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Tools for Better Living

Downloadable Book

You & Your Aging Parents

CEO Kate Granigan and founder Emily Saltz wrote a chapter in this family guide to lifelong health, wellness and care.

Download the book


Videos

Why Hire an Aging Life Care Manager?

CEO Kate Granigan and Lisa Mayfield, Fellow of the ALCA’s Leadership Academy



 

Inside the Mind of Alzheimer’s

Greg O’Brien, author, On Pluto: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer’s, discusses living with early-onset Alzheimer’s. From the ALCA’s 35th Annual Conference. CEO Kate Granigan introduces the speaker.



 

Elder Care: Living, Financial and Estate Planning

CEO Kate Granigan participated in this panel discussion hosted by Fiduciary Trust.

Watch the video


Listen to our Podcast

CEO Kate Granigan and founder Emily Saltz spoke at Lexington Wealth Management’s Empower Women lunch about Everything You Wanted to Know About Aging but Were Afraid to Ask. Here is a podcast of an abbreviated version of that presentation.

Listen to the podcast


LifeCare Advocates Resources


Suggested Reading Materials by Category


 

Aging Well

  • Mindful Aging: Embracing Your Life After 50 to find Fulfillment, Purpose and Joy
    Andrea Brandt, PhD (2017)

    Renowned psychotherapist and aging expert Andrea Brandt, PhD, MFT, writes about taking control of your life as you age, providing steps to thrive today and into your golden years. This book gives you tips of how to become mindful about aging, allowing you to find new purpose and creativity through research and real life stories.
  • Wise Aging: Living with Joy, Resilience & Spirit
    Rabbi Rachel Cowan & Dr. Linda Thal (2015)

    Wise Aging provides tools to navigate the challenges of aging, and to help find happiness and purpose in our lives. Wise Aging provides tips based on their workshops on aging strategies, to lead us to a better understanding of how to age well though exercise, meditation and other mindful activities.
  • Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Well-Being
    Andrew Weil, MD (2007)

    Dr. Andrew Weil has written several widely acclaimed, best-selling books. In Healthy Aging, he draws on the science of bio-gerontology as well as on the secrets of healthy longevity, combining traditional and nontraditional approaches to health and healthy living. This book encompasses information on eating right, exercise, and the aging process.
  • Ageless Body, Timeless Mind
    Deepak Chopra, MD (1993)

    Dr. Chopra combines ancient wisdom and modern science to direct you how to continue to live a fulfilled life as we age.
  • Yoga for Healthy Aging: A Guide to Lifelong Well-Being
    Nina Zolotow (2017)

    This book examines how the practice of yoga has a tremendous impact on physical and mental health. It discusses how to use this practice to address many health issues including areas such as flexibility, balance, agility, cardiovascular health, brain health, strength and stress management. This book offers specific techniques and exercises with the goal of maintaining overall health.

Caregiving

  • Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?
    Roz Chast (2014)

    A New York Times Bestseller Graphic Memoir by the New Yorker Cartoonist, Roz Chast, recounting her long and difficult journey caring for her aging parents. Using humor and poignant visual display, she normalizes and provides comfort to others having the same experience.
  • The Parent Care Conversation: 6 strategies for dealing with the emotional and financial challenges of aging parents
    Dan Taylor (2006)

    A practical and comprehensive guide to help adult children and their parents have open and honest discussions about elder care and future planning issues.
  • When The Time Comes: Families with Aging Parents
    Paula Span (2009)

    Narratives of several families facing crises of a loved one, depicting their exploration of elder care options, and their struggles in choosing the right path for their family. Paula Span shares their challenges, and discoveries throughout caring for an elder, as well as highlights the many decisions of a caregiver; helping the reader be better equip to navigate this process when the time comes.
  • Another Country: Navigating the Emotional Terrain of our Elders
    Mary Pipher, PhD (1999)

    A New York Times Bestseller. The number of older Americans in growing each day. Elders are living longer, and facing new struggles. The families of these elders are often juggling more, full time jobs, kids and caring for aging parents. Another Country helps the generation of baby boomers caring for their aging parents or loved ones navigate the path ahead with strategies of how to have difficult conversations, and how to embrace the aging process, with their aging loved one.
  • And Thou Shalt Honor: The Caregivers Companion
    Beth Witrogen McLeod (2002)

    A follow up to the PBS special And Thou Shalt Honor, this book provides useful support and advice for caregivers navigating the aging process, as well as offering hope from caregivers and experts in the field.More than 54 million American families are involved in the care of loved ones who are elderly or ill, and millions more will be affected in the years to come. And thou Shalt Honor provides action plans, checklists, and resource directory for issues which may arise as a caregiver.
  • A Bittersweet Season: Caring for our Aging Parents and Ourselves.
    Jane Gross (2011)

    New York Times Author, Jane Gross, writes about her personal experience being thrust into a caregiving role for her 85 year old mother, and the many challenges she faced through this frustrating and ultimately redemptive process. It reviews how she managed relocating her parent, dealing with insurance, and self-care as a caregiver. As well as touching upon the biological, sociological and psychologic factors of aging.
  • How to Say It to Seniors: Closing the Communication Gap with Our Elders
    David Solie, M.S., P.A. (2004)

    Talking with older adults especially about important topics can be difficult. It is not uncommon to fret over inconsequential details, or simply, cut the conversation short before anything has been resolved. In How to Say It to Seniors, geriatric psychology expert David Solie offers help in removing the typical communication blocks we have with the elderly, by sharing his insights into the later stages of life. Solie helps us understand the unique perspective of seniors and provides the tools to relate to them.

Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias

  • The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for People with Alzheimer’s Disease, Other Dementias, and Memory Loss in Later Life (5th edition)
    Nancy L. Mace, Peter V. Rabins, MD, PhD (2011)

    The “go to” guide on caring for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, or other cognitive impairments. Encompassing basic facts about dementia, as well as how to deal with problems which arise in daily care, safety and exercise. It also discussed financial and legal issues that need to be address.
  • Learning to Speak Alzheimer’s
    Joanne Koenig Coste and Robert Butler (2004)

    Joanne Koenig Coste offers a practical approach to the emotional well-being of both those with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers. Her focus is on meeting the individual with Alzheimer’s disease in their reality, by enhancing communication between the individual and the caregiver. Offering useful advice around the progression of the disease process, and how to deal with wandering, paranoia and aggression.
  • Still Alice
    Lisa Genova (2008)

    From New York Times bestselling author and neuroscientist, Lisa Genova, Still Alice is a fictional story about the descent of a 50-year-old university professor diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. This depiction of life with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, is intended to help people use this story to connect with their experience and explain it to others.
  • A Caregiver’s Guide to Lewy Body Dementia
    Helen Buell Whitworth MS BSN (2010)

    This is the ultimate guide for caregivers, family members, and friends of individuals seeking to understand Lewy Body Dementia.
  • A Dignified Life: The Best Friends Approach to Alzheimer’s Care, A Guide for Family Caregivers
    Virginia Bell, MSW & David Troxel, MPH (2002)

    Authors David Troxel, Executive Director of the California Central Coast Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, and Virginia Bell, MSW, write a powerful book highlighting the approach of treating a person with Alzheimer’s disease like a best friend, working from their strengths, not their weaknesses; as a way to try to connect with them. It addresses how caring, heartfelt responses to daily situations bring dignity to the lives of people with dementia and those that care for them.
  • Mom, Are You There? Finding a Path to Peace Through Alzheimer’s
    Kathleen A. Negri (2003)

    Insights that aid the caregiver in embracing the person with dementia in positive, healthy ways and in developing self-understanding. This book provides strategies of how to cope with individual with Alzheimer’s disease.
  • What If It’s Not Alzheimer’s?: A Guide to Dementia
    Gary and Lisa Radin (2007)

    This is the first complete guide to frontotemporal dementia (FTD), one of the largest groups of non-Alzheimer’s dementias.