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Lessons From A Caregiver: Caring for an Elder with Love and Compassion
 
Manufacturer: Gibbs Smith
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Product Description
How an elderly loved one is treated and cared for is a main concern of relatives and health care professionals around the globe. In Lessons from a Caregiver, Laurel Wicks shows how focusing on the older person's comfort, happiness, and serenity is not only good for the elder but also a less stressful way for the caregiver to manage the elder's care.

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Video Reviews
Nursing Profession : Support for Caregivers of the Elderly

Customer Reviews
Comforting
 
Review Date: January 27, 2010
Reviewer: Rebecca Johnson, Washington State
"Lessons from a Caregiver" is a comforting book filled with hints and tips on making caring for an elder easier to handle. What I liked most about this book was that it covers many details other books fail to mention. Like Laurel A. Wicks recommends that you keep a log book. I thought this was very helpful especially when many people are involved in the care. Some of the other topics she addresses include:

Keeping a Calendar of important events
Caring for Pets
Making the house safe - especially bathrooms
Using personal alarm devices
Learning about medications
Creating personal routines
Planning nutritious meals
Hospice Care
Respecting the elder's wishes

When my grandmother was sick after a heart attack we made up a chart for all her medications. It is amazing how many medications elders have to take and it can be confusing without some sort of organization.

This book is practical and helpful and I can recommend it to anyone involved in caring for an elder, whether at home or in a hospital.

~The Rebecca Review
Accessible manual for elder care
 
Review Date: January 11, 2010
Reviewer: Johanna Love, Jackson Hole, WY
Most people enter the role of caregiver out of necessity rather than desire. Being thrown into an elderly person's life headfirst isn't easy for the caregiver or the patient.

Laurel "Bru" Wicks, who has been taking care of elderly clients for almost a decade, has written a primer for those overwhelmed by their new role. Lessons from a Caregiver would also be good reading for anyone who can see a caregiving role in their future, or who hires out the care of a family member. Oh, heck, it's interesting information for almost anyone.

Wicks, 61, came into caregiving "through the kitchen door," as she says in the introduction to her lovely book. She was hired to prepare meals for someone, but gradually took on a larger role of nurturing until she was in charge of every aspect of the person's household and personal care.

She wrote the book because nothing like it was available, Wicks said.

"It was really amazing how doctors or the oncology department seemed to send inquiries my way," Wicks said. "When I looked at other books that had to do with elder care,there was a lot of medical advice, big thick tomes, but there wasn't a straightforward, simple, accesible book (read: small and cheap), an avenue that says `You can do this.'"

Chapters detail living in another person's household, safety, doctors and finances, activities, personal care, nutrition (complete with Wicks' simple recipes), caring for yourself as well, accepting the process of death, carrying out final wishes and the future of elder care. There's even an addendum of additional resources.

"It pretty much shows people how to be an advocate," Wicks said. "It brings up possibilities, helps put people's panic level down."

The book is written in Wicks' familiar, easygoing style. One of the best parts about it are the anecdotes that accompany each chapter, giving creative solutions to typical quandaries. One demented elderly man couldn't be kept from chanting "I want to go home." So his caregivers packed him a bag, took him on a drive, and when he asked where they were going, they said "Home," of course. The solution lasted a few weeks before requiring repetition.
((This review originally appeared in the Jackson Hole News&Guide.))
a go-to reference with a light touch
 
Review Date: September 1, 2009
Reviewer: daffodis and daylilies, Minnetonka, MN United States
I wish I had had this book when my father was still alive. It would have made life so much easier for our whole family. From choosing delectable foods to emergency preparedness, from playing Mahjong to carrying out last wishes, from practical tips to giving caregivers permission to be creative and/or muddle through as best we can: Wicks covers the gamut with wit and wisdom. Extremely informative and extremely reassuring.

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