Resource Documents
Books
The Complete Eldercare Planner - Where to start, which questions to ask and how to find help, by Joy Loverde
The Fragile Years- Proven Strategies for the Care of Aging Loved Ones, by Amy Cameron O’Rourke, Book and YouTube Series - WEBSITE
Let’s Talk about Aging Parents - A real Life Guide to Solving Problems with 27 Essential Conversations, by Laura Tamblyn Watts
When your Aging Parent Needs Help - A geritrician’s step-by-step guide to memory loss, resistance, safety worries, and more. by Leslie Kernisan and Paula Spencer Scott
Working Daughter: A Guide to Caring for Your Aging Parents While Making a Living, by Liz O'Donnell (Author)
I’m Still Here, John Zeisel, Ph.D.
Forget Me Not, Debra Kostiw
Where The Light Gets In, Kimberly Williams-Paisley
Nana Nana , Nate Bertone (children’s book)
The Invisible Patient, Annalee Kruger
Alzheimer's Books
The following books are only a few of many that discuss Alzheimer's disease and its effect on individuals, families, and society.
A Better Way of Dying written by a physician Dr. Jeanne Fitzpatrick and a lawyer Dr. Eileen Fitzpatrick and published by Penguin Books in 2010 provides a framework for the difficult ethical and legal problems encountered in end-of-life care. It contains useful information about how to put in writing end-of-life wishes and defines terms that are often used interchangeably but have different ethical and legal meanings.
Alzheimer's in America: The Shriver Report on Women and Alzheimer's is a compilation of essays and reports edited by Maria Shriver and the Alzheimer's Association published by Simon and Shuster in 2011. It discusses the latest Alzheimer research on prevention and cure, and most importantly examines the effect of caregiving on society and in particular women who are the primary caregivers for all older adults who need help in living independently.
Inside Alzheimer's: How to Hear and Honor Connections with a Person who has Dementia was written by Nancy Pearce a licensed medical social worker who specializes in working with persons with dementia. It was published in 2007 by Forrason Press in Taylors, SC. It contains Ms. Pearce's personal experiences over the course of her practice career and her teaching.
Passages in Caregiving by Gail Sheehy was published in 2010 by William Morrow and describes her caregiving journey during the time her husband was treated for terminal cancer. Like Kubler-Ross' stages of grief, Sheehy sketches out the passage from disbelief and shock to acceptance. It is a personal account of the toll of caregiving for those we love who cannot care for themselves as life ends. There is also a chapter on dementia. The appendix to this book contains many helpful resources for use by caregivers.
Still Alice (2008) by Lisa Genova, published by Pocket Books, is the story of Alice Howard, a Harvard psychology professor, who first shows signs of Alzheimer's disease when she loses her Blackberry, gets lost on familiar routes, and forgets appointments. The story is told from Alice's point of view. This book is also available as a sound recording (CD).
The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimer's was written by David Strenk in 2001 and published by Anchor Books. It was made into a documentary by Public Broadcasting Company. Both the book and the television documentary discuss the disease's causes, course, and treatment and its effect on people, and their families.
The 36 Hour Day: A family Guide to Caring for People with Alzheimer's disease, other Dementias, and Memory Loss in Later Life (2006) is the fourth edition of a book written by Nancy L. Mace and Peter V. Rabins published by Johns Hopkins University Press. It is considered an excellent source for information about family caregiving.
The Troubled Man (2011) was written by Henning Mankel and tells the story of Kurt Wallender, a talented policeman, whose last case is marred by Kurt's inexplicable lapses of memory. As he struggles with solving a complicated and intellectually challenging crime, he begins to understand that something is not right with the way his brain is functioning.
Videos
Amy Cameron Rourke - Author of the Fragile Years: Amy O’Rourke has worked in the field of aging since high school. She volunteered in nursing homes in high school, and upon college graduation worked for seven years as an activities director in nursing homes and continuing care retirement communities. After graduate school, she became an administrator of health services and a licensed nursing home administrator in a continuing care retirement community for nine years. She owned and operated The Cameron Group, a full-service care management company, for twenty years and is currently working as director of care management for Arosa and owner of O’Rourke and Associates, a public benefits specialist company. She is a recipient of the Entrepreneur of the Year award, a TEDx speaker, and the former president of the Aging Life Care Association. A powerful speaker who’s YouTube channel helps caregivers help to become partners with parents and loved ones during the aging process. - Link to YouTube Channel
Pamela D Wilson Website: Pamela Wilson is a caregiving expert, advocate, and speaker who offers subject matter expertise and support to family caregivers, professionals, and organizations. Since 1999, Pamela has provided direct service to families, individuals, caregivers, clinical and social care providers, insurance professionals, elder law and estate planning attorneys, and financial and wealth planners. Her subject matter expertise is in critical and post-acute care, long-term care, care management, care navigation, caregiver support, elder care, legal and financial appointments, and estate administration.
Pamela Wilson’s Caregiver’s Library offers a Youtube channel with videos on a variety of relevant topics, that provides solutions not advertisements on products. LINK
Alzheimer's Videos
A search of the Internet will reveal the many numbers of films and documentaries on Alzheimer's disease that have been made over the last several decades. The following is a sample of documentaries available on PBS, HBO, and other TV channels, and a few of the commercial films, which reveal the struggles of people and caregivers as Alzheimer's disease takes over their lives.
Alive Inside (2014) is a documentary that explores the healing power of music. It follows numerous visionaries in healthcare including social worker Dan Cohen, founder of the nonprofit organization Music & Memory, as he fights against a broken healthcare system to demonstrate music’s ability to combat memory loss and restore a deep sense of self.
Alzheimer's Disease: Facing the Facts (2009) is a documentary about Alzheimer's disease including current research and the problems in funding.
Alzheimer's: Every Moment Counts (2017) is a PBS documentary meant to be urgent wake-up call about the national threat posed by Alzheimer’s disease, one of the most critical public health crises facing America. The film illuminates the social and economic consequences for the country unless a medical breakthrough is discovered.
Away from Her (2006) directed by Sarah Pollay is a film about a woman who turns away from her husband and marriage as her symptoms of Alzheimer's disease worsen and she enters a long-term care facility. Available on DVD.
Can Alzheimer's be Stopped? (2016). A Nova production that aired on April 13, 2016 on PBS that discusses the biology and chemistry of the disease and the latest research findings.
Iris (1990) directed by Richard Eyre follows the true events of Iris Murdock, an intellectual, philosopher, and novelist who loses all sense of herself as she moves through the stages of Alzheimer's disease. The portrait of a marriage under stress is handled well. Available on DVD.
Iron Lady (2012) stars Meryl Streep in a portrait of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's struggle with dementia in the years after resigning from Parliament in 1990. Available on Blue Ray and DVD.
Poetry (2010) directed by Chang-dong Lee is the story of a South Korean grandmother who is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, but because of life's circumstances must find her way toward solving the problems of a wayward grandson and an indifferent daughter by herself. She does it through poetry, compassion, and determination to live life fully despite her encroaching symptoms. Available on DVD.
Still Alice (2014) is a movie based on the novel Still Alice. It is available in DVD for rent or from Netflix and streaming.
The Alzheimer's Project (2009). Produced by HBO is based on the work done by Maria Shriver and the Alzheimer's Association containing a number of essays by people directly affected by the disease and experts in the treatment and study of this disease. The project includes four documentaries and 15 short films.
The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimer's (2004) is described under books and can be seen on the PBS Website and is available in a DVD.
Websites/Articles
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