Friday Five: Reading for Caregivers

The Friday Five is our weekly roundup of links to smart articles and helpful resources across the Web.

1. When you tell people you work for a hospice, they often ask you if it's sad, or make a comment about how difficult it must be. People assume that death is only sad, without realizing that one can be both sad and at peace with this inevitability. This profile of a Baltimore hospice nurse is a great way to understand hospice work, and how "It Doesn't Have to be Sad."

2. This article shared an experience of the healthcare arena and the hospital space that is unfortunately all too common. "Communication Vital to End-of-Life Care" is a piece we hope gets some actual attention from hospitalists and other physicians. Families seek the guidance and support of healthcare professionals. And, in order to help patients and families make healthcare decisions, healthcare professionals need to provide all of the options in a clear manner.

3. The New York Times Magazine has a lengthy feature piece this week about Alzheimer's disease, "How Do You Live Knowing You Might Have The Alzheimer's Gene?" For individuals caring for a patient or family member with Alzheimer's disease, it's heartbreaking to watch a once vibrant and intelligent individual struggle to remember the name and face of a spouse, child, or other loved one. However, research on the disease continues, and we can only hope that scientists will uncover more information about how Alzheimer's changes the make-up of our brains.

4. We hope family caregivers find our sponsored site, Living with Serious Illness, useful for information about how to manage emotional issues, physical care issues, financial issues, and more. The site also has a community resource directory to connect caregivers with support services in the Tucson, Marana, and Oro Valley communities. Subscribe to the site's monthly e-newsletter for articles related to caregiving, aging, and dealing with serious illness.

5. It's another day of triple-digit heat in Tucson, and it's only getting hotter from here on out. We encourage you to take a minute to read these tips for extreme heat from the CDC for people aged 65 and older.