Ask Americans what concerns them most, and the answer invariably will be the cost and quality of their health care. That is, if they have coverage at all. And yet, aside from short-lived effort on behalf of universal health care by Hillary Clinton during the beginning of the Clinton administration, the average American has no idea what can be done. Though there have been numerous publications on health care reform over the last few years, most have been academically oriented, targeted to a professional audience, and too technical and confusing for the average person. Dr. Fouad Michael, a hugely successful physician, who retired at the peak of his career to work for health care reform, outlines clearly and concisely how our present system of health care operates, the reasons it doesn't work, and the best possible solution. This book speaks to the reader on a level and in language that he or she can understand. Dr. Michael brings a unique perspective to the problem with his bicultural knowledge, having worked in two different types of medical care systems, Egypt and the US. Back in Egypt, he experienced firsthand the socialist revolution of the sixties and studied and practiced medicine in a national health care system with all its flows and ambitions. He practiced medicine in the US for more than three decades and witnessed the transformation from the fee-for-service system to the managed care revolution. Over the years, his interest in health care reform developed hand in hand with his own experience. Dr. Michael takes the reader through the failings of the fee-for-service and the managed care systems, using countless examples of his own patients' experiences, ones that the reader will easily identify with. He then outlines the solution: a single payer system modeled on the five principles of the Canadian system, which would serve as a basis for a US model.

Today's HMOs come into a great deal of criticism, yet few people understand their inner workings. This book describes how they operate and why they elicit such criticism. Written with the general public in mind, it gives an overview of the current situation, a history of the HMO industry and how they function, how the federal government got involved, how and why the early models failed, how the large for-profit HMOs entered the picture and how they work, and their impact on the national health care scene. It also presents recommendations on what should be done to provide consumer protection. Finally, it gives users and potential users recommendations, and physicians and other health care provider's recommendations, before becoming involved with HMOs.

In 1999 Anne Morrow Lindbergh, the famed aviator and author, moved from her home in Connecticut to the farm in Vermont where her daughter, Reeve, and Reeve's family live. Mrs. Lindbergh was in her nineties and had been rendered nearly speechless years earlier by a series of small strokes that also left her frail and dependent on others for her care. As an accomplished author who had learned to write in part by reading her mother's many books, Reeve was deeply saddened and frustrated by her inability to communicate with her mother, a woman long recognized in her family and throughout the world as a gifted communicator.

No More Words is a moving and compassionate memoir of the final seventeen months of Reeve's mother's life. Reeve writes with great sensitivity and sympathy for her mother's plight, while also analyzing her own conflicting feelings. Anyone who has had to care for an elderly parent disabled by Alzheimer's or stroke will understand immediately the heartache and anguish Reeve suffered and will find comfort in her story.

According to the Alzheimer's Association, one in ten persons over sixty-five and nearly half of those over eighty-five have Alzheimer's disease. Today, 4 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease. In a national survey, 19 million Americans said they have a family member with the ailment, and 37 million said they knew someone who had it. But when Rosette Teitel found herself in the role of caregiver to her ailing husband, she could find no books that answered her practical needs: How do you give a 170-pound man a shower? How do you pick him up when he falls? What should you anticipate as the disease progresses? What support networks are available? When is it time to consider a nursing home and how do you find one?

While many Alzheimer's disease books focus on the disease and the patient, Teitel draws on her own experience -- as well as that of a clinical psychologist, a coordinator of an Alzheimer's program at a community center, members of the Alzheimer's Foundation, a research psychologist, an elder-law attorney, and a neurologist -- to tackle subjects rarely dealt with in other self-help books. Teitel covers topics such as managing the expenses of long-term care through Medicaid, estate planning, and preparing for the patient's death and the loss of someone whose daily survival has been at the center of one's existence. The chapters deal with background information on diagnosis, treatment, and the progression of the disease; the physical and emotional changes and resources involved with the day-to-day caregiving; support networks; nursing homes; finances; death of the patient; grief, mourning, and life after the patient's death; and interviews with children caring for parents withAlzheimer's disease. In addition, Teitel provides a helpful list of frequently asked questions, scheduling and memory aids, and websites where readers can find resources.

A comprehensive guide on how to be a chief partner in your health care team, and how to prepare for a medical office visit to receive world class care. Includes a lifetime preventative health care guide for newborns, children and adults.

Whether you or someone close to you has received a terminal diagnosis -- this period of time can be a final gift.

Guidance for the patient

You've been terminally diagnosed, and you need advice to help you make the best of the situation and the time you have left. Here's guidance, including:
-- Emotional adjustment
-- Medical care
-- Hospital vs. home care
-- Legal and financial arrangements
-- Saying goodbye

Support for the caregiver

As a caregiver to someone who is terminally ill, you can be a guiding light. June's practical advice for the caregiver's role will simplify the process. Some helpful topics are:
-- Honest communication
-- Listening skills
-- Physical support
-- Caring for yourself -- avoiding burnout
-- Final arrangements

These first-person accounts portray, with thoughtfulness and clarity, a wide range of caregiver experiences: the possibility of deepening relationships; the opportunity for forgiveness; the ability to reach out and to look within to find strength; the sorrow of watching a parent grow old; and the chance to say goodbye.

Taking Care of Finances While Taking Care of a Loved One

Caregivers face a unique set of challenges, including managing money matters. This indispensable new guide provides a sound action plan for overcoming this formidable hurdle, offering practical information, helpful tips, and invaluable advice on how to successfully juggle personal finances with the cost of caring for a loved one.

"A clear map through the many mazes of caregiving issues, with information on how they will affect the caregiver, the care recipient, and their families. Guidance, good counsel, and help for all caregivers, from those thinking about caregiving to those just starting and those who are veterans." —Louise G. Fradkin, cofounder, Children of Aging Parents.

"If you find yourself in the role of caregiver to a loved one, The Cost of Caring is an excellent tool. Not only do the authors go through the ABCs of what you need to do and when, they provide you with specific resources that can help you each step of the way. I will highly recommend it to my clients." —Mark Spangler, CFP, Former Chairman of the Board, National Association of Personal Financial Advisors.

When this book was first published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 1994, the US health care system was in crisis. In the decade or so since the situation has become worse. Weissman (medicine and health care policy, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School) and Epstein (health policy and management, Harvard U. School of Public

An indispensable guide to every aspect of at-home care This thoroughly practical guide details the daily routines and unique concerns that are essential to quality at-home care of people with AIDS. From setting up a safe and comfortable environment to making medical and legal choices and solving emotional problems, each vital issue is covered in depth. Every caregiver and person with AIDS will benefit from this supportive, comprehensive resource.

• Detailed information on protecting against infection
• Concise instructions for both ambulatory and bedridden patients
• How to administer intravenous feedings and medication
• Appendices covering lab tests, alternative therapies, and the latest experimental drugs
• The differences between caring for men and women with AIDS
• Tips for caregivers on maintaining their own health and well-being

Overwhelmed by handling your aging loved one's affairs? Is your parents' estate in good order? Do you know what their wishes are and how you can honor them? Are you struggling with where your parent can be best cared for following a hospital stay? Are you feeling guilty or manipulated by your family? Using real life examples, Aging in Place is instrumental in promoting healthy family discourse on these important topics. Mary Mashburn discusses the roadblocks and pitfalls you and your family might encounter, explains many useful planning techniques, and provides information on local and national resources. Whether in the midst of a crisis or just beginning to discuss options with loved ones, you gain valuable insight and information that guides you and your family toward making the best choices that fit your unique situation. Rather than offering a magic wand to make the difficulties of aging disappear, Aging in Place offers useful information to make decisions that provide peace and strength as those who are aging and their loved ones face these challenges together.

Namaste Care is a therapeutic approach to caring for those living with advanced dementia, focused on improving their quality of life through a simple, soothing and rewarding process. This step-by-step guide is for anyone looking to translate the principles of the Namaste Care approach successfully and professionally into a home or care setting, with an emphasis on the value of volunteers in the community in implementing this. The Namaste Care approach is focussed on giving comfort and pleasure to people with advanced dementia through sensory stimulation, especially the use of touch, and this book provides extensive guidance on every stage of the process, including harnessing community interest, recruiting and training volunteers, and managing pain and discomfort. In a time of ever-growing strain on healthcare resources, this practical guide is a timely reminder of the power and value of informal care and compassionate communities in helping to care better for people with dementia, and is essential reading for carers, professionals and family members.

'Uplifting and honest, [Tender is] about resilience and learning to look after oneself so as to be better able to care for others.' KATE MOSSE 'A beautiful and important book that is both deeply engaging and usefully practical. I loved it.' CATHY RENTZENBRINK 'An insightful and well-timed book ... forces us to confront the stereotypes - and prejudices - we hold.' SUNDAY TIMES 'profoundly important...full of wisdom and bright insights on what it really means to love someone, by a fearless and generous writer. ' CLOVER STROUD 'A beautiful and timely reminder that each and every one of us has the ability to care, the capacity for empathy, and the potential to grow.' ANDY PUDDICOMBE, FOUNDER OF HEADSPACE 'A wonderful book: compassionate, honest, carefully-reasoned and genuinely helpful... This will benefit many people.' KATHERINE MAY, author of WINTERING 'An invaluable tool for any invisible carers or anyone who wants to learn how to better support their loved ones... we ALL have many, many things to learn from Penny's beautiful, wise, charming, thoughtful words' - SCARLETT CURTIS, Sunday Times bestselling author 'Moving and beautifully written, nuanced and wise, alert to every paradox at the heart of love. A hugely important book not only for current or future carers, but anyone learning to accept that life tends to resist our control.' - OLIVIA SUDJIC, author of EXPOSURE 'Tender captures the powerful capacity of people to care for others, and all the heartbreaking and heartwarming complexity that this involves. Penny brings the crucial, yet often overlooked, role of caring into our collective consciousness and, in doing so, demonstrates what it means to be human.' -DR EMMA HEPBURN, author of A TOOLKIT FOR MODERN LIFE 'Penny Wincer's TENDER manages to combine both unromanticised honesty about the realities of care with a genuine uplifting hopefulness... is a must-read.'- RUTH WHIPPMAN, author of THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS We are all likely - at some point in our lives - to face the prospect of caring for another, whether it's a parent, child or partner. It is estimated that there are 7 million people in the UK caring for loved ones. And yet these are the unpaid, unsung people whose number is rising all the time. In Tender: the imperfect art of caring, Penny Wincer combines her own experiences as a carer with the experiences of others to offer real and transformative tools and insights for navigating a situation that many of us are either facing or will face at some time. Penny Wincer has twice been a carer: first to her mother, and now as a single parent to her autistic son. Tender shows how looking after oneself is a fundamental part of caring for another, and describes the qualities that we can look to cultivate in ourselves through what may otherwise feel to be an exhausting task. Weaving her lived experience with research into resilience, perfectionism and self-compassion, Penny combines the stories of other carers alongside those who receive support - offering an often surprising and hopeful perspective. Penny hosts a podcast Not Too Busy To Write.

Breastfeeding rarely conforms to the idealized Madonna-and-baby image seen in old artwork, now re-cast in celebrity breastfeeding photo spreads and pro-breastfeeding ad campaigns. The personal accounts in Others' Milk illustrate just how messy and challenging and unpredictable it can be-an uncomfortable reality in the contemporary context of high-stakes motherhood in which "successful" breastfeeding proves one's maternal mettle. Exceptional breastfeeders find creative ways to feed and care for their children-such as by inducing lactation, sharing milk, or exclusively pumping. They want to adhere to the societal ideal of giving them "the best" but sometimes have to face off with dogmatic authorities in order to do so. Kristin J. Wilson argues that while breastfeeding is never going to be the feasible choice for everyone, it should be accessible to anyone.

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.

A practical, empowering guide to navigating your partner's diagnosis of a terminal or life-limiting illness, or death. Receiving the news that your partner has a terminal or life-limiting illness, or has died unexpectedly, is among the worst experiences in life. At a time when you are least able to cope, you are faced with a multitude of difficult decisions, some of which must be made quickly. What you need is a friend who has experienced everything you are about to face, who can support you as you navigate some tough, important choices. This book is that friend. There is plenty of information out there but where to start looking? What information is needed and how can it be accessed? What decisions are essential in the immediate term and what can be left until later? Throughout the book, the emphasis is on protecting and supporting those left behind by presenting almost every choice you may need to make and the possible implications of each decision. You will learn: - The importance of creating a will, arranging power of attorney, organising advanced decisions of treatment, and even getting married or entering a civil partnership - What you are entitled to from the state, the NHS and your employer - How to stabilise your finances and prepare to run a household alone - Where your partner ought to be during treatment and/or palliative care, and how to go about achieving this - Which decisions need to be made after death, from planning the funeral to accessing your partner's estate - How to navigate the grieving process and take control of a happy future No matter where you are in the process, How to Survive Losing a Loved One is a comprehensive, practical and empowering guide to coping with your partner's terminal illness and death, and building the next chapter in your life.