The Unexpected Journey of Caring

June 17, 2019
Speaker and consultant Thomson (The Four Walls of My Freedom) and White, associate professor at Queens University in Charlotte, N.C., provide gentle guidance to help readers who are becoming caregivers in this instructive guide. The authors write honestly about the feelings of loss during this transition, including grief over a future that will not happen. They explore the feeling of disorientation during the initial months of caregiving while recognizing how the caregiver’s relationships with one’s own family and friends can be affected, manifesting commonly in intolerance or disappointment. In their “A New Way of Seeing and Being” that concludes each chapter, they ask readers to optimistically reframe the hardships of caregiving by emphasizing that “our responsibilities and connections highlight how we are rooted and grounded with others.” The book includes a variety of practical and tangible actions for the caregiver, including resources and advice on how to navigate both real-life and online support systems, strategies for getting help from one’s social network, and advice for contacting medical professionals. Specific tools such as the ABCD (Asset Based Community Development) approach and Atlas CareMaps (as well as specific libraries and community centers) are also included. Any caregiver will find an abundance of assistance here.

June 1, 2019
Caregivers often sacrifice their own health and relationships to take care of loved ones, which is a big problem in the United States, where nearly 45 million Americans provide unpaid care to an adult or child with medical problems or chronic conditions. The authors, caregiving bloggers, recommend online forums and Facebook groups as wonderful sources of support at 3 a.m., and note that libraries offer book groups, talks, and film screenings. They share their own stories: one quit her job and left her husband and daughter to move in with her mom, who had early-onset Alzheimer's. Another found her son's care-needs increase after his severe cerebral palsy caused his right hip to dislocate. This guide is best when it provides statistics (10,000 Americans turn 65 every day, and 70 percent of them will need long-term care for an average of three years) and advice (what tasks could someone else do?). PBS NewsHour anchor Judy Woodruff, whose older son needs help with almost all activities of daily living, provides a foreword recognizing the nation's silent army of caregivers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)