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by Virginia Bell and David Troxel (Paperback)
Available on Amazon.com
Four million Americans currently suffer from Alzheimer's disease and experts estimate that 22 million people around the world will be so afflicted by 2025. Far too many families are struggling with the emotionally and physically draining responsibility of redefining their relationship with, and caring for, someone who not long ago was a vibrant member of society, yet may not know their own name today. A Dignified Life helps combat the burnout and frustration that often accompany the task of caring for an Alzheimer's patient. Author David Troxel, an Alzheimer's expert and executive director of the California Central Coast Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association, maintains that at its simplest this approach is based on treating the person like a best friend and working from their strengths, not their weaknesses. He explains: "As family members, caregivers and professionals, we have to try to connect with them. People with this disease in some way need someone to be . . . attentive and empathetic--someone who really tries to walk a mile in their shoes.
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by Thaddeus M. Ph.D. Raushi
Available on Amazon.com
Reflects the author's inner thoughts and feelings about living a high quality life with this low quality disease called Alzheimer's. Thad also lives with an incurable cancer and a recurring brain tumor. He writes about intimate trials and tears and serious questions, about personal high points in life with these diseases, and about joy and peace.
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Available on www.ncoa.org. Under Publications, Category: Journals
This quarterly journal features the latest information in the field of gerontology. Each issue contains more than 250 abstracts of important recent literature--carefully cross-indexed for easy reference. Abstracts provide readers with information sufficient to evaluate the need for the material and with bibliographic citations to aid in locating it. In addition, each issue contains a collection of related citations covering books, articles, pamphlets, government publications, legislative research studies, and other material selected by the research staff at Sage Publications and NCOA.
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by Dennis Goodwin
Available on Amazon.com
A collection of activity program ideas for use in nursing homes, retirement homes, and senior centers.
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by Ellen Taira
Available on Amazon.com
Aging in Place: Designing, Adapting, and Enhancing the Home Environment gives you a complete examination of current trends in adaptive home designs for older adults. As an occupational therapist, designer, architect, planner, social worker, community organizer, or gerontologist, you will explore innovative home designs and studies for creating environments that offer optimal living for aging adults. Complete with diagrams, floor plans, and tables. Aging in Place helps you to improve the quality of life for the elderly by offering them these state of the art designs that provide independence and dignity.
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by Christine Himes
Available on Amazon.com
Aging in Stride is a practical, easy-to-understand guide to the broad range of issues associated with successful aging and effective eldercare. Organized into 45 separate issue discussions, each followed by a list of additional resources, plus a collection of 26 forms to help gather and organize information and plan for the future. Issues range from diet and exercise, to Medicaid/Medicare, to legal and financial.
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Available on Amazon.com
A book whose purpose is to offer guidance to individuals, organizations and agencies on how to develop day care programs for patients with Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia. A range of program aspects are covered from administrative details to social factors and evaluation techniques.
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by Jennifer Hay
Available on Amazon.com
The author uses a question and answer format throughout the book that is organized in a rational, well-flowing manner. This allows the reader to easily focus on his or her specific questions and concerns.
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by Jim Greenwood
In Alzheimer’s: Medical science and families are still asking WHY? Author Jim Greenwood has documented his experiences in caring for his beloved wife, Maxine, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at the age of 74 in 1990. This is the true story of a beautiful, gracious lady and how her husband coped with her disease. It is also a tender tale of the love, faith, and devotion between two people whose dreams of sharing their twilight years together in peace and comfort were suddenly shattered by a twist of fate. This dramatic nonfiction work includes humorous anecdotes of happier times as well as a look at the ongoing search for answers to that elusive question of WHY? Fast-paced and easy to read, this book can be a helpful guide for anyone facing similar challenges in his or her own life. It also describes what to consider in choosing the right care home for a loved one with advanced dementia. Greenwood was at Maxine’s side when her long struggle with Alzheimer’s ended early in the morning of August 27, 2003. “And in the not-too-distant future in the Columberium niche next to hers,” concludes the author in his epilogue, “I will be reunited with my precious forevermore, just as it was meant to be.”
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by Michael A. Sherbun
Available on Amazon.com
Caring for the Caregiver: Eight Truths to Prolong Your Career is a culmination of stories from nurses about their emotional struggles in today's health care environment. These stories provide an understanding of how nurses have reacted and coped with workplace dynamics, both in their personal and professional lives. The book then goes on to highlight strategies for nurses to manage these stressors, and provides a road map for emotional success.
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by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, LeAnn Thieman, Rosalynn Carter
Available on Amazon.com
A dose of inspiration for caregiving professionals and the millions of souls who help care for family and friends Over 54 million people in America help care for ailing or recovering family members and friends and millions more give of themselves to others through day care, eldercare, emergency and community service. While rewarding, care giving requires tremendous emotional, physical and spiritual stamina. Chicken Soup for the Caregiver's Soul offers a respite to those who give care through inspiring and uplifting stories about the work they do and its power to transform lives. Through awe-inspiring glimpses of real-life experiences of others, readers will find the motivation to overcome a challenging day, welcome recognition for their selfless contributions, and the encouragement to continue making a positive difference in others' lives.
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by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Mark Donnelly, and Donnelly Whether
Available on Amazon.com
Single, separated or someone's spouse, everyone wants to find and keep this elusive thing called love. Bestselling author and foremost relationship expert Barbara De Angelis teams up as a co-author of Chicken Soup for the Couple's Soul, a collection of heartwarming stories about how real people discovered true love with the person of their dreams. With chapters on finding each other, intimacy, commitment, understanding, and overcoming obstacles, readers will find inspiration whether they're beginning a new relationship, hoping to work through a difficult one, or trying to recognize extraordinary moments in their lives. A sweet spoonful of this enchanting Chicken Soup collection will warm the hearts of the romantic readers everywhere.
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by Frank Broyles
Available on Amazon.com
A guide for Alzheimer's caregivers taken for coach Broyle's personal experience and the experiences of many other caregivers in Arkansas.
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by Jolene Brockey
Third Edition Available on Amazon.com
This book offers many ways to create moments of joy. No matter what the environment or situation is this book will be a positive tool on a daily basis. This book breaks down the learning process into five sections. Within those five sections are smaller steps. At the end of each step is a place to journal thoughts, ideas, solutions and treasures. With this journal, many moments of joy will be created.
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by Richard Carlson
Available on Amazon.com
Got a stress case in your life? Of course you do: "Without question, many of us have mastered the neurotic art of spending much of our lives worrying about a variety of things all at once." Carlson's cheerful book aims to make us stop and smell--if not roses--whatever is sitting in front of our noses. Don't Sweat the Small Stuff... offers 100 meditations designed to make you appreciate being alive, keep your emotions (especially anger and dissatisfaction) in proper perspective, and cherish other people as the unique miracles they are. It's an owner's manual of the heart, and if you follow the directions, you will be a happier, more harmonious person. Like Stairmasters, oat bran, and other things that are good for you, the meditations take discipline. Even so, some of the strategies are kind of fun: "Imagine the people in your life as tiny infants and as 100-year-old adults." The trouble is, once you start, it's hard to stop.
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by National Institute on Aging
Available on http://www.nia.nih.gov under Publications link, Category: Planning & Decision Making
At the end of life, each story is different. Death comes suddenly, or a person lingers, gradually failing. For some older people, the body weakens while the mind stays alert. Others remain physically strong, and cognitive losses take a huge toll. But for everyone, death is inevitable, and each loss is personally felt by those close to the one who has died. End-of-life care is the term used to describe the support and medical care given during the time surrounding death. Such care does not happen just in the moments before breathing finally stops and a heart ceases to beat. An older person is often living, and dying, with one or more chronic illnesses and needs a lot of care for days, weeks, and sometimes even months. End of Life: Helping with Comfort and Care hopes to make the unfamiliar territory of death slightly more comfortable for everyone involved. This publication is based on research, such as that supported by the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health. This research base is augmented with suggestions from practitioners with expertise in helping individuals and families through this difficult time. Throughout the booklet, the terms comfort care, supportive care, and palliative care is used to describe individualized care that can provide a dying person the best quality of life until the end. Most of the stories in this booklet are fictitious, but they depict situations that reflect common experiences at the end of life. When a doctor says something like, “I’m afraid the news is not good. There are no other treatments for us to try. I’m sorry,” it may close the door to the possibility of a cure, but it does not end the need for medical support. Nor does it end the involvement of family and friends. There are many places and a variety of ways to provide care for an older person who is dying. Such care often involves a team. If you are reading this, then you might be part of such a team. Helping with Comfort and Care provides an overview of issues commonly facing people caring for someone nearing the end of life. It can help you to work with health care providers to complement their medical and caregiving efforts. The booklet does not replace the personal and specific advice of the doctor, but it can help you make sense of what is happening and give you a framework for making care decisions.
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Available at http://www.nia.nih.gov under Publications link
Category: Caregiving
The first three chapters of this book explain what exercise and physical activity can do for you, how to exercise safely, and how to stay motivated to exercise. If you already know the material in Chapters 1 and 2 - for example, if your doctor already has talked to you about the benefits of exercise and has advised you how to exercise safely - skip to the summary at the end of each chapter to make sure that you aren’t missing any important information, then go to Chapter 3, which discusses motivation. Chapter 4 is a “how-to” chapter. It shows how to exercise to improve or maintain endurance, strength, balance, and flexibility. You certainly aren’t restricted to these exercises. We show you these examples to help you get started. Chapter 5 also is a “how-to” chapter. It gives examples of ways you can check your progress. The last chapter is about nutrition. Each chapter summary lists important points to remember. At the end of the book, you will find resources to contact for more information about exercise and special programs for older exercisers. Some of the resources are for people with diseases or disabilities. You will also find charts to record your progress and a form you can fill out and send to us after you have been exercising for at least a month. We will send you a National Institute on Aging certificate that acknowledges your commitment to improving your health through exercise.
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Available on Amazon.com
Elizabeth observes her grandfather become a victim of Alzheimer's disease and describes its symptoms and effects.
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by Maya Hennessey
Available on Amazon.com
If only I had read Maya's caregiving book four years ago, I'd have saved myself a lot of grief in the forms of resentment and guilt. And I would have been a better caregiver to both my mother and to myself. When my ailing mother came to live with me, I was knocked off my feet with this entirely different type of relationship with her. For 60 years, she had been my mother, now she had become my child. I had planned my retirement years carefully, including lots of traveling, and I was spending those years listening to her memories of her own marvelous post-retirement travels. I resented the fact that the rest of my family had abandoned her to my care. I could find no relief. At times I was angry; more often, I was awash with guilt. Maya's book took me step-by-step through the caregiving experience and explained the overwhelming ups and downs that every caregiver goes through, including the guilt trips. But more than that, this book showed me not only did I deserve help, but how to identify sources of help and how to ask for it. I don't have to do it all myself all the time. Now, I can take care of my own needs without feeling guilty. This book made me realize the resources I have, the help that's available, and the techniques that work to relieve stress and feelings of guilt. Once I gained a better perspective through this book, I have been able to give care more freely and live my own life more fully than I had been able to since mother came here. Thank you, Maya.
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by Joseph A. Ilardo & Carol R. Rothman
Available on Amazon.com
Using real-life examples, inventories, and self-quizzes, this guide discusses what it means to be a caregiver, with advice on how to deal with special situations such as mental disorders and long-distance care; how to seek outside help; and how to cope with uncomfortable thoughts and feelings, burnout, and the recipient's eventual death.
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by Joanne Koenig Cost
Available on Amazon.com
More than four million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's, and as many as twenty million have close relatives or friends with the disease. Revolutionizing the way we perceive and live with Alzheimer's, Joanne Koenig Coste offers a practical approach to the emotional well-being of both patients and caregivers that emphasizes relating to patients in their own reality. Her accessible and comprehensive method, which she calls habilitation, works to enhance communication between care-partners and patients and has proven successful with thousands of people living with dementia. Learning to Speak Alzheimer's also offers hundreds of practical tips, including how to
Cope with the diagnosis and adjust to the disease's progression
- Help the patient talk about the illness
- Face the issue of driving
- Make meals and bath times as pleasant as possible
- Adjust room design for the patient's comfort
- Deal with wandering, paranoia, and aggression
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by Carol Bowlby Sifton
Available on Amazon.com
Information caregivers need; the right tools for effective, compassionate dementia caregiving and self-care. Those tools are here in this easy-to-understand guide from the renowned editor of Alzheimer's Care Quarterly. Presenting a positive yet realistic view of challenging responsibility, this book will instill hope, increase confidence in care provision, and tap heretofore undiscovered caregiving skills.
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by Nancy L. Mace
Available on Amazon.com
Updated with the newest information on Alzheimer's disease and dementia, this bestselling book has remained the "bible" for families who are giving care to afflicted loved ones.
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by John Hoffman & Susan Froemke
Available on Amazon.com
This companion book to the HBO Documentary Films series explores the
cutting-edge research on Alzheimer's disease that is creating new hope for the
future.
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by Susan Crites Price
Available on Amazon.com
It's never too early—or too late—to start teaching children the habit of giving. The Giving Family outlines eight specific steps parents, grandparents, teachers, religious leaders and other adults can take to instill the spirit of giving and volunteering in children ages 5 to 18. It explains how children can learn philanthropy in and out of the home, how young people can become involved with nonprofit groups as advisors or even as board members, and how parents can learn from the experiences of family foundations. With tips and activities interspersed throughout, as well as scores of inspired ideas and real stories, this 119-page volume is a must read for anyone who wants to foster volunteerism and philanthropy in children.
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Available on Amazon.com
Merck Pharmaceuticals have edited a clear and comprehensive reference for older adults. Dr. Mark Beers begins with the age-old questions: when does a person become old and why does the body change? The remainder of this guide is divided into preventive and active care for self and others. The list of topics is a virtual everything you want to know about aging: nutritional needs, finding a doctor, understanding tests, surgery and rehabilitation, and long term care. More than one hundred specific medical conditions including fractures, constipation, tinnitus, dental disease, and dementia are explained and cross referenced with useful details. Although a clinical explanatory model prevails, non-traditional methods such as acupuncture and homeopathy receive honorable mention. The guide takes an unflinching look at sexuality, end of life decisions, and mistreatment of elderly adults. Other practical chapters are devoted to driving dilemmas and navigating the Byzantine financing of health care. This information is punctuated with essays from older adults--including a cheeky Max Sendak cartoon. The essays, along with charts, photos, and illustrations help to lessen the book's encyclopedic tone. Many older adults and the people who care for them will welcome the well-organized format and richly detailed information of this guide.
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by Harold M. Silverman
Available on Amazon.com
For more than two decades, millions of consumers have trusted The Pill Book to provide official, FDA-approved drug information plus guidelines from leading pharmacists. Each drug is profiled in a concise, readable, and easy-to-understand entry, making The Pill Book the perfect reference when you have questions about the medications your doctor prescribes. The most up-to-date information about the more than 1,800 most commonly prescribed drugs in the United States:
- Generic and brand-name listings that can help you save money
- What the drug is for, and how it works
- Usual dosages, and what to do if a dose is skipped
- Side effects and possible adverse reactions, highlighted for quick reference
- Interactions with other drugs and food
- Overdose and addiction potential
- Alcohol-free and sugar-free medications
- The most popular self-injected medications and their safe handling
- Information for seniors, pregnant and breast-feeding women, children, and others with special needs
- Cautions and warnings, and when to call your doctor
- 32 pages of actual-size color photographs of prescription pills
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by Sheryl Karas (Paperback)
Available on Amazon.com
For five years, ending in 2005, Sheryl Karas worked as a Family Caregiving Consultant at the Alzheimer's Association and Del Mar Caregiver Resource Center helping families taking care of loved ones with incurable progressive memory loss and dementia. Trying to find services needed to provide basic care is what brought people in to see her first, but as the caregivers became more ensconced in their caregiving roles inevitably emotional and spiritual issues would become their primary concerns. Sheryl's role shifted to providing a combination of practical and spiritual care. During this period she wrote a caregiver newsletter every month and this book is the result. The author uses a very open, non dogmatic spiritual frame, appropriate for people of all religious backgrounds or none at all. Inspirational, comforting, and informative--highly recommended for anyone involved with long term care.
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by Michael Castleman
Available on Amazon.com
Alzheimer's disease strikes some 250,000 Americans annually, the editors maintain, and an estimated 2.4 million people care for the several million people who have the disease. What makes caring for someone with Alzheimer's particularly difficult is the transformation the victims undergo. As this book evidences through its case histories, people with Alzheimer's become almost unrecognizable: a quiet, shy person will suddenly shout in the middle of the street for hours at a time; a well-groomed woman will forget about showering and insist on wearing the same article of clothing for days at a time. Still, there is some cause for optimism, claim the authors (Castleman wrote Nature's Cures, Naythons is a physician and Gallagher-Thompson cared for her ailing mother). Diagnosis and treatment has changed over the past decade, so that with proper medication and a different approach by caregivers and health-care professionals, Alzheimer's sufferers can be made comfortable, which in turn helps their families. The case studies provide insights into the stages from diagnosis through progression of the disease. Practical information on new drug therapies, alternative treatments, tips on evaluating residential facilities as well as an appendix of other resources make this an indispensable guide for patients, caregivers and anyone who must deal with Alzheimer's disease. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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by Bob Greene and D.G. Fulford
Available on Amazon.com
A warm, accessible, step-by-step guide to creating precious personal histories from the memories of older people.
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by Mitch Albom
Available on Amazon.com
This true story about the love between a spiritual mentor and his pupil has soared to the bestseller list for many reasons. For starters: it reminds us of the affection and gratitude that many of us still feel for the significant mentors of our past. It also plays out a fantasy many of us have entertained: what would it be like to look those people up again, tell them how much they meant to us, and maybe even resume the mentorship? Plus, we meet Morrie Schwartz--a one of a kind professor, whom the author describes as looking like a cross between a biblical prophet and Christmas elf. And finally we are privy to intimate moments of Morrie's final days as he lies dying from a terminal illness. Even on his deathbed, this twinkling-eyed mensch manages to teach us all about living robustly and fully. Kudos to author and acclaimed sports columnist Mitch Albom for telling this universally touching story with such grace and humility. --Gail Hudson --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Available on www.easterseals.com
Hit the Resources Link and then Go to the Mobility Link. Click on the Safely Transport and Aged Loved One. Transportation is vital to quality of life for most -- a tie to both independence and community -- and often a challenge for many older adults and people with disabilities. This is especially true for older adults who no longer drive and are therefore reliant on others for their transportation needs to attend social functions and attain goods and services, among other tasks. Adult Day Services (ADS) is just one of the many services that require transportation for older adults and people with disabilities. While most states do not require provision of transportation in ADS, transportation has been identified as a key to success for ADS programs (Partners in Care). Provision of transportation services proves to be a challenge for ADS providers, as well as an access issue for participants and their families. There are a variety of barriers that exist for ADS providers who are either considering or currently providing transportation services for their participants. The goal of this Solutions Package is to address some of these concerns and potentially reduce barriers to the provision of transportation services for ADS programs and improve access for ADS participants.
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by Nancy Littell Fox
Available on Amazon.com
This book is written for people faced with the difficult decision of putting a parent in a nursing home. The author (a nurse whose own parents were in a nursing home) acknowledges that this decision will cause feelings of anxiety, guilt, doubt, helplessness, and even resentment. This book provides a guide for dealing with those emotions and for carefully sizing up and selecting the right doctor and nursing home. In addition to the obvious elements such as location and cleanliness, the book examines important considerations including therapy for patients, qualified and caring staff members, and sexuality (double rooms for couples).
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by Miles Friedman
Available on Amazon.com
If yours is among the one in three American families that have been struck by Alzheimer’s, then this book is for you. This is not a medical or technical book. It is a layman’s guide to Alzheimer’s, and illustrates the progression of the disease, the issues that must be addressed, and some of the options for dealing with those issues. It is also a loving reminiscence about the life of the author’s father and about their relationship. This book may help the reader reconcile the need to remember the past with the need to confront the present and future challenges posed by Alzheimer’s and by other forms of dementia in the aged. Whether dealing with Alzheimer’s, or another diagnosis, you are undoubtedly facing many of the same decisions about housing, finances, legal matters, and personal care. Share the author’s experiences and learn how one family coped with their father’s driving, money management, medical care, and evolving personal relationships.
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by Marion Karpinski
Available on Amazon.com
Quick Tips for Caregivers provides thorough instruction in basic caregiving procedures, gives cogent advice on safety, and presents practical suggestions to help caregivers reduce stress and obtain outside support. Topics include positioning someone in bed, personal care, infection control, nutrition, safe medication use, wheelchair use, fall prevention, and fire safety.
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by Geralyn Graf Magan & Evelyn L. Haught
Available on Amazon.com