Practical Advice for Children on Home Care for Aging Parents

Taking Care of Your Aging Family Members by Nancy R. Hooyman and Wendy Lustbender (The Free Press: Macmillan: $9.95).

Look around and see the slow but steady graying of America. More than 11% of the population has reached age 65, while the fastest-growing segment is 75 and older. Essentially a “brief” for members of the “sandwich generation” who want to provide quality home care for their parents, this book asks for better financial support and improved human services from the community and government.

Though most families try mightily to avoid institutionalizing their parents, this may prove difficult to avoid. Many of the women who bear the traditional burden as primary care givers are in the work force; the nuclear family has all but disappeared and, most significantly, the United States remains one of the few industrialized nations that doesn’t offer at least a stipend for home care.

To lighten the load, the authors make numerous practical suggestions. These range from ways to help parents function in their own homes to sharing the burden with siblings and other family members, to finding “natural helpers” (such as beauticians, market checkers and park attendants) to keep an eye on the vulnerable elderly when they are in the helpers’ area.

Unfortunately, the authors have produced a guide written in nondescript prose in tiny type, with dutiful end notes that conclude each chapter. Despite a very useful “bottom-line” chart of the economics of Medicare and Medicaid, this book taxed both my patience and vision, because it covers most of the material many of us already know.