ElderWeb

I am frequently asked to review books on aging and eldercare issues, but have not had a place to put this information. These are not extensive reviews, just my own observations and reactions to some of the books published in this area.

Amazon is no longer just about books. They now provide an online marketplace for a wide variety of merchants with some of the best pricing available on the Internet. This creates an interesting opportunity to shop in a single place for eldercare books and gadgets from a many different stores. As an added benefit, no matter how many different merchants you buy from, you only have to provide your credit card information once, to Amazon, which should help reduce your vulnerability to fraud or abuse of that information.

When you find something useful, you can click a button to save it to a Shopping List. When you have accumulated a list of items you are interested in, you can transfer your list to an Amazon shopping cart, where you can see shipping costs, save your cart for later (maybe to show it to someone else), or go ahead and complete your purchase using Amazon's secure checkout process.

Full disclosure: if you buy anything using this feature, I receive a very small fee, which will help defer the cost of keeping this site up and running.

ElderWeb Newsletter articles are available online in this archive, where they are sorted by date, and they are also filed by subject in the appropriate section of the ElderWeb site.

By the Steering Committee for the Workshop on Technology for Adaptive Aging, Richard W. Pew and Susan B. Van Hemel, Editors, National Academies Press, 2003, ISBN 0903091160. This book is a compilation of a workshop that brought together experts in aging research and technology to discuss applications of technology to communications, education, employment, health, living environments, and transportation for older adults. This is not an easy read, but contains lots of information from scientific studies and other research, including the experts best suggestions for applying technology to aging issues.

By David Johnson, Robert D. Reed Publishers, San Francisco, 2002, ISBN 1931741158. This book contains an extensive list of 168 programs available to pay for 1,415 prescription medications. The author has Multiple Sclerosis and was facing a drug bill of $1,500 a month, which he was unable to afford, so he spent 2 years researching the programs available and wrote this book to provide the same information to others. The only downside of a book like this is that some of this information is probably already outdated. There are some Internet databases that provide this information, but there are probably people who will find it easier to access in printed form.

By Dee Marrella, DC Press, 2002, ISBN 0970844484. This book is a "fill in the blanks" workbook for older people to use to communicate their desires to their children or other caregivers. They are then to leave the book to be found by their caregivers later. The idea is to make sure that the caregivers know what the older person would have wanted, if they are no longer able to communicate their wishes. The workbook includes the usual financial and legal issues, but also memories and plans for the future. This is an interesting and unique idea. My only negative observation is that you can't tell what it is from the title or look of the book, so the caregiver/child may not realize what it is when it is needed. The author suggests attaching a note of some kind to the book, but there is still a risk that all the work that went into this exercise may never be used.

By Connie Goldman, Fairview Press, 2002, ISBN 1577491173. This book is a series of interviews with caregivers, including people caring for disabled children, parents, friends, and family. Some of the caregivers are famous, like former first lady Rosanne Carter and Dana Reeve (wife of Christopher Reeve). This is not a how-to book, but may provide comfort to other caregivers who can see themselves in these stories as a reminder that they are not alone and that the things they are doing are important.

By Robert Bornstein, Ph.D. and Mary A. Languirand, Ph.D., Newmarket Press, 2001, ISBN 1557044732. The authors, both distinguished psychologists, address a broad range of issues ranging from the first realization that someone needs help, through identifying in-home options, making placement decisions, and dealing with late-life medical problems and hospice. The authors do an excellent job of including enough information to be useful, while keeping the book relatively short and easy to read. It is designed in a way that it could either be read through, or scanned to pick out relevant issues.

By Ellen Hoffman, Newmarket Press, 2001, ISBN 1557044627. This is a sort of follow up to Ellen Hoffman's excellent book, "The Retirement Catch-Up Guide". In this book, she explores government programs and provides more retirement strategies for how to protect your retirement income. Another excellent guide for financial planning.

By Jacqueline Marcell, Impressive Press, 2001, ISBN 0967970318. The author recreates her journey from the time she realizes her parents need help and that her abusive father probably has Alzheimers. As the title makes clear, she tries to keep a sense of humor as she recounts her story. Buried in the book are lots of ideas she used to cope with various situations that arose. If nothing else, it may help someone else in a similar situation from feeling that no one else has ever had to deal with these kinds of problems.

By Howard Thorsheim and Bruce Roberts, Elder Books, 2000, ISBN 0943873177. Useful for activity professionals or family members who want to engage seniors in the healthy act of reminiscing, this book provides lots of ideas on how to stimulate and document memories. As the authors point out, this is an activity that has been proven to provide many benefits to seniors. Of course, it will also creates results that may be priceless to family members who may not have ever heard the stories that result.