Happy to 102: The Best Kept Secrets to a Long and Happy Life. Johnson, Johnson and Sarafan, 2009. Home Care Press, Palo Alto, CA, ISBN# 978-0-615-28194-0. 139 pages.

From Hospital to Home Care: A Step by Step Guide to Providing Care to Patients Post Hospitalization. Johnson, Johnson and Sarafan. 2012. Home Care Press, Palo Alta, CA, ISBN# 978-1-4675-0180-4. 164 pages.

The Handbook of Live-In Care: A Guide for Caregivers. Johnson, Johnson and Sarafan. 2011. Home Care Press, Palo Alto, CA, ISBN# 978-1-4507-7953-1. 124 pages.

Every so often, along comes a book, or in this care a series of small books, that is so well-written, so clear, so well laid out and practical that I cannot help but hope that physicians, PA's, nurses, geriatric care managers, social workers, hospital discharge planners and just plain members of the general public will offer them as a gift to families caring for older adults or anyone living at home needing care from family members.

The statistics are overwhelming. In a recent series of emails, Home Care Assistance (437 Lytton Avenue, Suite 201, Palo Alto, CA 94501) points out that there are currently over 75 million family caregivers who provide in-home care for a loved one. There are millions more seeking for care solutions and suggestions. By the year 2050, there will be over one million centenarians (those living over the age of 100) living in the US and Canada. 1995 marked the first year in which more people died of chronic illness than of acute disease. There has been a steadily increasing need since that time for services, such as in-home care, to help in the management and daily care those of living with chronic disease and successfully continuing to live at home while aging.

Family caregivers fill a vital role in the care team and help ensure the continuity of care. They are the most familiar with the care recipient's medicine and treatment regimens, the patient's preferences, and their dietary and exercise plans. But family caregivers also have exceedingly high burnout rates with stress-related physical and emotional issues. In fact, about 55% of family caregivers develop symptoms of depression. Burnout has a negative impact on the health and well-being of the caregiver but it also impedes the caregiver's ability to provide the best possible care for a loved one.

Home Care Assistance, whose motto is "Changing the Way the World Ages," has worked with Dr. Jennifer Hoblyn to develop a Caregiver Burden Assessment to determine if caregivers are vulnerable to burnout. This assessment, available for free, explores the challenges that family caregivers face and provides practical tips that individuals may apply to improve their own health and quality of life. Over 15 million family members throughout North America provide some level of Alzheimer's or dementia care. Dementia progressively weakens an individual's cognitive abilities, causing memory loss and physical decline. 61% of family caregivers have reported significant emotional stress from caring for someone with dementia.

Home Care Assistance also provides free downloadable copies of The Handbook of Live-In Care: A Guide for Caregivers from the same email address just provided, and have a CEU Webinar Series (part of their Healthy Longevity Webinar Series) available with CEU credits through The American Society on Aging when professionals to listen and respond to a short survey. In 2012, Home Care Assistance (1-866-4-LiveIn) announced its new Home Care Assistance University of HCAU, an online learning platform that gives caregivers access to training and the expertise they need in order to provide great care. Courses range for Alzheimer's Care to Culinary Skills.

Home Care Assistance also expanded their award-winning book series with The Five Senses, a book that provides a detailed overview of the changes we all experience with our senses as we age, as well as practical guidance on managing these changes for an improved quality of life. With this comprehensive knowledge, older adults can maintain independence and live comfortably in their own homes as they age. The next book in this series will focus on dementia care and is co-authored by a neuropsychologist. They have also launched Corporate Elder Care Solutions, a special program to help employees more successfully balance their caregiving responsibilities with their careers and work.

In Happy To 102: The Best Kept Secrets to a Long and Happy Life, authors Johnson, Johnson and Sarafan talk about how to transition successfully and healthfully from working adult to active senior. They include chapters on Independence, Interdependence and Upon What They Depend; You Age What You Eat; Aging Well is No Accident; The Psychology of Living to 102; Get Active About a Longer, Happier Life; Getting Care that Goes Anywhere; Giving Aging the Technological Edge; Other Secrets to Happy Aging; What We Can Learn from the Oldest Living People on Earth: The Balanced Care Method (i.e. healthy diet, physical activity, sharp mind social ties and purposeful living); and 102 Ways to Live Happy to 102. This book is packed with practical helpful hints, synopses of the latest aging research, pertinent quotes and easy-to-follow bullet points and checklists. The writing style is folksy and fully accessible. The book is written in such a way that it can easily be read in manageable chunks over time and you can skip to the chapters or parts which are of most interest to you.

From Hospital to Home Care: A Step by Step Guide to Providing Care to Patients Post Hospitalization is geared to caregivers and health professionals who dedicate themselves to the wellbeing of patients. It has chapters on Discharge Planning in Action; The Who's Who of Hospital Discharge; Helping the Discharge Planners; Where Do Discharge Patients Go?; Post-Discharge Concerns (e.g. Pain; Safety at Home; Psychology; Mobility and Exercise; Nutrition; Hygiene, Personal care and Fall Prevention); Acute Medical Problems; Accidents and Surgeries; Health Related Diseases; Cancer; Stroke; Diabetes; Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias; Parkinson's Disease; Arthritis; Lung-Related Disorders; Kidney Disease; Liver Disease; Psychiatric Disorders; and Transitioning from Hospital to Home.

This book is also written in a very clear, concise and accessible fashion and is loaded with anecdotes and true stories of family members who were discharged from the hospital and what worked for them and what did not work so well. For example, Chapter Two discusses the role of the patient, family members/caregivers, the physician, nurses, discharge planner, social worker, skilled therapists (OT, PT and ST), the geriatric care manager, the home health care agency and home care agency as well as hospice care. This chapter alone will help families get a much better understanding of what to expect in the discharge process and who the different players are and what roles they can be expected to play. For each chapter focusing on a physical condition (e.g. Stroke), the authors give an overview, with statistics and demographics, prognosis, reasons for hospitalization, home care physical needs, home care emotional needs and more. This comprehensive little volume would be a God-send for families and patients experiencing a hospitalization and discharge to home or post-care. It answers lots of questions.

The Handbook of Live-In Care: A Guide for Caregivers by Johnson, Johnson and Sarafan includes an Introduction to Live-In Care; The Facts on Live-In Care; The Beginning of Live-In Care; Activities for Home Bound Seniors; Challenges and Special Circumstance; Tips for the Live-In Caregiver; How to Do a Transfer; How to Give a Bath; How to Feed Home Bound Seniors; How to Care for Teeth and Gums; How to Change Diapers and Catheters; How to Dress; How to Exercise Safely; and the Home Care Assistance Approach. This book is also well-written with clear chapters and highly practical hints and resources for caregivers. The book seeks to be a definitive guide to maximizing the quality of life for an older or home-bound adult. This book helps caregivers understand the physiological, security, social, self-esteem and self-actualization needs of the older persons for whom they are caring. Amazingly, one study (p. 9) found that about 21% of the entire adult population of the United States provides some kind of unpaid care for another adult. In fact, if unpaid caregivers ceased to provide the care they give, there would never be enough paid caregivers to take up the slack. The authors also show that live-in caregivers must learn to deal effectively with ambivalence, resentment, anger, embarrassment, frustration, inflexibility, loss of self, respite care and more.

I found these 3 books to be enormously helpful and well-done. They would be a marvelous gift to anyone who is giving or about to give care to a family member. I recommend them highly and suggest that you take a look at these books if you are working with families who are caregiving for anyone of any age (many of the same things that apply to caregiving for adults apply as well to caregiving for children, teens and young adults). These books make a wonderful addition to the support and help that can be offered to caregivers in any situation.

Reviewed by Marcie Parker, Ph.D., CFLE, a researcher and private consultant in healthcare, aging/gerontology and mental health.

Contact Denise Schaefer of Home Care Assistance of Minneapolis at 952-236-7527 for further information on these short books.