The Handholder's Handbook: A Guide for Caregivers of People with Alzheimer's or Other Dementias

by Rosette Teitel, Mark Gordon (Foreword by)

Overview

In a national survey, 19 million Americans said they have a family member with Alzheimer's, and 37 million said they knew someone who had it. But when Rosette Teitel found herself in the role of caregiver to her ailing husband, she could find no books that answered her practical needs: How do you give a 170-pound man a shower? How do you pick him up when he falls? What support networks are available? When is it time to consider a nursing home and how do you find one?

While many books about Alzheimer's disease focus on the illness and the patient, Teitel draws on her own experience to tackle subjects rarely dealt with in other self-help books. She covers topics such as managing the expenses of long-term care through Medicaid, estate planning, and preparing for the patient's death and the loss of someone whose daily survival has been at the center of one's existence. The chapters contain information on diagnosis, treatment, and the progression of the disease; the physical and emotional changes involved with the day-to-day caregiving; support networks; nursing homes; finances; death of the patient; mourning, and life after the patient's death; and interviews with caring children of parents with Alzheimer's disease. In addition, Teitel provides a helpful list of frequently asked questions, scheduling and memory aids, and websites where readers can find resources.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813529400
Publisher:	Rutgers University Press
Publication date:	06/01/2001
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

ROSETTE TEITEL is a retired high school teacher who nursed her husband through vascular dementia until his death.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Marc L. Gordon, M.D.
Preface
Acknowledgments
CHAPTER 1 Diagnosis, Progression of the Disease, Treatments, and Alternatives
"Dementia" or "Alzheimer's"? Medications, stimuli, alternative medicine
CHAPTER 2 Effects of the Disease /How to Survive, Physical and emotional changes, depression
(yours and the patient's), acceptance, day-to-day survival, support groups, individual counseling
CHAPTER 3 How to Help and Get Help for the Patient and for You, Physical techniques, mechanical aids, agencies, private help
CHAPTER 4 Sources of Strength and Courage, Family, friends, pets, and religion. Disappointments, pleasant surprises, and forgiveness
CHAPTER 5 Nursing Homes, When? Which one to choose? Resources. Dealing with staff
CHAPTER 6 Finances, Advance planning, elder law attorneys, Medicare and Medicaid
CHAPTER 7 The Last Chapter in Your Patient's Life, Death at home or in a facility? Hospice care, procedures, expenses, dealing with mixed emotions
CHAPTER 8 A New Beginning, Grief and mourning, support groups, friends and family, activities
CHAPTER 9 The Child Speaks, Interviews with caring children
CHAPTER 10 A Year after Widowhood, Looking back and looking forward. Selecting insurance, including Medicare
CHAPTER 11 Comments Overheard at Support Group Meetings
CHAPTER 12 Frequently Asked Questions and Answers about Dementia
Resources and References
Charts and forms
Resources
Internet Resources
Index

Editorial Reviews

Most books about caring for someone with Alzheimer's are authored by health or social service experts; few are written by actual care providers with firsthand experience of looking after a memory-impaired person. Retired high school teacher Teitel cared for her husband, who suffered from vascular dementia, until his death. Her book offers the basics about various forms of dementia, including early symptoms and diagnosis, behavioral and emotional changes, and treatment options. Additional chapters discuss financial planning, nursing-home care, and end-of-life issues. Lists of sources and sample forms are included along with short bibliographies at the end of each chapter. Teitel emphasizes the need for caregivers to care for themselves, and she includes a chapter featuring stories from other care providers (presented in a question-and-answer format). Yet she rarely mentions her own caregiving stories the very thing that would have set her book apart from Nancy Mace's The 36-Hour Day (LJ 7/99) or Michael Castleman's There's Still a Person in There: The Complete Guide to Treating and Coping with Alzheimer's Disease (LJ 12/99), both of which are more comprehensive caregiver resources. Not an essential purchase. Karen McNally Bensing, Benjamin Rose Inst. Lib., Cleveland Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal