How to Care for Aging Parents

Starred review from March 24, 2014
Morris's authoritative guide on caring for aging parents, now in its third edition, is a must-read for anyone who wants to prepare for emotionally strenuous challenge head on. She thoroughly addresses the subject, covering most topics imaginable from standards such as exercise and healthy diet to uncomfortable ones such as STDs, Alzheimer's, and delusions and hallucinations. The vast amounts of information are succinctly communicated often using visual aids as inset boxes, checklists, at-a-glance comparison charts, and blocked quotes from a variety players involved in the process with reassuring personal testimonies. Her frank approach manages to be both compassionate and direct making the most awkward or devastating topics manageable, so that by the time readers reach discussions about death, they are able to absorb the information and confront the difficult steps that follow. She also includes a lengthy summary of useful organizations at the end, as well as a "Caregiver's Organizer" with worksheets, checklists and charts to make an organized participant out of the most hapless caregiver. 

December 1, 2013
The new, greatly revised and expanded edition of a hefty guidebook to eldercare originally published in 1995 is easy to read because Morris divides it into manageable sections. Worried about people taking advantage of your parents? Turn to a chapter titled, What You Need to Know about Fraud. Confused by legal issues, such as estate-tax rules? Morris gives easy-to-understand explanations of complicated-sounding terms, such as irrevocable life insurance trust. She also clearly and concisely spells out Medicare Part A and Part Breally! And she explains the stages of Alzheimer's in less than two pages. Charts help convey such essential information as housing options. A funeral checklist is full of reminders, such as, Find out if your parent owns a plot. The chapter You're Next nudges caregivers to manage their own affairs, too. Twenty-five pages listing useful organizations (offering help with everything from driving to pension rights) and 18 pages of forms (for medical contacts, medications, end-of-life wishes, caregiver contacts) conclude this thorough and invaluable how-to.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)