In this book, an award-winning journalist tells the story of people devising innovative ways to live as they approach retirement, options that ensure they are surrounded by a circle of friends, family, and neighbors. Based on visits and interviews at many communities around the country, Beth Baker weaves a rich tapestry of grassroots alternatives, some of them surprisingly affordable

-- an affordable mobile home cooperative in small-town Oregon

-- a senior artists colony in Los Angeles

-- neighbors helping neighbors in "Villages" or "naturally occurring retirement communities"

-- intentional cohousing communities

-- best friends moving in together

-- multigenerational families that balance togetherness and privacy

-- niche communities including such diverse groups as retired postal workers, gays and lesbians, and Zen Buddhists.

Drawing on new research showing the importance of social support to healthy aging and the risks associated with loneliness and isolation, the author encourages the reader to plan for a future with strong connections. Baker explores whether individuals in declining health can really stay rooted in their communities through the end of life and concludes by examining the challenge of expanding the home-care workforce and the potential of new technologies like webcams and assistive robots.

This book is the recipient of the annual Norman L. and Roselea J. Goldberg Prize for the best project in the area of medicine.

A diagnosis of dementia can be frightening for those affected by the syndrome, their family members, and caretakers. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia in those over the age of 65. As many as 5 million Americans age 65 and older may have AD, and that number is expected to double for every 5-year interval beyond age 65. But Alzheimer's is only one of many dementia disorders; another 1.8 million people in the U.S. have some other form of dementia. Among all people with dementia, many are believed to have a mixed type of dementia that can involve more than one of the disorders. This book provides a general overview of various types of dementia, describes how the disorders are diagnosed and treated, and offers highlights of research that is supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institute on Aging, both part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

How do you ensure the best possible care for the elders in your life? This is the question Carol Chiarito asked when she began the process of finding an assisted living community for her mother, Doris. But everywhere she looked, she was confronted with meaningless jargon and a deluge of information that was often difficult to understand. When Carol couldn't find a clear, practical guide to consumer-centered eldercare, she wrote her own. It's As Simple As Where You Live: A Guide for Beginning the Journey Through Eldercare offers invaluable tips, guidelines, and strategies for people navigating this important life change. Whether you are caring for both parents, just Mom or Dad, or a beloved grandparent, aunt, uncle, or family friend; whether you have siblings to share the responsibility or are the sole caretaker; whether you live in New York City or San Francisco, Toronto or San Antonio; whether your elder is a thousand miles away, down the street, or in your own home-there are elements of the journey we all share. This book will introduce you to a community of people who are on the same path, and who have found the answers they were seeking. Aging is inevitable. But aging with grace and dignity, in a warm and loving community, is a choice. At the end of the day, it's as simple as where you live.

This book explores specific theories on ageing grounded through examination of several issues in social welfare. The book will review different understandings of becoming and being old and how these have been reflected in society in general and social policy in particular. The text aims to explore current debates about ageing populations as well as to understand issues affecting individual older people. A key focus is the crucial relationship between old age and the welfare state, to a large extent concerned with the provision of support to older people. It attempts to understand and evaluate these important welfare issues by exploring conceptual coverage derived from both macro and micro theories of ageing.

The topic of communication in elderly care is becoming ever more pressing, with an aging world population and burgeoning numbers of people needing care. This book looks at this critical but underanalyzed area. It examines the way people talk to each other in eldercare settings from an interdisciplinary and globally cross-cultural perspective. The small body of available research points to eldercare communication taking place with its own specific conditions and contexts. Often, there is the presence of various mental/physical ailments on the part of the care receivers, scarcity of time, resources and/or flexibility on the part of the care givers, and a mutual necessity of providing/receiving assistance with intimate personal activities. The book combines theory and practice, with linguistically informed analysis of real-life interaction in eldercare settings across the world. Each chapter closes with a "Practical Recommendations" section that contains suggestions on how communication in eldercare can be improved. This book is an important and timely publication that will appeal to researchers and carers alike.

Sandra Gaffney entered her first nursing home for long-term care at the unusually young age of fifty. Fourteen years earlier she had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Over the next sixteen years, Gaffney lived in nursing homes in Florida, Virginia, and Minnesota, as the ways she could be close to family changed.

She describes her situation in these words: "As a nursing home resident, I require total or maximum care. I have limited use of my hands and arms. With special splints, I am able to turn the pages of my books, use the telephone and TV/VCR/FM radio remote control. When my cup is positioned properly, I can drink independently. I am able to walk with a platform walker and the help of two nursing assistants. My walking is not functional; it is only for exercise. After I moved into my third nursing home, I learned to operate a power wheelchair by using an adaptive switch between my knees. ... All other areas of physical care have to be done for me. My speech is impaired. If people listen carefully, they can understand what I am saying. ... I am able to eat regular food and breathe on my own."

Gaffney became an acute observer and strategist about how to live in a nursing home. Her first-person account, dictated to family members and assistants, covers making the decision to enter a nursing home, choosing the right one, and understanding its culture. She talks about how to furnish your room and about all the issues that arise in a resident's typical day. She has much to say about communication with staff and family about "how to help others help me." Gaffney's daughters, Amy and Bridget, and her friend Ellen Potter provide additional perspectives on the caregiving experience.

Sandra Gaffney entered her first nursing home for long-term care at the unusually young age of fifty. Fourteen years earlier she had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Over the next sixteen years, Gaffney lived in nursing homes in Florida, Virginia, and Minnesota, as the ways she could be close to family changed.

She describes her situation in these words: "As a nursing home resident, I require total or maximum care. I have limited use of my hands and arms. With special splints, I am able to turn the pages of my books, use the telephone and TV/VCR/FM radio remote control. When my cup is positioned properly, I can drink independently. I am able to walk with a platform walker and the help of two nursing assistants. My walking is not functional; it is only for exercise. After I moved into my third nursing home, I learned to operate a power wheelchair by using an adaptive switch between my knees. ... All other areas of physical care have to be done for me. My speech is impaired. If people listen carefully, they can understand what I am saying. ... I am able to eat regular food and breathe on my own."

Gaffney became an acute observer and strategist about how to live in a nursing home. Her first-person account, dictated to family members and assistants, covers making the decision to enter a nursing home, choosing the right one, and understanding its culture. She talks about how to furnish your room and about all the issues that arise in a resident's typical day. She has much to say about communication with staff and family about "how to help others help me." Gaffney's daughters, Amy and Bridget, and her friend Ellen Potter provide additional perspectives on the caregiving experience.

Geropsychology-the field of psychology concerned with the psychological, behavioral, biological, and social aspects of aging-has developed repidly in the past two decades, in response to the ever increasing aging population worldwide. This clinical casebook describes current best practice in managing complex cases involving common mental health issues in later life. It includes chapters by leading authorities in the field-experienced practitioners, researchers, and educators-who address contemporary issues in clinical work with older adults. It will be useful for clinicians wishing to update their practice, educators looking for case material to enrich their didactic courses, and students and practitioners new to working with older adults seeking guidance in approaching casework with this population. The book spans the international arena of practice, illustrating both universal themes in clinical work as well as regional practice issues that can inform health professionals more broadly. Each chapter is designed to inform the reader about the rich context in which clinical work occurs, including how the setting, the therapist's approach, and the nature of the problem interact to influence outcomes. Throughout, the cases have been carefully chosen to reflect archetypal scenarios and provide practical, empirically informed guidance for assessment, formulation, and formulation, and interventions. The cases deal with complex issues of diagnosis and formulation, assessment and intervention techniques, ethical and legal issues, and interdisciplinary perspectives that will appeal to a wide range of mental health professionals. The text provides points for reflection from the cases, as well as key references in the area, with an emphasis on current issues and theoretical perspectives. Providing a range of expertise in a single source, the Casebook of Clinical Geropsychology is an invaluable resource for anyone concerned with the mental health needs of older people.

Being old is different in many ways: different from what we anticipated in younger years, different from other chapters in our lives, and, nowadays, different from what it has been in the past. Above all, is a totally new individual experience and different for each person. To look at the complexity of these differences is the aim of this book. In "Being Old is Different" some basic person-centred principles and their implementation in everyday care are described; the themes that become relevant in the last chapters of life, and their impact on care for old people, are highlighted.The book aims to demonstrate why the Person-Centred Approach is particularly useful in this field; how it can be transferred into practice; how it helps to improve the life quality of old people and, at the same time, make work more satisfying for carers. Marlis Portner's book is not about specific nursing or therapy methods but about fundamental principles, which are valuable in different areas of care. The term 'carer', therefore, is used here for all those who, professionally or voluntarily, work with old people, and the term 'care' embraces nursing as well as therapeutic and supportive activities.

A candid, humane, and improbably humorous look at the world of eldercare
In nursing homes across the country, members of the Greatest Generation are living out their last days. Life is a succession of pokes and prods, medications, TV, bingo, and, possibly, talking to Ira Rosofsky. With a compassionate eye but mordant wit, Rosofsky, a psychologist charged with gauging the mental health of his elders, reveals a culture based not in the empathy of caretaking, but rather in the coolly detached bureaucracy of Medicare and Medicaid.
A portrayal of what is increasingly becoming the last slice of life for many, "Nasty, Brutish, and Long" is also a baby boomer's poignant meditation on mortality, a reflection on his caregiving for his parents' final days, and an examination of the choices that we, as a society, have made about health care for the elderly who are no longer of sound mind and body.

This book focuses on the implications of population ageing in Asia. The book discusses the differences in the magnitude of the aged population in different parts of Asia and highlights the perennial concerns of care and support facing older people and their families as Asian societies grapple with the ageing population. The array of chapters in this book substantiates these challenges and opportunities afforded to different countries in Asia in light of demographic shifts, which range from an examination of broad issues of support for the aged and policy directions in East and Southeast Asia, to specific concerns relating to older people in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Pakistan, Korea, Bangladesh and Nepal. Population ageing across these countries are experiencing increased longevity and a declining birth rate, which is becoming more prevalent. The book explains how, due to changes in population structure, ageing will alter trends in the decades ahead in Asia. This book is unique in that the research cited is not only rich on ageing experiences across Asia but is an important process in bringing together evocative, engaged and comparative insights as to how we understand complex ageing and welfare issues.

"Social Work with Older People" provides an authoritative and practical guide to working with older people in a range of settings. It addresses the complexities of individual work with older people, as well as work with families, groups and the wider community, and is not afraid to tackle the challenges as well as opportunities of practice in this area.

The book begins by explaining the demographic changes that have led to a 'greying' of the general population. It goes on to discuss the diversity in experiences of ageing across society, and the range of issues which confront older people and those who wish to work proactively with them. Clear attention is paid to the processes of assessment, care planning and review, with readers encouraged to reflect on developing good practice through case studies and exercises. Although it has a strong practical emphasis, the book also stresses the value of theoretical perspectives, with insights from fields such as sociology and psychology woven throughout the book. Clear links are also made to policy guidelines and organizational standards, without losing sight of the deeper, often more complex, issues that arise when working with older people.

"Social Work with Older People" will be essential reading for social work students and practitioners, but also for others who are interested in the development of practice with older people as citizens and service users.

The notion of quality of life has for several decades been well-established in ethical debate about health care and the care of older people. "Dignity in Care for Older People" highlights the notion of dignity within the care of the elderly, focusing on the importance of theoretical concepts.
Primarily based on a Research Project, Dignity and Older Europeans, funded by the European Commission, this book provides a thorough investigation of the concept of dignity and related concepts such as quality of life and autonomy. It includes a chapter devoted to the dignity of human embodiment, emphasizing the importance of the notion of the lived body in the context of elderly care. As a result of the conceptual study a model of dignity emerges in which four variants of dignity stand out: dignity of merit, dignity as moral status, dignity of identity and Menschenwurde (the specifically human value). From this follows a discussion of how these variants of dignity can be used in characterizing the care of the elderly. The notions of dignity and dignified care are discussed particularly in relation to demented persons and dying persons. The book also contains a chapter on the dignity of the dead person.
International in focus, "Dignity in Care for Older People" provides a contemporary discussion of the care of older people, and will be of use to qualified nurses and social care practitioners working with older people, as well as those on ethics and gerontology courses.

As the baby-boomer generation ages, nursing home care is likely to become a major social problem. New residents will put huge strains on already short staffing at a time when funding to government-assisted homes (75 percent of all nursing homes) is lower than ever.
Based on her ten years of experience working as a Licensed Practical Nurse in many care facilities, attorney Donna M. Reed shares her insider knowledge to help ensure that nursing home residents receive the best care possible. Reed focuses on the following key points:
- The legal requirements of nursing homes regarding delivery of care
- The ways in which many nursing homes regularly break these laws
- Detailed descriptions of how the typical nursing home operates
- The responsibilities of each nursing home employee
- Nursing home inspections
- Residents' rights
- How to avoid substandard care
- What actions to take to improve nursing home life
Reed's firsthand knowledge of nursing home care and her in-depth understanding of the legal requirements that protect residents offer invaluable information to readers concerned about nursing home care for a loved one.

Thirty million people today care for ailing family members in their own homes--a number that will increase dramatically over the next decade as baby boomers enter old age, as soldiers return home from war mentally and physically wounded, as medical advances extend lives and health insurance fails to cover them.

Offering both companionship and guidance to the people who find themselves caring for their intimates, "An Uncertain Inheritance" is a collection of essays from some of the country's most accomplished writers. Poignant, honest, sometimes heartbreaking, often wry, and funny, here is a book that examines caregiving from every angle, revealing the pain, intimacy, and grace inherent in this meaningful relationship.

Care Managers: Working With The Aging Family Addresses The Unmet Needs Of Care Managers Working With Aging Clients As Well As The Client's Entire Family. With Its In-Depth Focus On The " Aging Family System, This Book Fills A Gap For Medical Case Managers And Geriatric Care Managers Giving Them Tools To Better Meet The Treatment Goals Of Aging Clients And Their Families, As The Older Clients Move Through The Continuum Of Care In Institutional Based Settings Or Community Based Settings. Care Managers: Working With The Aging Family Uniquely Focuses On Helping The Entire Family Unit Through The Process Of Death And Dying, Helping Midlife Siblings To Work Together To Render Care To Aging Parents. It Adds Proven Techniques To The Care Manager Repertoire Such As Family Meetings, Forgiveness, Technology, And Care Giver Assessment. It Offers Multiple Tools To Do An Effective Care Plan So That Both The Needs Of The Family And The Older Client Are Met.

This handbook is aimed at clinicians and others who are engaged in caring for ageing adults with developmental disabilities. It is intended to inform understanding, promote assessment, assist in care planning, and especially to improve everyday living for this needy but sadly often neglected group of vulnerable individuals. The authors base their guidance on evidence, focusing on important insights that are likely to be valuable to the clinician interested in the care of the individuals on whose behalf the book has been prepared.

A brief general overview of the area is followed by a detailed consideration of dementia in the context of developmental disability, including cause, diagnosis, assessment and natural history, with case examples. The next chapters concentrate on two of the most high-profile of all the major groups of developmental disabilities, with their own unique patterns of ageing: Down syndrome and cerebral palsy. Other less common causal syndromes, and their characteristics with ageing, are then reviewed. This is followed by a detailed guide to drug treatment issues in this group. The final chapter considers wider issues of psychosocial intervention and life planning for the ageing individual with developmental disability.

This book is the British Medical Association's statement on the ethics related to care of the elderly, written and reviewed by a panel of renowned medical ethicists. As such it is an authoritative and considered reference, written in an accessible, non jargon so as to be useful for anyone charged with looking after the elderly.

The book includes useful case examples so that it can be used by a range of health professionals and carers who need to know the law and ethics of looking after older people. The authors focus on practical issues such as helping older people stick to their treatment regimes, the sort of information they should be given to give valid consent, and their rights to confidentiality, as well as discussion about where they want to end their lives when it comes to that point.

As the population of retirees between the ages of 65 and 75 continues to grow, professionals, researchers, and educators in all areas of the health care and the business sectors will require more expertise on the latest trends to make better decisions and improve systems.

Contributed by nationally recognized experts, "The Crown of Life: Dynamics of the Early Post-Retirement Period" presents some of the most important and current decision-making research describing life between the ages of 65 and 75. Topics cover many aspects and social issues of retirement including: Demographics Functioning and Well-being Aging Black Americans Late Middle Age The Impact of Work Change and Stability Health and Religiousness Social Relations Leisure Activities Male Satisfaction Everyday Life Gay Lives Retirement Community Life

For anyone interested in the key issues and current trends of this growing population, editors Jacquelyn Boone James and Paul Wink provide one of the most important and current expert collections dedicated to the Crown of Life period.

About the Series...
Now celebrating its 26th year, this series of annual reviews, established by Carl Eisdorfer, is designed to encompass the broad spectrum of concerns in aging, including psychology, biology, medicine, sociology, and public policy. The goal is to present reviews of the highest quality and to address those important questions that are salient to all gerontologists.

Alzheimer's is swiftly on the rise: it is estimated that every 67 seconds, someone develops the disease. For many, the words 'Alzheimer's disease' or 'dementia' immediately denote severe mental loss and, perhaps, madness. Indeed, the vast majority of media coverage of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other types of dementia focuses primarily on the losses experienced by people diagnosed and the terrible burden felt by care partners yearning for a "magic bullet" drug cure. Providing an accessible, question-and-answer-format primer on what touches so many lives, and yet so few of us understand, Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia: What Everyone Needs to Know (R) contributes what is urgently missing from public knowledge: unsparing investigation of their causes and manifestations, and focus on the strengths possessed by people diagnosed. Steven R. Sabat mines a large body of research to convey the genetic and biological aspects of Alzheimer's disease, its clinical history, and, most significantly, to reveal the subjective experience of those with Alzheimer's or dementia. By clarifying the terms surrounding dementia and Alzheimer's, which are two distinct conditions, Sabat corrects dangerous misconceptions that plague our understanding of memory dysfunction. People diagnosed with AD retain awareness, thinking ability, and sense of self; crucially, Sabat demonstrates that there are ways to facilitate communication even when the person with AD has great difficulty finding the words he or she wants to use. From years spent exploring and observing the points of view and experiences of people diagnosed, Sabat strives to inform as well as to remind readers of the respect and empathy owed to those diagnosed and living with dementia. Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia conveys this type of information and more, which, when applied by family and professional caregivers, will help improve the quality of life of those diagnosed as well as of those who provide support and care.

On investigative visits to nursing homes across the nation, Beth Baker has witnessed profound changes. Culture change leaders are tearing up everything -- the floor plans, the flow charts, the schedules, the lousy menus, the attitudes, the rules -- and starting from scratch. They are creating extraordinary places where people live in dignity and greet the day with contentment, assisted by employees who feel valued and appreciated. Perhaps most surprising, these homes prove that a high quality of life does not have to cost more. Some of the best homes in the nation serve primarily low-income people who are on Medicaid. In this new book, Baker tell the story of a better way to live in old age. Although each home is different, they share common values: respecting individual choices; empowering staff; fostering a strong community of elders, staff, family members, and volunteers; redesigning buildings from a hospital model to a home (where pets and children are part of everyday life); and honoring people when they die. Her visits to more than two dozen facilities include those associatd with the Eden Alternative, Green House, Kendal, and the Pioneer Network. Whether these transformational homes become the norm or the domain of a lucky few is the question that faces the next generation of elders, the baby boomers.