Baby boomers are now facing the challenge of caring for their aging parents, and that challenge knows no borders. Some version of what has happened to the elderly people in my life and in the lives of the people I've interviewed, is happening or will happen to you, the reader, as well. Many of our elderly parents took their last breaths in a nursing home. Their health had deteriorated to a point where they couldn't safely stay in a family environment. You'll read of the turmoil many of us went through as we settled our loved ones in Rosewood on Broadway, or Elim, or Eventide. Homes in other areas will have different names, different physical configurations, different staff. That's immaterial. You'll go through the same agonizing process as you look for the best quality care available. You'll go through the same confusion as you try to find a way to work your parents' new environment into your own life. Some of our people are fortunate enough to die with family, in their own homes. Others die in a hospital. Some cling to a whisper of life in a nursing home. But for all, eventually, their journey must end. Minding Our Elders was written to support you as you travel the last leg of their journey with them. It was written to remind you that you are not alone.
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About the Author
For over twenty years author, columnist and speaker Carol Bradley Bursack cared for a neighbor and six elderly family members. As a result of this experience, Bursack wrote Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories, a portable support group for caregivers. Minding Our Elders is used as a college text for gerontology and nursing home administration classes as a way to humanize, for students, the family caregiving experience. Bursack runs the award-winning Websites, mindingourelders.com and mindingoureldersblogs.com which include links to helpful agencies, articles rich with information and comfort, links to chat groups, and resources for caregiver, boomer and senior needs. Bursack writes an elder care newspaper column which runs weekly, in print and on-line. She is Editor-in-Chief of ElderCarelink.com. She is an expert blogger and community leader on OurAlzheimers.com and the forum moderator and a regular contributor to AgingCare.com. Bursack has been interviewed on many national radio shows, including Mr. Eldercare, Today's Author, The Ron Ross Show, and The Parent Care Show. She has been interviewed and quoted in magazines and newspapers around the world, including Family Circle, Quick and Simple, North Jersey Media Group, The Leader-Telegram, Tampa Tribune and the Sydney Morning Herald. She also speaks on caregiving issues to groups of all sizes. Bursack is a member of AARP, CAPS (Children of Aging Parents), the National Caregivers Advisory Panel, the National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA) and the National Council of Hospice and Palliative Professionals (NCHPP). As an expert in her field, she is featured in Montclair's Who's Who in Heath and has written hundreds of articles for national publications. Bursack is also a contributing author to The Media Librarian's Handbook, (Facet Publishing, UK 2008) and contributing author to: Dementia: Frank and Linda s story: New approaches, new understanding, new hope, (Lion-Monarch, March 2010).
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Anyone in the process of providing the most appropriate and loving caregiving for their beloved elderly knows just how rewarding the experience is. There are miraculous moments of shared tenderness and indescribable opportunities of healing. And yet there is another side to caregiving - it is often an emotionally exhausting and physically demanding journey. Caring for someone's declining health and wellbeing can feel like being in the middle of an out of control emotional whirlwind. Feelings of uncertainty, guilt, resentment, stress, burnout, and overwhelm are normal occurrences.
If you are a caregiver of your elderly parents, this book offers inspiration for all those times you feel overwhelmed with the issues of taking care of elderly parents. "Minding our Elders" is a collection of heart-warming stories written by author Bursack and caregivers who share their authentically honest and exquisitely human experiences. It is practical and overflowing with empathetic truth from those who have gone through the experience themselves.
The stories contained in this transformative book provide a "portable support group," allowing the reader to feel understood, comforted, and less alone. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is caring for an aging person. Is a great resource to help you care for your elderly without losing yourself. If you feel like you are alone and dealing with unique issues concerning your parents, please pick up a copy of this book. It will give you an invaluable resource of support and understanding to comfort you through the toughest of times.
Dr. Annette Colby: Author of "Your Highest Potential"
If you are a caregiver of your elderly parents, this book offers inspiration for all those times you feel overwhelmed with the issues of taking care of elderly parents. "Minding our Elders" is a collection of heart-warming stories written by author Bursack and caregivers who share their authentically honest and exquisitely human experiences. It is practical and overflowing with empathetic truth from those who have gone through the experience themselves.
The stories contained in this transformative book provide a "portable support group," allowing the reader to feel understood, comforted, and less alone. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is caring for an aging person. Is a great resource to help you care for your elderly without losing yourself. If you feel like you are alone and dealing with unique issues concerning your parents, please pick up a copy of this book. It will give you an invaluable resource of support and understanding to comfort you through the toughest of times.
Dr. Annette Colby: Author of "Your Highest Potential"
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Skip Jones
Format:Paperback
This book is far more than a delightfully well-written collection of inspiring stories.... The book really seems to prepare one for something one can't prepare for!!...It's quite brilliant...through a collection of vividly told stories, the reader has actually been there, ...with differing elders, personalities, needs, wishes, emotions, settings, timetables, etc.. ..all are unique, yet all are similar in that they are all trial and error on the caregivers part...uncharted waters you will just get into ...but the hope of the book (to me) is that the caregiver finds out there is no "right" way....far to many forces are at play... beyond the caregivers control...so you suck it up, do the best you can.. ..and don't fight natural events and ones desire to have done a better job. Readers are really lifted with more confidence, less guilt, and the definite feeling of not being alone. You will learn that you are not going to be perfect, but you can get the job done by doing the best you can. We can't be Carol, but we can learn from her going before us. What a friend to all caregivers. What a gift she has given us.
Skip Jones, Human Service Professional and family caregiver.
Skip Jones, Human Service Professional and family caregiver.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Barbara
Format:Paperback
I intended to 'leaf through' Minding Our Elders and ended
up being pulled in to it. I read the entire book in one
sitting. I have great respect for writers that can weave
words together in a manner that creates not only a picture
in your mind, but invokes the emotion of the heart and soul
of the reader. You may never know how many hearts you touch
with this book, Carol, but you will be blessed in many
unforeseen ways for this contribution. It speaks to the
reality of elder care issues with an honest look into the
small moments that change each of us on this path.
Barbara Mascio, Senior Approved Services www.seniorapprovedservices.com
up being pulled in to it. I read the entire book in one
sitting. I have great respect for writers that can weave
words together in a manner that creates not only a picture
in your mind, but invokes the emotion of the heart and soul
of the reader. You may never know how many hearts you touch
with this book, Carol, but you will be blessed in many
unforeseen ways for this contribution. It speaks to the
reality of elder care issues with an honest look into the
small moments that change each of us on this path.
Barbara Mascio, Senior Approved Services www.seniorapprovedservices.com
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Helpful Guide for a Difficult Journey
My parents are both deceased but my eldest sister who was severely injured in a car accident at 19 is now feeling the effects of those injuries 'again' at age 71. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Delores Edwards
5.0 out of 5 stars
Compassionate Care
Carol has written a compassionate and heart felt reflection into the needs of the soul in taking care of your parents or elderly loved ones at the end of life's journey. Read more
Published on April 7, 2009 by Sandra Pennington
5.0 out of 5 stars
Been There--Done That
"As the frazzled son of an aging mother with dementia, I found validation and comfort in Carol Bradley Bursack's exceptional book, "Minding Our Elders. Read more
Published on September 6, 2006 by Robert Tell
5.0 out of 5 stars
Telling It Like It Is
I am a professional who has studied caregiving of elders. Carol's book was very well written, and reflected the same type of stories I found in the research I did on elder... Read more
Published on August 27, 2006 by Mary Erickson
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Excellent Resource For Caregivers and Professionals
"Minding Your Elders" is indeed a support group for caregivers. Bursack's personal experience shines through and makes it authentic to the core. Read more
Published on March 11, 2006 by Beth B. Walter
5.0 out of 5 stars
Real People, Real Emotions, Real Lessons
Give our youth-worshipping culture, the topic of this book isn't "sexy," but I challenge any reader of any age with half a heart to read more than two pages and stop. Read more
Published on December 8, 2005 by Julie Sorenson
4.0 out of 5 stars
Reading of Others; Thinking of Ourselves
I really wish we'd had this book years before when we were helping Dad take care of Mom, let alone more recently when it was Dad's turn to be taken care of. Read more
Published on November 16, 2005 by Richard A. Sandin
5.0 out of 5 stars
Minding Our Elders review
A great book for anyone working in healthcare or taking care of - family, friends, neighbors. Easy to read, with many thought-provoking moments, subtle humor and lessons for life.
Published on November 5, 2005 by Charlotte Feldman
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