting this hard,” Brown continues. “You may have the means to take care of them, but there are certain things they just won’t give you. And I don’t understand why it’s so difficult to make sure that people in need can have what they need and what they paid for.”

“If there’s any advantage to everything I’ve been through with my dad, I’m now ready to fight for every other family caregiver in this country because I’ve been through the gauntlet and I don’t want anyone to have to go through what I’ve been through,” she says.

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That’s one reason Brown is now channeling her caregiving experience into her new podcast, Compressedproduced by Lemonada Media.

The show — which begins Aug. 21 — will feature health care providers, caregivers and caregivers who work with people of different races, socioeconomic backgrounds and gender identities.

“Because it’s called Compressedwe’re talking about that particular generation that’s squeezed in between — people who care for children and elderly family members — and what that does to you when you’re fighting on both sides,” Brown explains. “The conversations are insightful, wonderful, sad. I even cried in some of those interviews. In all those interviews, I laughed and learned.”

The actress tells PEOPLE that she wants her podcast to become a “safe space” so other caregivers know they’re not alone and can find ways to make their situation better not only for themselves but for their loved ones.

“Every important issue needs a voice, someone who will say: ‘This is happening to me. This can happen to you. This is how you manage,’ she says. “It’s important to me to advocate for self-care for these wonderful heroes and let them know they’re not alone.”

Compressed premieres on August 21 with new episodes airing every Wednesday.

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Source: HIS Education