By Carol B. Amos
My two brothers and I were devastated when our mother began displaying signs of Alzheimer’s disease in 2002. She lived alone in her home and her nearest adult child lived four hours away. We banded together to face this challenge head-on. We began a period of observing, investigating, collaborating, and careful listening to gain insight into the situation. We visited and called our mother more often. We each solicited advice from caregivers we knew and visited our local Alzheimer’s Association office.
My brothers and I worked hard to help our mother maintain her independence and remain in her home. We worked with her doctors, and after multiple attempts Aricept was prescribed. We hired a social worker and nurse to assist her. When “issues” arose, we never knew if an event occurred as she explained. This was extremely frustrating to us. Eventually a dangerous incident demonstrated that she could no longer live alone. It was difficult taking responsibility for our strong, independent mother.
I learned about Alzheimer’s disease through reading, attending workshops, observing caregivers, and from on-the-job training. I have learned from my successes and my failures during this eleven-year period. I have shared my learning, experience, and encouragement with friends, family, and colleagues as they embarked on their journey. I found that a little information made a big difference in their caregiving, so I wrote the book “H.O.P.E. for the Alzheimer’s Journey.” Help, organization, preparation, and education can make the Alzheimer’s journey less stressful and more rewarding.
“H.O.P.E. for the Alzheimer’s Journey” equips caregivers for their journey. The book is a combination of structured information, insights, and personal narratives to demonstrate the concepts. The concepts are conveyed in an open, honest, and creative manner using original family email communications. These emails provide insight into our thoughts, concerns, emotions, and deliberations as we realized our mother’s memory loss, sought a diagnosis and treatment, selected housing options, and developed care strategies as our mother continued to deteriorate. The book introduces The Caregiving Principle™, a simple and novel approach that provides a deeper understanding of the person with Alzheimer’s and a framework for the caregiver’s role. The Caregiving Principle™ states that the amount and type of caregiving required is directly related to the needs and capability of the person requiring care. In other words:
“Needs of the Person” – “Needs Filled by the Person” = “Needs to be Filled by the Caregiver(s)”
Simply put, if a person has needs and cannot provide for all of their own needs then someone else must provide those needs. The “someone else” is a caregiver. The principle utilizes a holistic approach by using Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to define a person’s needs. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs increased my understanding of my mother.
“H.O.P.E. for the Alzheimer’s Journey” has been a blessing to many caregivers since the pre-release in May 2018. My ultimate goal is for the book to become obsolete. I am actively involved with fundraising and advocacy efforts to increase research so that a cure is found for Alzheimer’s disease.
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About the Author
Carol B. Amos started her Alzheimer’s journey when her mother started having memory problems. Carol has immersed herself in Alzheimer’s education by reading and attending conferences, workshops, and support groups. Carol is a CARES Dementia Specialist and is Alzheimer’s Association essentiALZ Plus certified. She was the winner of the 2012 “Your Favorite Memory” essay contest sponsored by the Delaware Valley Alzheimer’s Association. She has a passion to share her knowledge and make the journey for Alzheimer’s caregivers less stressful and more rewarding. She is also working to help eliminate Alzheimer’s disease as an Alzheimer’s Association volunteer, fundraiser, and advocate.
Carol has a B.S. and M.Eng. in chemical engineering from Cornell University. She retired from a thirty-five-year career at The DuPont Company. She is active in her church (youth ministry, women’s ministry, usher board, and construction committee). She has been married to her husband, Alvin, for nineteen years. She enjoys tennis, travel, and gardening at her home in Delaware.
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Marianne Sciucco, Author 