The Gift of Caring: Saving Our Parents from the Perils of Modern Healthcare

by Marcy Cottrell Houle M.S., Elizabeth Eckstrom M.D. M.P.H., Jennie Chin Hansen (Foreword by)

Overview

The desire to help our elders navigate health issues is clear and universal—how to assure proper care and a good ending is not. Combining adroit storytelling skills with expert advice, The Gift of Caring: Saving Our Parents from the Perils of Modern Healthcare brings the reader into all-too-familiar scenarios facing our aging parents and offers answers to questions we may not know to ask until it’s too late.

Author and biologist Marcy Houle shares her personal journey of caring for her father, a surgeon, who developed Alzheimer’s, and later her mother, who succumbed to other medical conditions. Like many children of aging parents, Marcy often felt powerless traveling this sad trajectory—watching them fall through the cracks of a fragmented and confusing healthcare system, where professionals often wrote off their symptoms as “just old age.” Not having the understanding of the changes that come with aging, she was led to believe there was nothing she could do to help.

The tragic secret? According to coauthor and geriatrics physician Elizabeth Eckstrom, these symptoms frequently are not “just old age.” Rather, the problem is that the current healthcare delivery model for older people is ill-equipped to provide the comprehensive, person-centered care seniors need. Today, thousands of aging people face unnecessary suffering, hospitalizations, nursing home stays, and even death due to complications that could have been prevented or treated. Even more troubling, many healthcare professionals have had little or no training in the care of older adults.

The Gift of Caring reveals these pitfalls and provides families with tools they can use to avoid them. Interspersed with every few chapters of Marcy’s riveting story, Dr. Eckstrom shares professional medical insights, compiled from the latest research, into what Marcy could have done to safeguard her parents. She shows us how to navigate the system, how we can become our loved one’s best advocate, and what we need to know to achieve healthy aging and meaningful, compassionate final years.

Honest, at times humorous, and ultimately uplifting, The Gift of Caring sheds new light on aging from twin perspectives: a story of a daughter desperately seeking help for the parents she loves, and a geriatrician who gives us the knowledge we need to insist upon a better way.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781630760984
Publisher:	Taylor Trade Publishing
Publication date:	07/01/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	559 KB

About the Author

Marcy Cottrell Houle, MS, is a biologist and award-winning author. Her book Wings for My Flight won the prestigious Christopher Medal and The Prairie Keepers was a New York Times Notable Book and a Booklist Editor’s Choice. She has published articles in the New York Times, Reader’s Digest, and Nature Conservancy Magazine, and has been featured on NPR and national television programs and in periodical reviews. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH, is director of geriatrics in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) and cofounder of the OHSU Healthy Aging Alliance. She has received many honors and recognition for her innovative work. In addition, Dr. Eckstrom is a sought-after national speaker and the author of numerous articles on geriatrics. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Table of Contents

Part I: The Airplane Diaries 1 Colliding Worlds 2 First Decline What I Wish I’d Known: Early Warning Signs of Dementia (Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH) 3 Panic Attack 4 Countdown to Advocacy What I Wish I’d Known: What Is Dementia, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer’s Disease. .. and How Do You Tell the Difference? (Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH) 5 A New Way of Seeing 6 Passages What I Wish I’d Known: How to Find a Good Memory Facility (Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH) 7 Montavilla Beginnings What I Wish I’d Known: Moving Day: How to Ease the Transition (Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH) 8 Dallas II 9 Visiting Hours 10 The Phone Call What I Wish I’d Known: Falls—A Leading Cause of Death in Older Adults and What You Can Do to Prevent Them (Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH) 11 Surgery for an Alzheimer’s Patient 12 It’s a Matter of Life or Death What I Wish I’d Known: A Deadly Fate with Few Symptoms—Dehydration—How to Recognize It and How to Prevent It (Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH) 13 Forsaken 14 No Man Is an Island 15 Do No Harm What I Wish I’d Known: The Problem of Pain in Dementia and Why Millions of Seniors Are Suffering (Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH) 16 Return of the Man Part II: A Good Ending 17 A Radical Prescription What I Wish I’d Known: The Best “Anti-aging” Pill of Them All (Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH) 18 No Senior Left Inside What I Wish I’d Known: The ABCs of Exercise (Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH) 19 I’m Not Cedaring; I’m Scissoring What I Wish I’d Known: How to Ensure Parents’ Wishes for Care Are Met—Before a Crisis Hits (Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH) 20 Who’s Shelby? What I Wish I’d Known: What Is a TIA? And What Do I Do If I Think My Parent Is Having One? (Elizabeth Eckstrom,MD, MPH) 21 Stories from the Fall 22 The Very Best Christmas Ever 23 Three Things What I Wish I’d Known: The Art to Aging. .. Healthfully.. . for Your Body and Your Mind (Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH) 24 I See Little Green Men What I Wish I’d Known: Come to Your Senses! The Value of Aids (Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH) 25 Delirious 26 Paging Doctor HIP! What I Wish I’d Known: What Delirium Is, and Why It’s Essential You Know How to Spot It (Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH) 27 “Sometimes It’s Better If They Never Wake Up” What I Wish I’d Known: The Most Important Medical Word That Can Save Your Parent’s Life—“Baseline” (Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH) 28 Where Old People Are Sent to Die 29 The Lazarus Syndrome 30 A Hope and a Future 31 So What’s a Geriatrician and Why Should I Care? What I Wish I’d Known: The Tsunami Is Coming. .. and Why You Should Be Worried (Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH) 32 Pharmacopeia What I Wish I’d Known: Too Many Pills—The Fourth-Leading Cause of Death in Seniors (Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH) 33 The Search Begins 34 Honey and Dummy 35 Mountains and Valleys What I Wish I’d Known: The Care and Maintenance of Caregivers (Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH) 36 Who’s Taking the Trazadone? What I Wish I’d Known: How to Get a Good Night’s Rest— Naturally (Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH) 37 The Art of Caregiving 38 Living to One Hundred 39 And They Shall Inherit the Earth 40 Go GICU! Stop Step-Down! What I Wish I’d Known: The Serious Problems of Today’s Hospitals for Older Adults—Why We Need to Demand a Change Now (Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH) 41 How to Pack for the Next Trip 42 Faithful Companion 43 Crossing the Line What I Wish I’d Known: What Is Palliative Care, and How Can It Help My Parents and Me? (Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH) 44 A Good Ending Appendix 1 The Drugs Seniors Should Not Be On but Are Too Often Prescribed, as Determined by the American Geriatric Society “Beers List” Appendix 2 Health History Sheets: What Every Senior Must Have Appendix 3 Continuity of Care: The Daily Checklist for You, Your Parent, Your Caregiver, and Your Doctor

Editorial Reviews

This is a remarkable book. The story of Marcy Houle’s family’s discovery of their father having dementia reads like a novel. So many of the reactions a family can experience during this journey are portrayed in a caring but honest light. Houle’s willingness to describe the struggles to accept the diagnosis and help her parents adjust serves as a model for other families facing this challenge. Hers is not a story just of struggle, but one also suffused with love and meaning. Dr. Eckstrom’s chapters are very helpful—brief, but written in clear, understandable language, and very accurate. Hearing her approach to patients with dementia will enable readers to know what to look for in a caring and competent physician.

Kenneth Brummel-Smith

Informative, insightful, and clear, The Gift of Caring provides a moving exploration of what growing old means and how we as children, friends, and neighbors should respond. It provides extremely practical advice which serves as a wonderful roadmap to a better way of caring for older adults in America. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Rachelle Bernacki

Houle’s story will resonate emotionally with anyone who has cared for a parent or older relative. It also offers a practical guide for readers who are care-giving now and who want to give their loved ones the gift of good care.- SeniorAdvisor.com

Senior Advisor

"Must Have Book for Caregivers. .. .This book has a really interesting approach. Marcy Cottrell Houle – a professional writer – writes a memoir about caring for her Dad with Alzheimers and her frail mother. The story is interspersed with expert advice from Dr. Eckstrom that the author wishes she had known about avoiding pitfalls in our modern healthcare system. It’s new and definitely will serve you well." – Anne Tumlinson

Daughterhood.org

With the growth of the elderly population, particularly those over eighty-five years of age, there is a tremendous need for resources like The Gift of Caring. There is so much to be learned from others who have traveled this road.

Dr. David B. Reuben

. .. .Eckstrom comes across as knowledgeable, clear and compassionate — the provider everyone's mother should have. Yet few of us will find someone similarly informed. .. .In fact, this is a book for everyone — if not this moment, then eventually. It will be a book to keep handy when the elderly in your life become frail; and beyond that, when you yourself begin to forget things and wonder if it's the onset of dementia or when the pill bottles begin to gather by the side of your bed. Reading this just might be the best preventative medicine you can find.

The Oregonian