Graceful Last Chapters ─ Helping Seniors Who Need More Care

The author, Cynthia Neher Martindale, is a veteran of all things senior-related. In Graceful Last Chapters: Helping Seniors Who Need More Care, she shares her twenty years of experience with senior care in a voice filled with compassion, understanding, and an insider's point of view. As the primary caregiver for her parents in their declining years, as a sales and marketing director for senior living communities, and as a lawyer, Ms. Martindale brings readers a valuable resource about caring for aging loved ones. The book is filled with support and guidance for caregivers, clearly defined options for care, and the ways and means for readers to craft their own successful journey through caregiving challenges and heartbreak. Ms. Martindale offers readers fundamental knowledge, hope, a sense of identity and, ultimately, a path toward peace of mind. Graceful Last Chapters: Helping Seniors Who Need More Care is a non-fiction book filled with real life examples. The author shares true stories from her own personal history and adds altered versions (for privacy concerns) of potential residents, residents, and their family members met during her years at senior communities. Within the pages of Graceful Last Chapters, find out how to: * Build a knowledge base of proceed on your journey helping someone you love. * Dig deeper, ask more questions, and judge the information's value to your situation. * Gather resources, options, and approaches to issues relevant now and in the future. * Become a better guide, partner, and friend to someone who depends on you. * Learn to accept that you and your loved one are not alone . . . and life can be better. The book's twenty-seven chapters are grouped into seven sections: (One) Considering Long-Term Care Options; (Two) Caregiving Challenges; (Three) Creating a Plan; (Four) Aging in Place With Additional Care; (Five) Senior Living Communities; (Six) Touring Senior Communities; and (Seven) After the Bloom Fades. The chapters build gradually to mimic the progression of the journey caregivers take with their senior loved one, whether that individual is their mother, father, aunt, uncle, sibling, spouse, friend, or neighbor. As the author states, "The stories are all different, but the guideposts along the way are always similar." There are certain elements that ultimately must be in place for the journey and transition to be successfully completed. For example, Chapter Seven, "It's Time to Talk," urges that despite the anticipated awkwardness of the conversation, talking is the only way to make a plan between seniors and their caregivers. There are chapters about obtaining a clear picture of the senior's financial status, the legal preparation that should be completed, and how to gather an accurate medical history. Ms. Martindale discusses how to support the desire to age-at-home, as well as the decision to explore senior-living communities. She provides "best practices" and suggestion to navigate either decision. The audience for this book is enormous, and potential readers will relate to the questions posed by the author on the back cover of Graceful Last Chapters: Helping Seniors Who Need More Care. She asks: * Is there an aging senior in your life struggling with everyday activities? * Do you see changes in their behavior? Are there safety issues that concern you? * Are you wondering how to begin helping them or dreading where conversations may lead you? Then Graceful Last Chapters: Helping Seniors Who Need More Care is the book you need to read today.

Cynthia Neher Martindale combines her education, business expertise, and personal experiences to bring readers a valuable resource about caring for aging loved ones. Her academic accomplishments include degrees from Hillsdale College (B.A. in English), Northern Illinois University (M.A. in English), and Valparaiso University School of Law (J.D.). Graceful Last Chapters: Helping Seniors Who Need More Care is the result of her years as both a sales and marketing director for senior living communities and as the primary caregiver for her parents. Its pages are filled with support and guidance for caregivers, clearly defined options for care, and the ways and means for readers to craft their own successful journey through caregiving challenges and heartbreak. Ms. Martindale offers readers fundamental knowledge, hope, a sense of identity and, ultimately, a path toward peace of mind. Cynthia lives in Flossmoor, Illinois, with her husband, son, and two cats. She enjoys her family, a close circle of friends, reading, and "dirt therapy" in her garden