The caregivers

By Nell Lake

Subjects: Caregivers, Methods, Psychology, Long-Term Care, Long-term care of the sick, Older people, Large type books, Self-Help Groups, Chronically ill, Family relationships

Description: In 2010, journalist Nell Lake began sitting in on the weekly meetings of a local hospital's caregivers support group. Soon members invited her into their lives. For two years, she observed Penny, a fifty-year-old botanist caring for her aging mother; Daniel, a survivor of Nazi Germany who tends his ailing wife; William, whose wife suffers from Alzheimer's; and others with whom all caregivers will identify. Witnessing acts of devotion and frustration, lessons in patience and in letting go, Lake illuminates the intimate exchanges of caregiving and carereceiving. Her work considers important and timely social issues with humanity, warmth, and concern: How can we care for the aging, ill, and dying with skill and compassion, even as the costs and labors of care increase? How might the medical profession take into account the needs of caregivers as well as patients?