More helpful publications from Scientific American
From Dr. Peter V. Rabins, one of the nation’s leading experts on the care and management of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Do you know where most of the millions of people who have Alzheimer’s disease live? At home — where family and friends provide almost 75 percent of their care.
That’s why caregiving has been called the fastest growing unpaid profession in the United States.
According to the National Alliance for Caregiving, during the past year more than 67 million Americans provided care to a family member, friend, or loved one, many of whom are suffering from different stages of Alzheimer’s disease or some other type of dementia.
If you’re a caregiver, you know first-hand what it’s like: Getting swept up in a flurry of tasks – bathing, shopping, cooking, feeding, making arrangements for medical care, managing behavioral problems, making decisions for the ill person that you have never had to consider before — while simultaneously trying to cope with your own anxieties and fears.
Or perhaps you’re facing a situation where you’re likely to become a caregiver — and you’re wondering how you can make the many difficult decisions that anyone who steps into this demanding role has to confront.
It’s an extremely hard job — and often it feels like you’re in it alone. But you’re not.
That’s why we asked two world-renowned Alzheimer’s specialists — Dr. Peter Rabins and Dr. Ann Morrison — to write this practical, no-nonsense guide, Caring for a Loved One with Alzheimer’s Disease: A Guide for the Home Caregiver.
