The Gift of Caring: Saving Our Parents from the Perils of Modern Healthcare

Marcy Cottrell Houle, MS · Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH, MACP

Jul 2016 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Randye Kaye

About this audiobook

In this book, author and biologist Marcy Houle shares her personal journey of caring for her father, a surgeon, who developed Alzheimer's disease, and later her mother, who succumbed to other medical conditions. Like many children of aging parents, Marcy often felt powerless traveling this sad trajectory-watching them fall through the cracks of a fragmented and confusing healthcare system, where professionals often wrote off their symptoms as "just old age." The tragic secret? According to coauthor and geriatrics physician Elizabeth Eckstrom, these symptoms frequently are not "just old age." Rather, the problem is that the current healthcare delivery model for older people is ill-equipped to provide the comprehensive, person-centered care seniors need. Today, thousands of aging people face unnecessary suffering, hospitalizations, nursing home stays, and even death due to complications that could have been prevented or treated. The Gift of Caring reveals these pitfalls and provides families with tools they can use to avoid them. Dr. Eckstrom shares professional medical insights into what Marcy could have done to safeguard her parents and shows how we can become our loved one's best advocate.

About the author

Marcy Cottrell Houle, MS, is a biologist and award-winning author. Her book Wings for My Flight won the prestigious Christopher Medal, and The Prairie Keepers was a New York Times Notable Book and a Booklist Editor's Choice. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH, is director of geriatrics in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) and cofounder of the OHSU Healthy Aging Alliance. She has received many honors and recognition for her innovative work.

Randye Kaye is an accomplished voice talent, actress, singer, broadcaster, and author. She received a Listen-Up Award nomination and starred reviews for Ben Behind His Voices, which she also wrote, bringing together the various facets of her career.