How to Care for Aging Parents (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This guide, aimed at the "Sandwich Generation," provides a road map to assist adult children in caring for their aging parents. Combining personal experience with expertise in healthcare and social and political issues, Morris has produced a thoroughly researched, well-organized, and comprehensive manual. Chapters follow in logical progression, yet they can stand alone and be read on an "as-needed" basis. The topics covered include the concrete, practical areas such as home care, finances, nursing homes/hospitals, legal issues, and medical/safety concerns as well as the psychosocial areas of handling emotions, dealing with death and dying, sibling conflicts, and spiritual needs. In her discussions, Morris adds useful details such as a suggested list of things to pack for the hospital. Support for the caregiver as well as to the elderly person is covered. Sprinkled throughout the text are agencies, phone numbers, and other reference information. A good companion to Helen Susik's Hiring Home Caregivers (LJ 5/1/95), this comprehensive resource is a great bargain. Recommended for public libraries.
Linda D. Malone, Walter Reed Hospice, Gloucester, Va.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Winner, Books for a Better Life Award and a selection of the Rodale Book Club

Featured on Oprah, Good Morning America, CNN, CBS and other national programs

The Washington Post calls How to Care for Aging Parents "a compassionate guide of encyclopedic proportion.... What sets this book apart from other guides on aging is the recognition that parent care is an emotional roller coaster for both the parent, who may not be accustomed to being a dependent, and for the adult child, who is often frustrated by the overwhelming new task and the guilty feeling that she can't do more."

"A work of great value, written with sensitivity and wisdom...it fulfills an obvious need better than anything I've seen." -- Sherwin B. Nuland, M.D., author of How We Die

"This is a tremendous work...truly excellent. It will be a great help to many people." -- Ronald Miller, M.D., medical director, geriatric assessment center at Yale- New Haven Hospital

Compassionate, timely, and thoroughly researched, How to Care for Aging Parents tackles all the tough subjects: how to avoid "parenting" your parent, understanding what happens to the body in old age, easing caregiver guilt, getting help finding a nursing home, preparing for the time to say good-bye. Virginia Morris, a health-care journalist who cared for her own father through a terminal illness, has given us an indispensable source of information and support.

Included in the book:
- Talking to your parents about tough issues
- Obtaining important legal documents
- Caring from afar
- Adapting to new parent/child roles
- Easing guilt, exhaustion, anger and grief
- Knowing when to intervene
- Finding good medical care
- Tending a failing body (vision, hearing, incontinence, depression, arthritis, etc.)
- Navigating within a hospital
- Aiding independence (living alone, driving, avoiding falls)
- Improving diet, exercise and social life
- Utilizing community services
- Managing home-care workers
- Choosing a nursing home
- Dealing with siblings, bosses and children
- Paying the bills
- Coping with dementia
- Working with hospice
- Growing from grief

"How to Care for Aging Parents is well-researched and comprehensive...a practical resource...that can be of enormous assistance to contemporary older persons as well as to Baby Boomers and the generations that follow." -- Robert N. Butler, M.D., founder, National Institute on Aging

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Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Workman Publishing Company (January 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563054353
• ISBN-13: 978-1563054358
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #399,967 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Info on all aspects of the elderly immediately!, January 22, 2000

By	Pam Tulman (Sudbury, MA) - See all my reviews

The most amazing book I have ever borrowed from a friend to read. It is a most important book to have especially if you are "caring" for an elderly parent (in this case, my 93 year old father)and living many miles away (in my case, 3,000 miles). It is so easy to navigate and it is difinitely written for the layman--it gets right to the point and avoids the reader having to read on and on to get an answer. Very important facts in each chapter are highlighted in gray boxes. Thank you, Ms. Morris, for this great compilation on eldercare.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, something I can really use!, April 7, 2000

By	Sally J. Nottage "nottagecottage" (Eugene, OR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Caring for my father and now my mother, this book saved me emotionally.I just don't know what I would have done without it. Open at any point and is easily understandable, a real tool with real solutions. Desperate friend calls it her Bible. Easily read,perfectly organized, concise, not cluttered where you have to dig for answers. It has everything, not just medical aspects. I can't say enough other than please just try it.

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended and very helpful, September 19, 2000

By	Cathleen M. Walker "geminiwalker" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This is a wonderful book, and will be helpful for anyone facing the inevitable issue of parents or other relatives growing older and needing care of any kind. Easy to read through, as I have just done, it is also a wonderful resource to pull off the shelf as these issues manifest, from talking to your parents about what needs to be discussed as soon as possible, to knowing when to intervene and when to get out of the way, what questions to ask whom, and what to expect. Information about contacts and agencies is liberally sprinkled throughout the book, and a helpful index at the back helps you to find whatever you need at a moment's notice. An initial read-through makes you familiar with what the book has to offer, making it more familiar as the needs arise. Highly recommended.