Share The Care: How to Organize a Group to Care for Someone Who Is Seriously Ill, (Revised and Updated) [Paperback]

Cappy Capossela (Author), Sheila Warnock (Author), Sukie Miller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 26, 2004

You Don't Have to Do It Alone

Whether you're prepared for it or not, chances are you'll take on the role of caregiver when a family member or friend is affected by a serious illness or injury, or when you find your elderly parent needs help. As you'll soon discover, the range of tasks and responsibilities involved are overwhelming. Share The Care offers a sensible and loving solution: a unique group approach that can turn a circle of ordinary people into a powerful caregiving team. Share The Care shows you how to:

• Create a caregiver "family" from friends, real family members, neighbors, coworkers, and acquaintances.
• Hold a meeting to organize your group, and introduce members to the Share The Care systems that guarantee every job will be done and no one person will have to do too much.
• Discover the hidden talents within the group, make the most of their resources, cope with group issues, and stay together in the face of adversity.

Included here are valuable guidelines, compassionate suggestions, and a simple-to-use workbook section that together offer support to free the patient from worry and the caregivers from burnout. Share The Care offers friends and family the best answer ever to the frequently asked question "What can I do?"

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Taking on responsibility for short or long-term care for the seriously ill can be overwhelming and confusing. Detailing their personal experience with a dying friend, the authors demonstrate how the aphorism "many hands make light work" holds true. By developing "caring networks," the work is spread among friends, neighbors, and family members, alleviating stress on the primary caregiver and providing peace of mind to the patient. Part case study, part how-to, this book includes sample forms and checklists, allowing readers to use it as a springboard to create their own group and providing practical advice and reassurance. Recommended for popular medical collections.?Anne C. Tomlin, Auburn Memorial Hosp. Lib., N.Y.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Preparing for the serious illness of someone near and dear is certainly prudent, but actually doing it seems off-putting and even morbid to many, which makes Caposella and Warnock's book vitally important. Writing pleasantly and calmly and organizing their material admirably, they advise dealing with caregiver burnout by forming an "alternate family" and spreading the responsibilities and strain of providing care to the stricken among them. They include sample forms, checklists, and scripted passages for use in forming such support groups. Theirs is a highly structured approach that in times of crisis may prove invaluable. Although aimed at use by organized groups, it may also be of great value to individuals in need of a plan of action or background information. Capossela and Warnock's meticulous coverage of every phase and eventuality of a sensitive situation and the fact that the book is easy to use as a reference make it outstanding in a crowded field. Mike Tribby --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 348 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; Rev Upd edition (October 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743262689
• ISBN-13: 978-0743262682
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #161,688 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #10 in Books > Medical Books > Medicine > Home Care

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book will move you past the fear of a fearsome illness., June 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Share the Care: How to Organize a Group to Care for Someone Who Is Seriously Ill, First Edition (Paperback)

I have previously done all this, organizing a group of 32 people. This book would have been a godsend. The only thing I can add is: Keep a journal in the home of the person who is ill so each caregiver can leave a message for the person who takes the next shift. Include the feelings... calm, agitation, worries, the food taken or refused, the little touches that made a difference, the massage or the body that hurt too much, the closet straightened or bathroom cleaned as well as the medicines taken or refused. It greatly helps the group to feel together and to support each other, and helps the incoming person step into the flow.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book truly helped our family..., July 4, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Share the Care: How to Organize a Group to Care for Someone Who Is Seriously Ill, First Edition (Paperback)

I would just like to take a minute to say how absolutely wonderful this book is. I am 22 years old, and my Aunt Linda came out of remission from MS this Christmas. Her husband, a firefighter, her daughter, to be married, and her son, accepted to MSU this fall, all had lives that ceased at the moment of her reoccurring illness. I do not work, but I am married and found myself just like Sheila Warnock, devoting my entire life to my Aunt, or in her case Susand. Around the month of May, I began to get worried, "Will I ever get my life back?" That's when my Cousin & Uncle found a rewiew of the book, "Share the Care." Since this book, my life has completly changed. My Aunt's life has changed and so has her immediate family's life changed. We organized the group the way that the book layed out. And now have over 30 members devoting their time to care for someone they love. How wonderful for these two ambitious ladies to have taken the time to help so many others in their same situation. I too now help others set up their own "Share The Care" groups to help their loved ones. This book is truly a great one. If you have a family member, or know of someone who needs care, please, please buy this book, it will help you and the ones you love. Sincerely, Kari L. Bazner

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical and clearly written, July 15, 1998

By 

Royda Crose, Ph.D. ([e-mail]) (Muncie, Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Share the Care: How to Organize a Group to Care for Someone Who Is Seriously Ill, First Edition (Paperback)

This book is being used by a group of about 30 women (and a few men) to organize the care for a friend who is in stage 4 breast cancer. Our friend has decided to decline further aggressive treatment and wants to live out the rest of her life at home with as much love, dignity and well-being as possible. We (her friends) are dedicated to helping her do this and this book is our guide. It has something for everyone, from suggesting emotional bonding exercises and the do's and don't of conversation with terminally ill people to the practicality of providing forms to organize grocery shopping and other mundane day to day needs. It has been great for our group to support our friend and each other as we share the care.