Books Relating to Elder Care
Aging and Health for the US Elderly: A Health Primer for Ages 60 to 90 Years
Seniors today find themselves living in a time when rapid changes in health care delivery have made vital decisions about when and how best to obtain medical treatment difficult and confusing to navigate. At the same time, seniors proportionately need more health care services, have a higher incidence of chronic disease, and take more medications than any other demographic--and yet have the lowest rate of health literacy. In this short, easy-to-read book designed as a concise but effective healthcare guide, Dr. Harold Kennedy, with more than 60 years of experience practicing medicine, guides readers through the healthcare maze faced by many seniors. While the information in this book is not intended to diagnose or treat ailments, it will give readers a valuable foundation of health literacy, crucial in making good decisions regarding their health and medical care services, and that of their loved ones. Written expressly to help persons aged 60 years and older, Aging and Health for the US Elderly: A Health Primer for Ages 60 to 90 is essential reading for all older Americans. Chapter topics include health risk factors; social determinants of disease; best practices; and up-to-date prevention, surveillance, and wellness, with special chapters tailored specifically for women and for men. Coverage also includes an overview of the U.S. health care system, both its history and the current state of affairs. Scientific validity of the evidence is provided by more than 180 references.
Call Number: (Electronic Resource)Publication Date: 2021
Aging with a Plan: How a Little Thought Today Can Vastly Improve Your Tomorrow
The book is a concise and comprehensive resource for people who are middle-aged and beyond and are facing the prospects of their own aging and of caring for elderly relatives--an often overwhelming task for which little in life prepares us. Using an interdisciplinary approach and many personal anecdotes, Professor Hoffman develops recommendations for building sustainable social, legal, medical, and financial support systems for aging and caregiving. Aging with a Plan combines thorough research with engaging anecdotes and practical advice. It offers one-stop shopping for anyone in need of guidance without a lot of time for independent research. The book answers questions such as: What legal documents should you be sure to have? What expenses should you anticipate in retirement and how do you save for them? What do you need to know about medical care as you or your loved ones grow older? How should you approach conversations about the sensitive topic of safe driving with elderly loved ones? What options exist for end-of-life care, and how do you make sure that your wishes will be followed? The book is user-friendly and accessible to a general audience, and each chapter ends with a helpful checklist.
Call Number: (Electronic Resource)Publication Date: 2022
Making Relational Care Work for Older People: Exploring Innovation and Best Practice in Everyday Life
This book explores the concept of relational care, what it feels like for older people and for carers, why it makes life happier and how those involved in residential or community care can make it work. Relational care is gaining traction as its benefits to individuals and society become recognised. This accessible book, based on real-life models and in-depth interviews, explores fresh ways that relational care can be facilitated in a variety of settings. It looks at practice in terms of team management, support for care workers, technology, design and architecture, intergenerational and multidisciplinary models, and their implications for resilience, wellbeing, policy and future funding. Chapters are arranged by theme and provide descriptions, learning points and resources for each model, as well as incorporating a wealth of interviews giving insights into the lived experience of relational care. This is a lively book full of realistic ideas and information for everyone who wants to find out more about, access or implement the best in care - the best for older people, their families, care workers, management and society.
Call Number: (Electronic Resource)Publication Date: 2020
My Father's Brain: Life in the Shadow of Alzheimer's
"Blending the humor, compassion, and absorbing family drama of first-rate memoir with expert science writing, [Sandeep Jauhar] has composed a can't-miss introduction to what has been called the Age of Alzheimer's." --Sanjay Gupta, author of Keep Sharp and World War C A deeply affecting memoir of a father's descent into dementia, and a revelatory inquiry into why the human brain degenerates with age and what we can do about it. Almost six million Americans--about one in every ten people over the age of sixty-five--have Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia, and this number is projected to more than double by 2050. What is it like to live with and amid this increasingly prevalent condition, an affliction that some fear more than death? In My Father's Brain, the distinguished physician and author Sandeep Jauhar sets his father's struggle with Alzheimer's alongside his own journey toward understanding this disease and how it might best be coped with, if not cured. In an intimate memoir rich with humor and heartbreak, Jauhar relates how his immigrant father and extended family felt, quarreled, and found their way through the dissolution of a cherished life. Along the way, he lucidly exposes what happens in the brain as we age and our memory falters, and explores everything from ancient conceptions of the mind to the most cutting-edge neurological--and bioethical--research. Throughout, My Father's Brain confronts the moral and psychological concerns that arise when family members must become caregivers, when children's and parents' roles reverse, and when we must accept unforeseen turns in our closest relationships--and in our understanding of what it is to have a self. The result is a work of essential insight into dementia, and into how scientists, caregivers, and all of us in an aging society are reckoning with the fallout.
Call Number: RC523 .J384 2023 (Print Resource)Publication Date: 2023
Senior Care and Services: Essays and Case Studies on Practices, Innovations and Challenges
There are more senior citizens in the U.S. today than ever before. Public services for seniors are rapidly changing and expanding as this diverse population ages. This collection of essays describes key developments in services being provided in cities across the nation. Topics include seniors and the U.S. government; health and wellness; longevity; caregiving; housing and accommodations; Social Security and finance; immigrant, minority and LGBT issues, and life-long learning and technology.
Call Number: HV1461 .S456 2020 (Print Resource)Publication Date: 2020
Shelved: A Memoir of Aging in America
Sue Petrovski has always been capable, thoughtful, and productive. After retiring from a long and successful career in education, she published two books, ran an antiques business, and volunteered in her community. When her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and until her death eight years later, Petrovski served as her primary caregiver. She even cared for her husband when he also succumbed to dementia. However, when Petrovski's husband fell ill with sepsis at the age of 82, it threw everything into question. Would he survive? And if so, would she be able to care for him and manage the family home where they had lived for 47 years? More importantly, how long would she be able to do so? After making the decision to sell their house and move into a senior living community, Petrovski found herself thrust into the corporate care model of elder services available in the United States. In Shelved: A Memoir of Aging in America, she reflects on the move and the benefits and deficits of American for-profit elder care. Petrovski draws on extensive research that demonstrates the cultural value of our elders and their potential for leading vital, creative lives, especially when given opportunities to do so, offering a cogent, well-informed critique of elder care options in this country. Shelved provides readers with a personal account of what it is like to leave a family home and enter a new world where everyone is old and where decisions like where to sit in the dining room fall to low-level corporate managers. Showcasing the benefits of communal living as well as the frustrations of having decisions about meals, public spaces, and governance driven by the bottom line, Petrovski delivers compelling suggestions for the transformation of an elder care system that more often than not condescends to older adults into one that puts people first?a change that would benefit us all, whether we are 40, 60, 80, or beyond.
Call Number: (Electronic Resource)Publication Date: 2017
Travelers to Unimaginable Lands: Stories of Dementia, the Caregiver, and the Human Brain
These "moving and often surprising" (The Wall Street Journal) case histories meld science and storytelling to show that caregivers don't just witness cognitive decline in their loved ones with dementia--they are its invisible victims. "This book will forever change the way we see people with dementia disorders--and the people who care for them."--Lori Gottlieb, author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone A BBC BOOK OF THE WEEK * A TELEGRAPH BEST BOOK OF SUMMER * A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE Inspired by Dasha Kiper's experience as a caregiver and counselor and informed by a breadth of cognitive and neurological research, Travelers to Unimaginable Lands dispels the myth of the perfect caregiver. In these compassionate, nonjudgmental stories of parents and children, husbands and wives, contending with dementia disorders, Kiper explores the existential dilemmas created by this disease: a man believes his wife is an impostor; a woman's imaginary friendships with famous authors drive a wedge between her and her devoted husband; another woman's childhood trauma emerges to torment her son; a man's sudden, intense Catholic piety provokes his wife. Kiper explains why the caregivers are maddened by these behaviors, mirroring their patients' irrationality, even though they've been told it's the disease at work. By demystifying the neurological obstacles to caregiving, Kiper illuminates the terrible pressure dementia disorders exert on our closest relationships, offering caregivers the perspective they need to be gentler with themselves.
Call Number: RC521 .K574 2023 (Print Resource)Publication Date: 2023
Voices of Long-Term Care Workers: Elder Care in the Time of COVID-19 and Beyond (Open Access Book)
There were many challenges, successes, and concerns in providing long-term care to older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Looking at central North Carolina, the authors highlight the implications of providing long-term care to older Americans, with an emphasis on the importance of communication, resilience of staff, and value of human infrastructure.Based on extensive interviews, this collection of essays reflects on the participants’ individual experiences and represents the voices of staff and caregivers working in long-term residential care communities, in-home and community-based programs, as well as regional aging service providers and advocates.
Call Number: (Electronic Resource)Publication Date: 2024
