"Alzheimer's Disease: Help and Hope" - An Alzheimer's Book for Caregivers

"Alzheimer's Disease: Help and Hope" is an Alzheimer's book that serves as a practical manual for caregivers. In the book, Jo Huey shares her wisdom about how to approach and respond to difficult situations while caring for an individual with Alzheimer's disease.

Jo Huey understands caregivers. In the introduction of her book, she cautions readers that they must not become angry at themselves if they haven't already been following Huey's recommendations: "Guilt is NEVER helpful and before you read further you must make a contract with yourself to not feel guilty."

It's good that Huey says this, because her suggestions clearly outline the preferable and less preferable ways of handling difficult caregiving situations. She developed a list of 10 "absolutes" of caring for an individual with Alzheimer's disease. Some of those absolutes include "never argue -- instead, agree," "never shame -- instead, distract," and "never force -- instead, reinforce."

Her list was drawn from direct caregiving experiences and provides real solutions for situations such as bathing, wandering, toileting, suspicion, and delusions.

Will her strategies always work? No. Are her strategies your best shot at handling difficult caregiving situations? Most likely. I recommend copying Huey's list and putting it somewhere that you will see it every day; also keep a copy in your wallet.

My only caution is in regard to the introductions of Huey's chapters. She lists examples of what to say and what not to say in certain situations, but the examples appear in paragraph form instead of lists, making it difficult to discern one example from the next.

Otherwise, this is a compact book with a wealth of helpful information.