I mentioned in my post on National Caregivers Month and my post on World Alzheimer’s Day that my sister Nancy Nicholson, LBSW, was working on a guide for Alzheimer’s caregivers.
Help! What Do I Do Now? Caring for Your Loved One with Alzheimer’s is now available in paperback from CreateSpace and will soon be available on Amazon.com. It is also available in a variety of ebook formats at Smashwords, and the Kindle edition will be online at Amazon.com within the next couple of days. Volume discounts are available, great to share with family members or members of Alzheimer’s support groups. E-mail info@lillieammann.net.
Updated: Help! What Do I Do Now?: Caring for Your Loved One with Alzheimer’s
Of course, I am just a wee bit biased, as I am Nancy’s editor and publisher as well as her sister. However, we had several other people read the manuscript and give us feedback, and the consensus was that the book is very useful. It is short and easy-to-read—caregivers don’t have a lot of time to read, but it is filled with practical tips on subjects ranging from activities of daily living to laughter and enjoyable things to do.
Nancy was one of the caregivers for our father. The experience impacted her so much that she returned to college to earn a degree in social work. She began her career as a social worker in a nursing home with many dementia patients. Currently she is a social services consultant, and one of her primary duties is to training nursing home staff on Alzheimer’s and other topics.
The guide includes stories of a variety of situations and how caregivers successfully handled them. The stories are based on actual incidents, but some are composites of several different people and situations and others are changed enough to protect the privacy of the individuals involved.
I’ll be interviewing Nancy about the book soon, but in the meantime, here’s the Table of Contents to give you an idea of the topics covered:
- PREFACE
- INTRODUCTION
- WHAT IS ALZHEIMER’S?
- Significance of Alzheimer’s
- Symptoms of Alzheimer’s
- Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease
- HOW DO I DEAL WITH ALZHEIMER’S?
- Communication
- Behaviors
- Activities of Daily Living
- Administering Medications
- Safety
- When You Can No Longer Manage
- HOW DO I MAKE THE BEST OF THIS?
- Choose Your Battles
- A Comfortable Environment and Gentle Cues
- Telling Others
- Enjoyable Things to Do
- Nurture Spirituality
- Laughter
- Taking care of yourself
- Remember Your Loved One Is Still in There Somewhere
- RESOURCES
This little book would make a great Christmas gift for someone you know who is facing the challenges of caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s!