Book Review: "I Care: A Handbook for Care Partners of People with Dementia"
Have you heard of the term “care partner”? A new book describes why dementia caregivers often find it more fulfilling to think of themselves not as care “givers” but as care “partners.”
If you care for a person with Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia, I highly recommend a short but comprehensive new guide called “I Care: A Handbook for Care Partners of People with Dementia” (Balboa Press, 2014) by dementia care experts Jennifer Brush and Kerry Mills.
According to the authors, a care partner is someone who receives as well as gives care and affection. While care “giving” can seem one-sided (and never-ending), a care “partnership” is reciprocal and rewarding.
Are “Care Partnerships” Really Possible?
When I first started caring for my mother, Judy, 10 years ago, I felt that all I was doing was giving—my time, energy, and patience—around the clock. I would have resisted the idea that my mother, who seemed much diminished with early-stage dementia, had anything to give back to me. For a while, I even thought of her as my third child (which I soon learned was not a great idea). I assumed that my job as caregiver meant doing things for Mom: running errands, taking her to the doctor and emergency room, making sure she had enough to eat and clean clothes to wear, paying her bills. But as a caregiver is quoted as saying in “I Care,” “to become a care partner, one first has to be present. This is far different from just being there.”
Read the rest of this post on caregivers.com.
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