Caring for Your Parents: The Complete AARP Guide

By Elinor Ginzler and Hugh Delehanty

Book Overview

Filled with inspiring stories from real people and packed with creative ideas, this thought-provoking book shows readers how to transform caregiving into an act of spiritual growth and personal discovery. Drawing on AARP's deep wellspring of expertise in the topic, AARP's Caring for Your Parents explains how to help your elderly parents improve their lives-with a difference. By revealing the wealth of knowledge we stand to learn from other cultures-specifically, those that venerate elders as keepers of priceless wisdom-this eye-opening book guides readers through a new, creative approach to caregiving that turns familial duty into a journey of emotional development and resolution. Based on a 32-page National Magazine Award-nominated special feature, Caring for Your Parents documents the innovative ways in which real people are coping with this age-old issue. Throughout the book you will also find useful, field-tested recommendations from AARP's staff of experts. Topics explored in depth run the gamut from locating quality health care to avoiding consumer scams to planning the disposition of an estate. There are also tips on designing your parents' house to make it more elder-friendly, navigating the hidden dangers of assisted living, and dealing with the invisible sibling issue. A resource guide in each chapter lists help lines, websites, and consumer action groups. Thirty million Americans are looking for a new, more effective approach to eldercare. Caring for Your Parents is the answer. By including the wisdom of ancient cultures within the pages of this thoroughly modern guide, the editors of AARP The Magazine have provided lessons that can be adapted to any family situation in a profoundly personal way.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1402717393
• ISBN13: 9781402717390
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Sterling
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.3" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Caring for Your Parents: The COmplete Family Guide (AARP)

One of the most important discussions includes caring for aging parents. All four of ours are gone now. We had to learn how to navigate complex Medicare laws, relate with dignity, allow as much independence as possible, communicate with siblings, care from a distance and up close. The sibling Balancing Act is worh the price of the book. This is a guide for the journey. When the gas tank gets low we have to fill up. Our perspective changes allowing us to love our parents, get the facts, choose wisely and eventually let go. The work sheets provide "talk points" for getting things done.

Great Reference

I wish I had this book months before I really needed it. Although many points made in the first few chapters I've already applied to my aging parents, I'm still learning and applying what is mentioned in the remaining chapters.

Good reference

I bought multiple books of this type and found only two really helpful - this one and "The Eldercare Handbook: Difficult Choices, Compassionate Solutions" By: Stella Henry. Both are good references I turned to again and again. A good buy.

Inspiring and Full of Practical Tips

This book is full of helpful tips and inspiring, real life stories for anyone caring for an elderly parent. A useful and uplifting book. I am a legal aid hotline attorney and own a medical supply business. I both capacities, I frequently talk with seniors and their children who are caring for them. I and recommending this book to them.

Caring for Parents by Delehanty and Ginzler

This book is an excellent reference for adults with older parents progressively requiring more care from their children and other care-providers. Generally, the family provides up to 80% of care for the elderly. In my experience, this is true due to the high cost of nursing facilities and the personalized care many older people prefer. The authors mention that advocacy for the elderly requires strong organizational skills. This is the understatement of the year. Keep medical records, descriptions of key health issues, physician rosters and any materials which will assist you in determining what level of care parents require. Most states allow physicians and providers to discard records after 6 or more years. With this data in hand, create a home medical tracking system for physicians, medications, physical therapy regimentation, diet etc. The book lists some classic sayings by noted personalities. i.e. - "Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at 80 and gradually age to 18. " Mark Twain - "Raise children for old age as you store grain against famine." Chinese Proverb This book would be invaluable to children of old age parents about to take on the role of caregiver or partial caregiver. It lists some classic considerations many of us overlook in the painful yet rewarding process of caring for elderly parents in the twilight of life.