elderadvocare

We believe in the adage that knowledge is power, and it’s probably never been more important than when it comes to taking care of an elderly parent or loved one. To that end we provide the following list of some possible resources you may want to look into in your attempt to be as fully armed as possible.Caring for Elderly Parents (Ruth Whybrow) is a guide to the emotional challenges that arise for family members, whether they live near of far from the parent, is wise and comforting. While it offers practical advice without resorting to cliches, its most unique feature is that it deals in a helpful way with the feelings that adult children will encounter. Reviewers have called it an “excellent resource” that provides “detailed information.”The Caregiver’s Survival Handbook: How to Care for Your Aging Parent Without Losing Yourself (Alexis Abramson) is written for those 16 million women who are part of the “sandwich generation”-caught between the needs of their elderly relatives and their young families. These women often feel invisible, their own needs unobserved and unappreciated by those around them. This book not only offers practical caregiving advice for these women, but also helps them deal with the emotional concerns they face such as dealing with changing parent/child roles; fostering aging parents’ independence; asking for, and getting, help from siblings and other family members; balancing work, family, and caregiving duties; and finding time for themselves in the middle of it all.Elder Rage, or take My fatherPlease!: How to Survive Caring for Aging Parents (Jacqueline Marcell) is a riveting, often humorous, non-fiction novel that chronicles Jacqueline Marcell’s trials and tribulations, and eventual success at managing the care of her aging parents. Elder Rage is also an extensive self-help book with solutions for effective management, medically and behaviorally, of challenging elders who resist care. Includes answers to difficult “how to” questions like: getting obstinate elders to give up driving, accept a caregiver, see a different doctor, go to adult day care, move to a new residence–and includes a wealth of valuable resources, websites and recommended reading. The addendum by renowned dementia specialist, Rodman Shankle, MS MD: A Physician’s Guide to Treating Dementia, makes it valuable for everyone from the family to the physician. Elder Rage is required reading at several universities for graduate courses in geriatric assessment and management.Caring for Yourself While Caring for Your Aging Parent: How to Help, How to Survive (Claire Berman) is a resource for women and men who are involved in caring for aging parents, and for those who see caregiving in their future, this empathetic and practical book offers complete coverage of all the practical issues you are likely to confront-while addressing the emotional stress and particular needs of caregivers. Claire Berman, drawing on her own experiences, the experiences of many other adult children, and interviews with specialists in the geriatric field, discusses the wide range of emotions that can accompany caregiving. This completely updated edition includes new discussions of the Internet as a tool for seniors, new sources of prescription drugs, information about emergency response systems, recommended exercises and exercise videos and adaptive clothing, and an extensively revised resources section. In a wise and compassionate voice, Caring for Yourself While Caring for Your Aging Parents teaches you everything you need to know to help your parents through the stressful and humbling challenges of aging.Coping With Your Difficult Older Parent: A Guide for Stressed-Out Children (Grace Lebow) is a common-sense guide from professionals with more than two decades in the field on how to smooth communications with a challenging parent. Filled with practical tips for handling contentious behaviors and sample dialogues for some of the most troubling situations, this book addresses many hard issues, including how to tell your parent he or she cannot live with you; how to avoid the cycle of nagging and recriminations; how to prevent your parent’s negativity from overwhelming you; how to deal with an impaired parent who refuses to stop driving; and how to assess the risk factors in deciding whether a parent is still able to live alone. One reviewer of the book commented that it “fills a gap in eldercare literature in a very unique manner.”