Culture and Politics of Health Care Work

In this thoughtful and honest memoir, Alterra effectively impresses on the reader that the primary physician is not the doctor but the caregiver who lives with the patient.Publishers Weekly Alterra is the pseudonym of a prolific and award-winning short story writer and novelist. . . . Alterras book will strike a chord with anyone who has a family member with Alzheimers: the search for understanding, the hallucinations, mood changes, loss of mental and physical functioning, and unpredictable nature of the disease.Library Journal A husbands unsentimental but deeply loving memoir of caring for his wife.Kirkus Reviews The Caregiver is one of the few examples of the lived experience of Alzheimers disease from the perspective of a loving, reflective, and articulate husband. Aaron Alterra paints a beautiful and honest picture of how Alzheimers disease changed one familys world, a literate world full of life, music, art, and words. His story will touch physicians, nurses, social workers, physical therapists, psychologists, and healers of all sorts who struggle to assist families in their journey with this disease.Patricia G. Archbold, Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity Scholars Program, American Academy of Nursing Aaron and Stella Alterra had been married for more than sixty years when Aaron began to notice puzzling lapses in his wifes memory. Innocuous at first, they became more severe and more alarming. After a series of appointments and tests, the Alterras were informed that Stella was one of the more than 4.5 million Americans with Alzheimers disease. Combining medical research on the disease and often-painful anecdotes of memory loss, deteriorating motor functions, personality shifts, support-group and daycare experiences, and drug trials, Alterra chronicles his transformation from husband to caregiver after his wifes diagnosis. More than a chronology of one familys experience of Alzheimers disease, The Caregiver is an intelligent, beautifully reflective testimony to how family members turned caregivers become the ultimate advocates for their loved ones in the face of a disease with no cure.