A Blend of Family, Culture and Disease

Reviewed by Clarissa Smith, PhD, OTR/L, CSL

Still Giving Kisses: A Guide to Helping and Enjoying the Alzheimer's Victim You Love is a must read for all practicing health care professionals who work in the field of aging and geriatrics, as it is loaded with group and individual ideas both for implementing and stimulating someone with memory loss.

Smith combines her mother's Jewish legacy with her life with Alzheimer's while using a teaching model composed of hands-on strategies that can be applied to a variety of situations. The model can actually be used by family caregivers as well as lay and para-professionals.

Smith also seeks to emphasize the need for practicing clinicians and administrators to advocate and foster individual care, and respect cultures and histories different from their own.

The author's experiences as an OTR and family caregiver open the path for future implementations for therapeutic, purposeful and functional tasks for older persons with memory loss.

The book is available in paperback and download form from Lulu.com, www.lulu.com, or can be purchased through Amazon.com.

Clarissa Smith, PhD, OTR/L, CSL, is an ADVANCE columnist and member of Caregiving International Incorporated in Birmingham, AL.

Still Giving

Kisses: A Guide to Helping and Enjoying the Alzheimer's
Victim You Love
By Barbara A. Smith, OTR/L, MS
Lulu.com, 2008
$12.50 paperback, $6.25 download

A View from the Other Side

Reviewed by Rick Caracciolo

The Personal Care Attendant Guide: The Art of Finding, Keeping, Or Being One, is written from firsthand experience. The author, Katie Bannister, was injured in an automobile accident, which left her with quadriplegia. She writes of not only being the recipient of care from personal care attendants, but also as an employer. The book brings a fresh perspective.

Bannister discusses how to find an attendant, having a back-up plan, being an attendant and issues when the caregiver is a spouse. The closing chapters include information on caring for children with disabilities, caring for the elderly, attendant care and personal experiences of others who require attendant care.

The author reminds of the concerns and needs of a person with a disability, and how to overcome similar obstacles and find, prepare for hiring and retain a personal care attendant. n

This book can be obtained from Demos Medical Publishing, 800-532-8663 or at www.demosmedpub.com.

Rick Caracciolo, MA, COTA/L is employed by the Georgia Department of Labor-Vocational Rehabilitation as a rehabilitation technologist specializing in assistive technology. Rick is also a consultant for MyNursingHomes.com, an internet directory service listing nursing facilities throughout the United States.

The Personal Care Attendant Guide: The Art of Finding, Keeping, orBeing One

By Katie Rodriguez Bannister
Demos Medical Publishing, 2007
160 pp., $16.95