The Caregiver's Secrets - Paperback

by Harold Barnette (Author), Willetha Barnette (Author)

The Caregiver's Secrets is an account of one woman's 20+ year experience as a caregiver for an aging parent framed by powerful statistics and urgent policy issues. It emphasizes both the enormous scope of the demographic challenge facing America and the poignant details of coping with day-to-day caregiving responsibilities. The book aims to "open up" the experience of caregiving, a shadowy corner of family life with huge but largely unrecognized social and economic impacts. The narrative touches on many key challenges and dilemmas facing families and their aging loved ones, including difficult discussions about end of life decisions, the changing nature of medical services delivery, and the mind-numbing bureaucracies that dominate the landscape of an individual's final years. The Caregiver's Secrets includes tips and helpful advice for practicing caregivers as well as those who are destined to become caregivers whether they know it or not. It attempts to span the general and the particular, connecting the dots within a complex and hidden, but increasingly important sector of American life.

Author Biography

A native of Spring Lake, NC, Willetha King Barnette earned a B.A. from North Carolina Central University and paralegal certification through Duke University. She has worked in educational environments for more than thirty-five years, including an international insurance industry trade association, in university settings, and small private institutions. She has served as a guardian ad litem, hospice volunteer, and a patient advocate for cancer victims. She is active in health advocacy causes including organizations dedicated to curing breast cancer and Crohn's disease, as well as efforts to improve caregiving for the elderly and disabled. She resides in Durham, NC.