For Immediate Release
Sara Sgarlat, Publicity Director
434-296-2772, ext. 49
ssgarlat@hrpub.com
Stressed Out About Parenting Your Elderly Parents?
Taking care of your parents just got a whole lot easier!
● Do you have the legal authority to act on your parents’ behalf in case of an
emergency?
● Do your parents have a will? (Only three out of ten Americans do, but ten
out of ten will die.) Where is it kept?
● If your mother had Alzheimer’s disease and refused to leave her home of 34
years, how would you coax her into the car?
● How can you tell a good care facility from a beautifully-decorated, but badly-
run one?
● How would you go about finding your parent’s dentures after they
disappeared in the hospital?
Author Jim Comer wrote When Roles Reverse: A Guide to Parenting Your Parents after becoming a “parent” for the first time at the age of 51, when his father suffered a massive stroke while caring for his mother who had Alzheimer’s.
With no preparation, Comer suddenly found himself dealing with hospitals, insurance companies, Medicaid and Medicare forms, powers of attorney, rehab centers, geriatric care managers, elder law attorneys, Dad’s deafness and drinking, Mother’s dementia, and much more. After ten years of caregiving, Jim kept his sanity and sense of humor; forged a deeper, more intimate relationship with his parents; and wrote the comprehensive guidebook for parenting your parents that he wished he’d had. His message is this: With preparation, good communication, humor, and knowing how to help your parents save face, parenting your parents can be a positive experience with unexpected benefits. Whether you live 1,000 miles away or next door to your aging family members, this book will make it easier for you to do what you have to do.
The author interviews experts on a wide range of parental care issues, such as:
• Selecting a first rate care facility
• Legal documents every family needs
• Long term care insurance
• Geriatric care specialists
• How to qualify for Medicaid
• End of life decisions
• Hospice care
When Roles Reverse is way out in front of other books on eldercare because of the author’s hilarious anecdotes combined with advice from a field of experts, and indispensable up-to-date information, all organized for quick reference and easy use.
With laugh-out-loud humor, author Jim Comer shares how he dealt with improvisational moments for which there can be no preparation:
• You find three gallons of Scotch in your dad’s retirement home closet;
• Your mother shows up for lunch at her assisted-living home wearing a dress she has taken from someone else’s room;
• At a crowded Sunday dinner table, your father announces that he wants you to give him an enema after lunch….
“50 Questions That Will Save You Time, Money and Tears” is a fill-in-the-blank section that will help you avoid crises and save you thousands of dollars.
Included is a 50-state list that provides phone and fax numbers, addresses and websites for state agencies on aging, departments of insurance, and health insurance assistance programs.
Comer’s Commandments:
“If the facility doesn’t have regular conferences between staff and family, tell them you want monthly meetings."
“If a parent is in the hospital, guard those dentures with your life. Teeth matter."
“When you start to feel sorry for yourself, put things in perspective. You are not in North Korea.”
“Whenever possible, allow your parents to save face.”
“If you move into your parents’ home to care for them and find yourself considering double murder, make other living arrangements.”
JIM COMER has appeared on The Today Show, written jokes for Bob Hope and Joan Rivers, as well as Op-Eds for The New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, and worked as a speech coach and creative consultant for Fortune 500 companies. He lives in Austin, Texas.
September 2006 • Aging • ISBN 1-57174-500-9 • $15.95
Trade paper with 48 B/W photos