Take Care: A Practical Guide for Helping Elders

Christine Hughes is a policy analyst at the Ontario Native Affairs
Secretariat.

Take Care offers useful information for people currently caring for
elders or contemplating assuming this responsibility. Rhodes offers
advice and knowledge on some of the aspects of informal caregiving to
help prepare the reader for the role and to make it less challenging and
more rewarding. Compared with some other books of this genre, which are
written for a certain region or province, Take Care is a more generic
reference that will not become dated.

Rhodes writes clearly and uses a number of examples to illustrate her
points. She includes eight self-tests to give readers an opportunity to
measure or assess their abilities and expectations as a caregiver and
the quality of their care. The book has a large, easy-to-read typeface.

While there is no index, a comprehensive table of contents should allow
readers to turn to subject areas of interest quickly. The early chapters
discuss attitudes of caregiver and care receiver, assess the level of
care needed and the caregiver’s ability to provide it, and discuss the
role of family and friends. Other chapters consider physical aspects of
aging, healthcare, new age eldership (music therapy, pet-facilitated
therapy, aromatherapy, humor, gardening), communication, coping with
physical conditions, psychiatric problems and aberrant behaviors, caring
for confined elders, help for the caregiver, and issues associated with
dying. Elders making decisions about their own care and caregivers, in
particular, will find this book to be a useful resource.

Rhodes has written two previous books on eldercare. She is a freelance
writer, editor, and columnist.