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Alzheimers - Caring for your Loved One & Yourself

Author:	Sharon Fish Mooney
Published By:	Lion (Oxford)
Pages:	256
Price:	£8.99
ISBN:	978 0 7459 5289

Reviewed by Alun Brookfield.

This book was written originally for an American market, but has been fully and effectively anglicized. It is, for my money, the best thing written for the wider Christian market on this extremely difficult subject. Mooney writes from her own experience as a nurse and teacher, but also of caring for her own mother, who suffered for 10 years from Alzheimer’s.

I was relieved, early in the book, to discover that the author had made the distinction between Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, many of which are nothing like as serious or degenerative as Alzheimer’s, although Alzheimer’s is the primary type in a much broader diagnostic category. Mooney gives an indication of the process by which Alzheimer’s is diagnosed, which may take many months and many tests - simple age-related forgetfulness is not necessarily a symptom of Alzheimer’s!

There is a particular emphasis on caring for the carer’s mental, emotional and physical health. The contents pages are especially fulsome, making it easy to navigate to a particular subject or source of guidance, encouragement or help. The appendices are also clear and thoughtful, covering such subjects as how to evaluate care options for a loved one; how to select a suitable care home; other forms of dementia; possible medications; and a list of useful organisations and resources for dementia sufferers and their carers. The index is useful, but might have been a little more detailed. If I have a small gripe about this book, it is the absence of a bibliography, although the endnotes offer some ideas on where one might start with further research.

The style of the book is narrative, with many quotes and stories from sufferers and carers, giving the book a high level of readability and a gentle, caring tone. It is about as near to being a ‘page-turner’ as a book on this subject is ever likely to be. I recommend every Christian minister to have at least two copies - one for reference and one for lending.