Stepping Up: A Companion and Guide for Family Caregivers

This guide covers each and every situation that baby-boomers and caregivers face when dealing with their aged family members who are no longer able to manage their own health, finances, and the basic activities of daily living. When co-author Cenetta J. Lee was called upon to care for her two aging aunts and her mother, she spent months researching how best to recognize the signs of a loved one's change in medical, emotional, and cognitive status. She then started trying to determine exactly what steps she needed to take to ensure her family members were compassionately cared for. She was shocked at how scattered and incomplete the available information was considering the fact that so many of her peers were going through the same experience. A librarian by trade, Ms. Lee partnered with Gloria F. Carr, Ph.D., a registered nurse specializing ingeriatrics, to create an all-encompassing guide that would help caregivers recognize when it's time to ask questions or intervene on a loved one's behalf as their health begins to deteriorate. The following areas are among those discussed in this indispensable guide:

• Recognizing the symptoms of declining health.
• Caring effectively for loved ones at home and managing care outside the home
• Locating and supervising care from a distance.
• Common diseases and conditions of the elderly-strokes, cancer and dementia.
• Services available toward the end-of-life; and tasks after death.
• Essential legal documents and other tips, books, online and agency resources.

Supplemented with personal and anecdotal stories,from the medical and healthcare fields such as New England Journal of Medicine,psychosocial care material such as Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' classical works on death and dying,and nationally- known professional associations such as the American Heart Association. (Phronesis Press Trade)

STEPPING UP is the ultimate resource designed for caregivers to provide a rich knowledge base for future planning of compassionate caregiving. It integrates valid medical research, supplemented with personal stories to educate the reader on critical caregiving issues. Issues addressed include: recognizing declining health, caring effectively in the home, supervising care from a distance, understanding common diseases and conditions, services available toward the end-of-life, coping after death, essential legal documents, and online resources.