My Life Rearranged


Book Description

Pssst ...is your life being rearranged? You are not alone. Alzheimer’s and dementia will turn your life inside out and upside down. In fact, there are many days you won’t know if you are coming or going. Susan Miller knows those days. Her husband was diagnosed with Early-Onset Alzheimer’s. She became the long distance caregiver for her father’s medical issues, followed by her mother’s diagnosis of dementia and then a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s for her mother-in-law. After decades of caregiving and years of widowhood, Susan met a wonderful widower, only to discover signs of dementia. My Life Rearranged gives voice to what many caregivers think, but are reluctant to admit.You will discover: •The issues of love, loss, responsibility, duty, and self-preservation while navigating the stages of the disease. •What it’s like to struggle with a disease that strikes terror in people’s hearts and offers ways to come through intact. •How to lessen the isolation and loneliness of caregiving, and bring honest insight into the life of a caregiver. Imagine coming home from the store and layingyour package down, only to find it gone thirty minutes later, nowhere to be found. Imagine looking for your favorite cereal in the morning, not finding it anywhere, and only later when you go to do a load of wash, do you find it. Imagine living with your spouse of many years, only to awaken one day and find he has turned into a child. Imagine thinking you are living in a house of cards, or that you are imagining it all, or perhaps it’s just a dream and you’ll soon awaken, but it’s not and you don’t. Imagine repeating this scenario over and overagain. My Life Rearranged will tug at your heart, touch your soul, inspire you, and help you believe in your capabilities.




Families Caring for an Aging America


Book Description

Family caregiving affects millions of Americans every day, in all walks of life. At least 17.7 million individuals in the United States are caregivers of an older adult with a health or functional limitation. The nation's family caregivers provide the lion's share of long-term care for our older adult population. They are also central to older adults' access to and receipt of health care and community-based social services. Yet the need to recognize and support caregivers is among the least appreciated challenges facing the aging U.S. population. Families Caring for an Aging America examines the prevalence and nature of family caregiving of older adults and the available evidence on the effectiveness of programs, supports, and other interventions designed to support family caregivers. This report also assesses and recommends policies to address the needs of family caregivers and to minimize the barriers that they encounter in trying to meet the needs of older adults.




My Life as a Caregiver


Book Description

My Life as a Caregiver: How I Became the Best in My Field is the very core and heartbeat of me, the very essence of my being. My passion, purpose, pursuit, desire, and driving force as a caregiver is what has given me the strength, fight, tenacity, and audacity to live and defy all the odds against me. Courage to press through any and every situation or circumstance that came against me. My life as a caregiver has taken me places I never dreamed of going and around people I never imagined to meet. This desire has created a life for me beyond my wildest dreams, which lead me to my destiny. Sit back, grab a cup of coffee, and read how I became the best in my field. "You are such an inspiration to me and many. They may not tell you, but I enjoy your books and your Facebook post. I began my day reading your post for inspiration. I love you, Ann." --Tina Lee (Metairie, LA) "There are so many wonderful things to say about this beautiful woman of God; when you meet her, she impacts your life. I love just listening to her as she speaks. She's a #warrior and a mighty #evangelist, to say the least. I guess the best three words I have to describe her are #heart of gold. I love you, Antonette." --Sharah Solis (Detroit, MI) "I love your books. I love talking to you. I really appreciate your transparency. You are so open and honest. Not too many people like that. You talk with so much ease. I love talking and listening to you. So glad I know and can talk to a famous author such as yourself. --Sajon Ford (Taylor, Michigan) "Tu Tu are you worried about your Books? No Liam I am not worried about my Books. Tu Tu I love your Books. Awwh thank you Liam." --William David Sherman "Liam" 5 years old (Metarie, LA)




The Caregiving Trap


Book Description

"The Caregiving Trap" combines the authentic life and professional experience of Pamela D. Wilson, who provides recommendations for overwhelmed and frustrated caregivers who themselves may one day need care. "The Caregiving Trap" includes stories about Pamela's actual personal and professional experience along with end of chapter exercises to support caregivers. Common caregiving issues include: A sense of duty and obligation to provide care that damages family relationships Emotional and financial challenges resulting in denial of care needs Ignorance of predictive events that result in situations of crises or harm Delayed decision making and lack of planning resulting in limited choices Minimum standards of care supporting the need for advocacy




The Caregiver


Book Description

Aaron and Stella Alterra had been married for more than sixty years when Aaron began to notice puzzling lapses in his wife's memory. Innocuous at first, they became more severe and more alarming. After a series of appointments and tests, the Alterras were informed that Stella was one of the more than 4.5 million Americans with Alzheimer's disease. Combining medical research on the disease and often-painful anecdotes of memory loss, deteriorating motor functions, personality shifts, support-group and daycare experiences, and drug trials, Alterra chronicles his transformation from husband to caregiver after his wife's diagnosis. More than a chronology of one family's experience of Alzheimer's disease, The Caregiver is an intelligent, beautifully reflective testimony to how family members turned caregivers become the ultimate advocates for their loved ones in the face of a disease with no cure.




The Caregiver


Book Description

From the critically acclaimed author of This Burns My Heart comes a “luminous mother-daughter saga” (Entertainment Weekly) about a young woman who is forced to flee 1980s Brazil for California, and in doing so unearths the hidden life of her enigmatic mother. Mara Alencar’s mother Ana is her moon, her sun, her stars. Ana, a struggling voice-over actress, is an admirably brave and recklessly impulsive woman who does everything in her power to care for her little girl in perilous 1980s Rio de Janeiro. With no other family or friends her own age, Ana eclipses Mara’s entire world. They take turns caring for each other—in ways big and small. But who is Ana, really? As she grows older, Mara slowly begins to piece together the many facets of Ana’s complicated life—a mother, a rebel, and always, an actress. When Ana becomes involved with a civilian rebel group attempting to undermine the city’s cruel Police Chief, their fragile arrangement begins to unravel. Mara is forced to flee the only home she’s ever known, for California, where she lives as an undocumented immigrant, caregiving for a dying woman. It’s here that she begins to grapple with her turbulent past and starts to uncover vital truths—about her mother, herself, and what it means to truly take care of someone. A “lovely and heartbreaking” (People) story that is “simultaneously dreamlike and visceral” (The Atlantic), The Caregiver is “a beautiful testament to Samuel Park’s extraordinary talents as a storyteller…that reads, in some moments, like a thriller—and, in others, like a meditation on what it means to be alive…A ferocious page-turner with deep wells of compassion for the struggles of the living—and the sins of the dead” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).




The Conscious Caregiver


Book Description

Linda Abbit, founder of Tender Loving Eldercare and a veteran of the caregiving industry, shares her advice on taking care of an older parent or loved one and how to handle everything that goes along with this dramatic life change. Being a caregiver can be a difficult role. It requires patience, tenderness, selflessness, and hard work. Providing care for someone, whether it’s a parent, a loved one, or as a professional requires a high level of self-love and self-care. But while it may be a rewarding experience to care for a loved one, the emotional and physical stress of caregiving can lead to burnout and exhaustion—causing caregivers to put themselves and their own well-being in the background. How can you fulfill your role as a caregiver without losing yourself? Conscious Caregiver teaches you how to navigate caring for your loved one, whether it’s full-time in-house caregiving or hiring support from outside services. With information on how to talk to your loved ones about the situation, handle the emotional stress, stay financially secure, and take the time to care for yourself, this guide can help you care for your loved one and yourself at the same time.




Patient Safety and Quality


Book Description

"Nurses play a vital role in improving the safety and quality of patient car -- not only in the hospital or ambulatory treatment facility, but also of community-based care and the care performed by family members. Nurses need know what proven techniques and interventions they can use to enhance patient outcomes. To address this need, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), with additional funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has prepared this comprehensive, 1,400-page, handbook for nurses on patient safety and quality -- Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses. (AHRQ Publication No. 08-0043)." - online AHRQ blurb, http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nurseshdbk/




Aging with Care


Book Description

Finding the right fit to match aging adults with the best caregiver to assist them in their home can be fraught with challenge. In today’s pressurized world, the process involves overstressed family members and a shortage of great caregivers. So many adult children are seeking a helping hand and a friendly, experienced voice to guide them through this emotionally charged rite of passage. Aging with Care: Your Guide to Hiring and Managing Caregivers in the Home, takes a personal, professional, and sometimes humorous approach to the challenges, benefits, pitfalls and problems of hiring in-home caregivers. Here, two geriatric care experts explore the essential credentials and experience a home caregiver should have, pitfalls to avoid, hiring options and managing costs, and the decisions that go into finding the right fit for your loved one to be able to age in place. Sharing stories and insights from interviews with caregivers and elders, as well as industry experts, they walk you through the ins and outs, and provide you with the tools necessary to making the best care choices you can for the ones you love.




It's My Life, Too!


Book Description

There is no book on the market that addresses the needs of long-term caregivers regardless of the challenges faced by their loved ones. Most books focus on specific illnesses or conditions such as survivors of stroke, head or spinal injuries, dementia and Alzheimer’s, or parenting an or disabled child. Additionally, books tend to lump all caregivers into one group—those dealing with short-term illnesses, those facing end-of-life issues, and long-term care. Caring for someone who is expected to live for a relatively long period of time with an illness or condition poses specific and unique challenges for the caregiver. This book pinpoints the needs and strategies of this population. While some books focus on “surviving” long-term caregiving, It’s My Life Too demonstrates the life of the caregiver is of equal importance and that caregiving can be a rewarding and gratifying experience.