We All Become Care Givers at Some Point: Passages of Caregiving by Gail Sheehy

If only Gail Sheehy would have written her book about ten years earlier! As she outlines in her new book, Passages of Caregiving: Turning Chaos into Confidence, almost every person faces the task of caregiving at some point in their life. For me it was about ten years ago when we realized that my dad was showing signs of dementia. All at once, I found myself pulled in all directions, trying to figure out how to manage his care, researching the disease, the various options available in nursing care, dealing with doctors, Medicare, etc. It’s an overwhelming feeling and Gail Sheehy has done a great job of pulling it all together in one easy to read, extremely helpful book. She knows, first-hand, what it means to be a caregiver because she has spent the last seventeen years caring for her husband.
This morning, I watched an interview between Gail and Meredith Veira (another lady who also deals with her husband’s health issues) on The Today Show and I just read a story by Gail Sheehy in this month’s issue of AARP Magazine. (Gail was named Caregiving Ambassador for AARP last year.)
You can listen to an interview with Gail next Friday, May 14 on Iowa Public Radio’s The Exchange at 12:30 PM. Then plan to attend the free program with Gail at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, May 19 at Sheslow Auditorium on the Drake Campus as part of the library’s AViD Author Series. http://www.dmpl.org/events_news/AViD/2010/sheehy.html
Visit Gail’s web site for more details at: www.gailsheehy.com/lectures.html