I just learned about a new web-based home health care management system called eCaring.   Robert Herzog, the company’s founder and CEO, developed the system based on his experience (and frustrations) while caring for his own mother. This system enables family caregivers and home care workers to ... Read More

I recently spoke at an Alzheimer’s Conference in Perry, Georgia.  During the workshop we were talking about how to effectively  communicate with people who have Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.  Claire, one of the attendees told me a story that reinforced my belief in the ... Read More

Recently I boarded Delta flight in Portland, Oregon bound for Atlanta.   After all the baggage was safely stowed, all seat belts fastened, the crew made the perfunctory announcements and the plane taxied toward the runway.  We were off.  (Or so I thought.) The woman seated in front of me started ... Read More

This video is an excerpt from Elaine’s one-woman play, “So, God, what are WE going to do today?” Madelyn is faced with a dilemma. She and Quentin have gone to the Congregational Church for over 50 years. He can no longer manage the stairs, so she is trying to pick a new church. ... Read More

Q.  My dad had a stroke four years ago and my mother has been caring for him at home ever since.  His condition is fairly stable, but I’m very concerned about Mom’s emotional state.  I asked her the other day if she thought she might be depressed.  She said she didn’t think ... Read More

Q. My mother has Alzheimer’s, and we both get terribly bored when I visit. What can I do to make our time together more enjoyable? A. Think “playful”. If you try to connect and communicate with your mother as you did before she had Alzheimer’s, your visits could become excruciatingly ... Read More

Q. How do you handle a sibling who always has a hard-luck story and a mom who can’t say no? A. This is a difficult issue, and unfortunately, it is one that occurs with alarming frequency. If an adult child has a well-established pattern of going to a parent to get bailed out of one financial ... Read More

Q. How do I keep love and affection for my mother alive as I am losing her and our relationship to dementia? A.The loss of relationship is one of the greatest challenges of caring for a person with Alzheimer’s or another dementia-related disease. It is excruciatingly difficult to watch as a ... Read More

Q. How can I get my aging parents to fill out end-of-life documents that provide guidance to us kids about what they want such as Advance Directives? A. Conversations about end-of-life choices can be very uncomfortable. None of us like to think about our own potential incapacity or death. Views ... Read More

Q. How do you make aging parents “happy”? How do I contend with all the gripes that nothing is good enough? A. The place to start is with accepting the fact that you are not and never will be powerful enough to make someone else happy. You may do things that please or displease your ... Read More