Hospice nurse and TikTok star Hadley Vlahos shares moving stories, life lessons and wisdom from her patients in this heart-warming memoir about how end-of-life care can teach us just as much about how to live as it does about how we die.

We don't often talk about dying, even in the medical field, but death is a universal part of life. An ardent advocate for compassionate end-of-life care, Hadley Vlahos, shows us that the end of our lives can be rich, beautiful and transformative by sharing moving stories about how her patients' final days have changed her life.

Full of insights from real people, from the woman who never once questioned her faith until she was close to death, to the older man seeing visions of his late daughter, to the young patient who laments that she spent too much of her short life worrying about what others thought of her - each story raises vital questions about living, dying and the afterlife, inspiring us to live our lives to the fullest.

What if we didn’t consider death the worst possible outcome? What if we discussed it honestly, embraced end-of-life care and prepared for the end of our lives with hope and acceptance?

In this empathetic and knowledgeable guide, TikTok star Julie McFadden – known online as ‘Hospice Nurse Julie’ – shares the valuable lessons she’s learned in her fifteen years as a palliative care nurse. Expertly weaving emotional insight with practical advice, you’ll find out:

• which medical interventions help and which make things worse
• facts and myths about hospice care
• the most important conversations to have before you die
• the many inexplicable and fascinating deathbed experiences people have
• how to navigate the grieving journey, before and after death

Set to become a go-to resource for years to come, Nothing to Fear shows how a better death goes hand-in-hand with a better life.

Working Daughter is a revelatory look at who's caring for our aging population and how these unpaid family caregivers are trying to manage caring for their parents, raising their children, maintaining relationships, and pursuing their careers. It follows the author, who was enjoying a fast-paced career in marketing and raising two children when both of her parents were diagnosed with terminal illnesses on the same day. In the challenges she faced and the choices she made, readers will learn how they can navigate their own caregiving experiences and prepare for when they are inevitably called on to care for their parents.

Becoming a carer can be a physically and emotionally exhausting task and although there is help available many carers do not have the time to look for it or know who to contact. This indispensable guide aims to be a one-stop-shop for the huge percentage of the population who, now or later, find themselves in a caring role, whether that involves shopping for a housebound neighbour, or giving up work to care full-time for a disabled child or confused parent. This book will also help carers care for themselves. It looks at the difficult feelings that go hand in hand with caring, including how relationships are affected. There's guidance on what to do when a carer stops coping, and how to prepare emotionally and practically for the time when caring comes to an end. There is also an extensive resource section that arms carers with all the phone numbers, addresses and websites they need. Contents: Foreword; Introduction; 1. Becoming a carer; 2. Finding your way through the care maze; 3. The carer assessment; 4. Working with the professionals; 5. Money matters; 6. More on money; 7. Working careers; 8. Caring at home; 9. Healthy minds and healthy bodies; 10. How relationships are affected; 11. So, how are you feeling?; 12. Sharing the caring role; 13. Getting support for you; 14. Reviewing where you are; 15. Residential care; 16. Beyond caring; Resources; Acknowledgements; Index.

A Caregiver's Guide to Lewy Body Dementia is the first book to present a thorough picture of what Lewy body dementia really is. Combining current strategies for managing symptoms and behaviors with personal examples that connect to readers' own experiences, this is the ideal book for caregivers, family members, and friends of individuals seeking to understand the disease and provide support to their loved ones. Written in easy-to-read language, the chapters incorporate handy facts and tips throughout, definitions of key terms, and practical wisdom to help caregivers navigate the day-to-day. Links to online resources, support groups, and associations are collected at the end of the book for further reference.As a complete guide to Lewy body dementia, this revised and updated second edition includes coverage of recent research developments and topic areas of growing interest, including: Updated information on the latest drug and treatment options Brand new chapter on the psychology of dementia, explaining the ways dementia changes the brain and how caregivers can continue to relate to their loved ones Discussions of the various causes for dementia-related behaviors and responsive dementia care techniques for caregivers to follow Expanded section on alternative therapies in a new chapter dedicated to managing stress

ABOUT THIS BOOK This book is written by an insider. A hospital administrator and practitioner who participated firsthand in laying the foundation for today's collapsing heath care system. A practitioner who then went on to make radical changes in the way he practiced his profession and his philosophy of health care delivery. A practitioner who is now hell-bent on making radical changes in this disastrous health care system he helped to create 30 years ago. This book is an insider's look at the sequence of events and decisions that led to the demise of our health care system. This book is designed to educate you to:

You Don't Have to Do It Alone

Whether you're prepared for it or not, chances are you'll take on the role of caregiver when a family member or friend is affected by a serious illness or injury, or when you find your elderly parent needs help. As you'll soon discover, the range of tasks and responsibilities involved are overwhelming. "Share The Care" offers a sensible and loving solution: a unique group approach that can turn a circle of ordinary people into a powerful caregiving team. "Share The Care" shows you how to:

• Create a caregiver "family" from friends, real family members, neighbors, coworkers, and acquaintances.
• Hold a meeting to organize your group, and introduce members to the Share The Care systems that guarantee every job will be done and no one person will have to do too much.
• Discover the hidden talents within the group, make the most of their resources, cope with group issues, and stay together in the face of adversity.

Included here are valuable guidelines, compassionate suggestions, and a simple-to-use workbook section that together offer support to free the patient from worry and the caregivers from burnout. "Share The Care" offers friends and family the best answer ever to the frequently asked question "What can I do?"

Sometimes I think that carrying - other people, the continuity of history, generational identity, the emotional load of the everyday - is the main thing that women do. In Marina Benjamin's new set of interlinked essays, she turns her astute eye to the tasks once termed 'women's work'. From cooking and cleaning to caring for an ageing relative, A Little Give depicts domestic life anew: as a site of paradox and conflict, but also of solace and profound meaning. Here, productivity sits alongside self-erasure, resentment with tenderness, and the animal self is never far away, perpetually threatening to break through. Drawing on the work of figures such as Natalia Ginzburg, Paula Rego, and Virginia Woolf, Benjamin writes with fierce candour of the struggle to overwrite the gender conditioning that pulls her back into 'the mud-world of pre-feminism' even as she attempts to haul herself out. From her upbringing as the child of immigrants with fixed traditional values, to looking after her mother and seeing her teenager move out of home, she examines her relationships with family, community, her body, and even with language itself. Ultimately, she shows that a woman's true work may lie at the heart of her humanity, in the pursuit both of transformation and of deep acceptance.

""Taking Care of Barbara" is an inspirational resource book for anyone living in the world of Alzheimer's. There are clear and concise caregiver tips and references in dealing with the everyday struggles that come with the progression of the disease. What a gift to know and be able to anticipate the needs of our loved one when they may not be able to communicate them. Most importantly, this book is a celebration of family and the relationship between the caregiver and the patient. It lifts the caregiver above the everyday struggles and reminds us of where to find the strength and joy in the frequent frustrations of the day. It inspires us to love beyond the external happenings and shows us there lies a deeper and greater gain that will enrich our spirit. The world of Alzheimer's may feel overwhelming, but this book encourages caregivers to get out of bed, put their feet on the floor and face the day with renewed strength and purpose."
-Kelly Cason Hunter, Hospice Volunteer, Pediatric Nurse

Top 10 bestseller . In 2004 Stephanie Nimmo was a career-focused, suburban mother of three, happily married to the love of her life, Andy. In December that year their fourth child was born and life as Steph knew it changed dramatically. From having to give up a successful career to care for her fragile, life-limited daughter, to learning how to cope with the challenges of her sons' autism diagnoses and the cruel blow of Andy's terminal cancer, Steph learned very early on that it's not the cards you are dealt in life but how you play them. Far from being a misery memoir, Was This In The Plan?, is a frank, open and no-holds-barred account of how a family was determined not just to survive but to thrive when the odds were against them. It will make you question your own attitude to life and how you choose to respond when unexpected events throw you off course. From a family of six to four in just over a year, losing her husband to cancer and then 14 months later, her 12-year-old daughter Daisy, following life-long illness, Stephanie writes with such powerful, raw honesty that it is impossible to not be moved and inspired by her story. Resilience is a hot topic right now and Steph is the epitome of inner strength. A regular in the press opening up the conversation about death and grief.

The basic health care system in the United States is not working and must be fixed. The cost of a new, effective system of health care delivery would be instead of rather than in addition to what the US population is now paying for an inadequate, incomplete system. We must put the fiscal responsibility for health care delivery on the medical care sector that makes the decisions on what medications, what procedures and who gets treatment and when, that is, the providers of care, mostly the doctors. By doing this we can correct the more than fifty percent overpayment and misuse of funds currently in vogue. The book deals with the concept of the possibility of eventual coverage of everyone through the Medicare system as the current population ages. It explains the leverage that that single payer universal system such as Medicare, can generate to change the incentives for the providers of care resulting in a reduction of the overall cost. It also sets forth the concept of choice for the patient, the allocation of resources, and the restructuring of the medical education system as well as the recruitment and training of providers. Other problems such as organizational development, provider groups, malpractice, reinsurance through a universal system and other solutions are also dealt with. Today 45 million Americans have no health care coverage, while approximately 50 million are under insured due to high deductibles and co-payments. Many who are eligible for Medicare, federal health care insurance for the aged and Medicaid, federal health care for the poor, may be without coverage due to lack of access to services in the areas that they live. Practical solutions to these problems areaddressed. Robert Gumbiner, MD, with more than 40 years experience in the health care field as a practicing physician, a manager and a force in medical management education, derives much of his experience from successfully developing and managing one of the largest managed care companies in the United States for over 30 years. Drawing on this extensive management experience as well as years of studying health care systems around the world, Robert Gumbiner debunks the myths held by opponents to national universal health care and capitated prepayment. His development of the first capitated prepayment plan for Medical in the 60's in California and first contract for prepayment Medicare on the West Coast in the 80's gave credibility to his ideas that succeeded in reducing health care costs. He shows step-by-step how we arrived at our current dysfunctional system and argues persuasively how we have been misled by special interests in the medical/industrial complex into thinking a health care system funded through the government and managed for effective utilization will eliminate choice. In the final analysis the book's major theme is that the cost of a complete comprehensive system is "instead of and not in addition" to what we are currently paying and how to go about instituting such a system. It offers solutions that have been developed by the author throughout his long career in managing health care delivery systems. It is not a theoretical concept but based upon ideas, errors, successes and a logical, practical model.