Caring for a person with Alzheimer’s or dementia is tough.
It’s unpredictable, often heartbreaking, sometimes frightening. It can mean unrelenting hard work. And it can be very isolating. I know – my family provided 24/7 care for my grandparents during their last years, struggling to keep them healthy and safe while watching their minds fade away.
Know this: you are not alone.
According to data from the Alzheimer’s Association, “more than 15 million Americans provide unpaid care for individuals with Alzheimer’s or another dementia.”
The Library offers a host of materials designed to help caregivers , from books on making a house “age-proof” to practical advice and information, like why symptoms often seem worse in the evening and how to handle personality changes.
One such book is the recently updated The 36-Hour Day: a Family Guide To Caring for People Who Have Alzheimer Disease, Related Dementias, and Memory Loss. The Chicago Sun-Times called it “the best guide of its kind,” and we have to agree. It offers detailed, practical advice in a straightforward manner on everything from how to understand your emotions as a caregiver to making sure medication is taken on time.
There are also the personal stories – Don’t Leave Yet: How My Mother’s Alzheimer’s Opened My Heart by Constance Hanstedt shares the true story of a mother and daughter, while Still Alice – the Library owns both the book and the movie – imagines what life is like from the point of view of the fictional Alice after her diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer’s disease.