Showing titles in Long-Term & Elder Care

In Being Mortal, best-selling author Atul Gawande tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its ending. Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable. But in the inevitable condition of aging and death, the goals of medicine seem too frequently to run counter to the interest of the human spirit.

Written by renowned surgeon and expert on the art of aging, Dr. M.E. Hecht, with her friend Whoopi Goldberg lending her unique point of view, Two Old Broads is laugh-out-loud funny and tells it like it is for all of us who left middle age in the dust and want to be present, positive, and as extraordinary as ever in our golden years. Whoopi joins Dr. Hecht in a lively conversation about growing older with no apologies. Dr. Hecht, who passed away a few short months prior to publication, shares her 93 years of wisdom with Whoopi and their fellow “broads.”

For 40 years, "The 36-Hour Day" has been the leading work in the field for caregivers of those with dementia. Written by experts with decades of experience caring for individuals with memory loss, Alzheimer's, and other dementias, the book is widely known for its authoritativeness and compassionate approach to care. Featuring everything from the causes of dementia to managing its early stages to advice on caring for those in the later stages of the disease, it is widely considered to be the most detailed and trusted book available.

What began as a simple promise became an entrepreneurial journey to change an industry. In A Culture of Promise: The True Story of a Small Company’s Quest to Transform the Senior Living Industry, author Fee Stubblefield encapsulates the best insights on how to build an organization from the ground up and the challenges and opportunities the senior living industry as a whole faces. Even if you aren’t in senior living you will want to listen to this book because every family and every sector of the economy and government is touched and impacted by our country’s rapidly aging population.

Unlimited” is an empowering story of an ordinary life suffocated by unrealised potential that unfolds as an extraordinary journey of personal transformation. The author's life story is marked by a pivotal decision at the age of 15, when he turned away from his boyhood dream of becoming a professional football player in England. Instead, he succumbed to cigarettes and alcohol, and often chose the easier road. For two decades, he carried the weight of "I could have", until, at 34, he embarked on a radical shift.

For her clients and everyone who has been inspired by her humanity, Alua Arthur is a friend at the end of the world. As our country’s leading death doula, she’s spreading a transformative message: thinking about your death—whether imminent or not—will breathe wild, new potential into your life. Warm, generous, and funny AF, Alua supports and helps manage end-of-life care on many levels. The business matters, medical directives, memorial planning; but also honoring the quiet moments, when monitors are beeping and loved ones have stepped out to get some air.

Nearly five million families deal with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia on a daily basis. They do this with little training, and often, only their good intentions guide them. When Reasoning No Longer Works is the training manual these family caregivers have been searching for. Authored by a gerontologist with more than 20 years of experience, this audiobook gives the listener an easy-to-understand view of what dementia does to the brain, how it is diagnosed, and most importantly, how to deal with its effects.

Veterans of the United States armed forces are entitled to a broad range of benefits and services provided by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Dr. Paul R Lawrence, former Under Secretary for Benefits in the Department of Veterans Affairs, provides an up-to-date, comprehensive and accessible guide to all the benefits and services available to veterans of the US armed services and how to make the most of these benefits and services.

"This book captures the moments of laughter, the difficult decisions, and the profound connections that nurses forge with their patients." Vital Signs offers an intimate and authentic glimpse into the life of a new nurse during her first year of practice. These compelling stories are not fictional; they are the real experiences of a dedicated nurse as she navigates the challenges and rewards of her profession. With each chapter, readers step into the shoes of a young nurse as she encounters the diverse array of situations that define a nurse's journey. Through a blend of poignant drama and ...

Overthinking in Relationships and Survivors of Alzheimer's: A Caregiver's Guide to Mental Health and Aging emerges as a beacon of light, offering a repository of understanding and strategies for those entrenched in the dual challenges of caregiving and personal mental health. This compassionate guide delves deep into the heart of Alzheimer’s caregiving, coupled with the pervasive challenge of overthinking in personal relationships.

We have lost the war on cancer. We spend $150 billion each year treating it, yet - a few innovations notwithstanding - a patient with cancer is as likely to die of it as one was 50 years ago. Most new drugs add mere months to one's life at agonizing physical and financial cost. In The First Cell, Azra Raza offers a searing account of how both medicine and our society (mis)treats cancer, how we can do better, and why we must.

Modern medical advances save countless lives. But for all their merits, sophisticated technologies have created a daunting new challenge, namely a blurring of the expanse between life and death. The dying process is often hidden behind a complex web of medical terminology, statistics, and ethical decisions, making it difficult for patients and loved ones to know how to approach the end of life in a dignity-affirming, God-honoring, faith-filled way.

Age-proofing an older relative's living space, figuring out powers of attorney, spotting and dealing with signs of dementia, asking them to give up the car keys or consider assisted living . . . the first step toward tackling these concerns and more is an honest, informed discussion. Here are prompts and road maps for twenty-seven essential conversations—with your parent, other family members, and health care providers.

Loss is difficult...and universal. What do we say? What do we do? Part how-to guide, part hopeful manifesto, Cultivating the Doula Heart provides a clear framework for supporting those facing hardship, grief, and loss. Succinct and straightforward, this work of heart covers: Components of Doula Care, Aspects of Loss, Ways of Being/Ways of Doing, Grief Support, and Contemplative Exercises.

It's hard to talk about death in America. But even though the topic has been taboo, life's end is an eventual reality. So why not shape it to our values? Finish Strong is for those of us who want an end-of-life experience to match the life we've enjoyed. We know we should prepare, but are unsure how to think and talk about it, how to live true to our values and priorities, and how to make our wishes stick.

New medications can unknowingly cause adverse effects that prompt new diagnoses and new prescriptions to manage those adverse effects. What the patient is left with is a vicious cycle called the prescribing cascade that leads to more medication, worsening health, and a feeling of helplessness that they will be taking several medications for the rest of their life. I designed this book to help healthcare professionals identify the prescribing cascade and the collateral damage that can result on account of polypharmacy.

His routine was the same every day for 38 years...until March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic shut hospital surgeries all over the world.. Craig Smith, M.D., Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, went from performing heart surgeries on patients both everyday and celebrated to sitting in his tomb-quiet office looking out at George Washington Bridge. And he started to write. His COVID emails were balm to the staffers and later became celebrated for Dr. Smith’s care and thought in his assessment of the work of the hospital–of any hospital.

Medicare For Dummies, 3rd Edition will help you navigate the complicated, often confusing maze of the Medicare system. In simple language, with clear step-by-step instructions, the book helps you determine how and when to enroll, avoid costly mistakes, and find a plan that is right for you and your family.

Medicine has become inhuman, to disastrous effect. The doctor-patient relationship - the heart of medicine - is broken: doctors are too distracted and overwhelmed to truly connect with their patients, and medical errors and misdiagnoses abound. In Deep Medicine, leading physician Eric Topol reveals how artificial intelligence can help. AI has the potential to transform everything doctors do, from notetaking and medical scans to diagnosis and treatment, greatly cutting down the cost of medicine and reducing human mortality.

As revelatory as Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal, physician and award-winning author Louise Aronson’s Elderhood is an essential, empathetic look at a vital but often disparaged stage of life. For more than 5,000 years, 'old' has been defined as beginning between the ages of 60 and 70. That means most people alive today will spend more years in elderhood than in childhood, and many will be elders for 40 years or more. Yet at the very moment that humans are living longer than ever before, we’ve made old age into a disease.