Synopses & Reviews
Ending Elder Abuse focuses on the challenges of aging, either caring for our parents or relatives, or planning for our own latter years. Creative ways are offered to cope with problems associated with aging with specific emphasis on preventing abuse of the elderly.
Review
"Sandell's personal experiences inform the book's insights and solutions and thereby distinguish it. The story is truly compelling. 'To be able to live with the awful fact of Mother's death,' she writes, 'I knew I had to realize something positive from it.' As a chronicle of her journey and an invaluable resource to others, this book is proof that she succeeded."
ForeWord Magazine
Review
"This immensely helpful volume is critically important, highly recommended reading for anyone with a loved one in assisted living or nursing home care."
The Midwest Book Review
Synopsis
Diane Sandell's 91-year-old mother was severely beaten in a nursing home in Orange County, California. She died six weeks later. The home was never cited for abuse, nor was anyone ever prosecuted. "Ending Elder Abuse" confronts the inexcusable pervasiveness of abuse--verbal, physical, mental, sexual, and financial--of America's elder generation. Its practical, creative approach provides hope and encouragement to the elderly and their families while offering solutions to professional caregivers and proposing a realistic strategy for legislators to help eliminate this devastating problem.
Description
Nearly 1.6 million Americans now live in nursing homes. That number will double in the next twenty years, as medical science lengthens our life expectancies and the senior population grows. Inevitably, most of us will have to supervise the care of aging parents or grandparents, and every one of us faces the prospect of growing old and possibly frail. Thirty percent of elderly Americans say they would rather die than move into a nursing home. Their fears are well founded: Inspection documents show that more than a quarter of the nursing homes in the United States have been repeatedly cited for violations that caused serious harm or death to residents. In California, fully one-third caused serious injury or death, and less than 2 percent of nursing homes had no violations!
About the Author
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, homemaker and former businesswoman Diane S. Sandell founded NOBLE (Network Outreach & Better Living for the Elderly) to help families cope with the challenges of placing loved ones in long-term care facilities and to help elders who have suffered institutional abuse. Her background includes twenty-five years of personal eldercare and ten years of advocacy on local, state, and nationwide levels. Ms. Sandell has won several community service awards for her tireless efforts to eradicate elder abuse.
A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Lois Hudson is a certified teacher, businesswoman, and accomplished writer. A strong medical background supplements her eldercare experience, which combines fifteen years of hands-on care giving and ten years of advocacy and support through NOBLE. The mother of two grown sons, Ms. Hudson is also a proud grandmother. Currently residing in Southern California, she is passionately devoted to her writing, her community, and her church. Ms. Hudson's devotional writings have been widely published.