Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories [Paperback]

Carol Bradley Bursack (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 22, 2005

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.

Editorial Reviews

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).

Product Details

• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: McCleery & Sons Publishing (August 22, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931916411
• ISBN-13: 978-1931916417
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #294,093 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Mind our Elders" is an EXCELLENT resource!, August 16, 2008

By 

Dr. Annette Colby "Annette Colby" (Dallas, Texas USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories (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"

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Enormous Gift to Caregivers and Caregivers to be., October 6, 2007

By 

Skip Jones (Fergus Falls, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories (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.

5.0 out of 5 stars Compassionate Care, April 7, 2009

By 

Sandra Pennington "Author of, "The Path i... (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Minding Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories (Paperback)

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. This book will remind you that you are not alone in this process and the journey is one that will reach into your heart and embrace your soul.

The Path into Healing