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There is nearly an unlimited number of dementia caregiving books on the market today. How do you determine which ones are right for you?
Here is a collection of nine outstanding dementia caregiving books, along with a bit of background on each. They are as valuable as they are varied.
Finding the Light in Dementia:
A Guide for Families, Friends and Caregivers
By Dr. Jane M. Mullins, Ph.D.
Available on Amazon
Dr. Mullins was originally trained as a nurse and later went on to obtain her Ph.D. While originally caring for individuals with communication difficulties, she become connected to those who were struggling due to brain-related conditions such as stroke or dementia.
The connection to those having difficulty communicating was intensified as she watched her grandfather experience the same frustrations after a series of strokes. This became her mission to work with and for those who needed to have their voices heard.
The Book’s Main Themes
Finding the Light in Dementia focuses on connection – the same connection that started Jane’s career. She helps caregivers strengthen the connection with loved ones where the cognitive challenges works to weaken. The ways she does that is through:
- Communication
- Creating a Calm, Safe Home
- Changes in Memory
- Tips for Sleep, Eating, Drinking, Continence, and Personal Care
- Mood and Behavior
From being clearly written to including functional checklists and from sharing caregiver stories to including notes pages for your personal experiences, Finding the Light in Dementia will serve you well as an addition to your library of dementia caregiving books.
A Personal Message from Dr. Jane M. Mullins, Ph.D.
https://youtu.be/-memswtdpWE
The Dementia Handbook:
How to Provide Dementia Care at Home
By Judy Cornish
Available on Amazon
Sharing a completely different perspective, Judy Cornish published “The Dementia Handbook” from her experience directly helping her neighbor who needed a little help around her home.
Frailty wasn’t the problem. She was simply getting confused due to the impact of early dementia. After running errands for her, others began asking Judy for her help as well.
And a business was started, helping individuals living with dementia remain safe in their own homes.
Dementia & Alzheimer’s Wellbeing Network®
As part of creating “DAWN” she created a way for caregivers to work with those living with demention. The DAWN Method® can be used in the home or in continuing care communities as well. In either environment, it can instill a comforting sense of security, along with an enriching feeling of well-being.
Judy Cornish at Tedx Spokane
The Lost Kitchen:
Reflections and Recipes from an Alzheimer’s Caregiver
By Miriam Green
Available on Amazon
Miriam Green lives in Beer Sheva, Israel. Some of her close friends share her position in the “Sandwich Generation” and are caring for both their children AND their parents. They all believe in honoring their parents, even as Alzheimer’s Disease begins to take them away.
The Lost Kitchen has its roots with her relationship with her mother who had developed Alzheimer’s. She learned first-hand what worked, and what didn’t in her approach to care. Together, they did their collective best to navigate the disease.
Along with the story – both in poetry and prose – she share recipes that were part of the transition from her mother no longer being able to cook. Her father worked hard to take on that important role. What started as “The Man’s Emergency Cookbook” evolved wonderfully into a personal insight into caring for a loved on living with Alzheimer’s.
Miram Green at TEDx Shenkar College
H.O.P.E. for the Alzheimer’s Journey:
Help, Organization, Preparation, and
Education for the Road Ahead
By Carol B. Amos, CDS
Available on Amazon
What started as self-education about her mother’s memory loss evolved into long-distance caregiving and eventually, those experiences pulled together in Carol’s book, H.O.P.E. for the Alzheimer’s Journey: Help, Organization, Preparation, and Education for the Road Ahead.
It’s more than just a book, it is a clear and informative guide for new Alzheimer’s caregivers.
Through her family’s cooperation and their collaborative approach to caring for their mother, Carol developed the concept she calls “The Caregiving Principle®.” This is a framework for the caregiver, based on her experiences interacting with her mother.
Publisher Interview with Carol B. Amos
Hilda’s Story: New Bedford, Massachusetts
(Before Today: Reminiscing & Connecting)
By Siobhan McDonald
Available on Amazon
Learn how the creation of wonderful storybooks and picture books for seniors with dementia started from a simple visit to a Memory Cafe to conduct a Visual Arts workshop.
Gather ’round, kids to hear the story!
As Siobhan was preparing to leave her workshop, she realized her participants were just going to be sitting around waiting for lunch. So she told them a story from her childhood:
“When I was a little girl I had two ducks named Alex and Cleo”
That was the “light bulb” moment for her to focus her energies into creating books that acted as “prompts” using vintage photos and questions to stimulate meaningful conversation in individuals living with dementia.
And her passion continues!
After writing Hilda’s Story, Siobhan began pursuing her credential as a Certified Dementia Practitioner.
Role Reversal:
How to Take Care of Yourself and Your Aging Parents
By Iris Waichler, MSW, LCSW
Available on Amazon
As a Medical Social Worker, Iris Waichler’s life’s focus has been patient advocacy. From medical school to hospitals, to caring for catastrophic conditions, Iris’s talent lies in the ability to help families cope, understand, and plan.
While Role Reversal certainly covers the challenges faced by families living with dementia, it educates and guides for myriad other situations. That comes from not only her professional experiences, but also that of her family. This will be one of your favorite dementia caregiving books, and it will help.
It’s All About Dad
When her World War II veteran father was hospitalized at 96 years of age, he went from impressively independent to needing significant care. Ironically, this of a man who was himself a caregiver of various stripes his entire life.
Unfortunately, Iris’ father only lasted about three months after that – and went downhill quickly during that time. Fortunately though, Iris used this experience to create a wonderful resource for families. Role Reversal helps provide a better understanding of the obstacles and what to do to get past them.
Her goal was to make her father proud. In my opinion, she was fully successful.
“Live From The Heartland” Radio Show Interview
Somebody Stole My Iron:
A Family Memoir of Dementia
By Vicki Tapia
Available on Amazon
Vicki Tapia was someone who desperately needed to read about actual stories of family caregivers. Stories written by caregivers who know first-hand about the struggles and lived through every one of them.
Since all she could find at the time were “medical” books, she wrote her own based on her own experience with two parents – both of whom began to decline thanks to dementia. Her father experienced a gradual decline, but her mother experienced a more confusing and bewildering ride.
Somebody Stole My Iron is based on Vicki’s personal journal of emotions captured as she found her way through the perpetual decision-making process of navigating dementia.
Since she believes strongly (and I couldn’t agree more!) that humor can help “lighten our load” she tries to keep it light as she shares her personal lessons.
Some went well; some not so much.
That’s the beauty of a first-hand account such as this. We all can learn through Vicki’s experiences, applying each one to our own situation how and when needed.
Imagine You The Best Caregiver
By Virginia Garberding RN
Available on Amazon
Virginia Garberding RN is a registered nurse, for what she calls “a significant number of years.” She has gathered a lifetime of professional experience and placed into a book — it’s more like a program — to help family caregivers be the best they can be.
Imagine You The Best Caregiver is Virginia’s valuable effort to capture not only the dementia care experience she saw leaving the nursing profession as she was starting, but her personal experience training a new generation of nurses.
Through this wonderful book, you will gain expertise in a number of very practical areas. For example, bathing another adult is as much art as it is science. Add the fact that it may be your parent and you can see the physical, emotional and psychological challenge.
As one of our 9 outstanding dementia caregiving books, Virginia’s “You” will help you be successful.
A Personal Message from Virginia Garberding RN
Loving Zelda:
A Stepdaughter’s Caregiving Journal
By Sue Anne W. Kirkham
If you’re a caregiver, you know that emotional package.
With Zelda’s memory loss progressing, and Sue Anne’s father’s COPD building like a time bomb, she anticipated dramatic life change for them. So she took an equally dramatic step and left her job to became their primary caregiver.
Loving Zelda is Sue Anne Kirkham’s account of her efforts to not just help them day-to-day, but as she says, “injecting some sparkle back into their lives.” Give it a read and inject a little sparkle into your own.
Listen to More on Alzheimer’s Speaks
Sue Anne tells much more about “Zelda” on this great podcast with Lori La Bey of Alzheimer’s Speaks.
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