An indispensable examination of nursing home realities.
This second edition of a guide offers advice on assessing, choosing, and adapting to nursing homes and various alternatives.
Goldsmith (Choosing a Nursing Home, 1990) here provides a new, fully fleshed-out version of his book’s lauded first edition. The statistics he provides at the outset certainly indicate the need: More than a million Americans live in nursing homes, where they receive an average of four hours of care every day. Perhaps more importantly, as one of the author’s interviewees points out at the beginning, most people are going to end up in nursing homes, and virtually none of them believe they will or ever think about that eventuality. As Goldsmith’s thorough, comprehensive chapters make clear, it’s far better to plan early. And this guide takes readers through every conceivable aspect of that preparation. The costs of nursing homes and assorted alternatives are carefully broken down and explained, including adult day care and all-inclusive care, with the author discussing what is covered by Medicare and Medicaid. Throughout the manual, Goldsmith urges readers to take proactive control of these and all other decisions concerning their own declining years and those of their loved ones. There’s extensive and clearly presented information on how to choose a nursing home and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses, including breakdowns of how to approach interviewing administrators, nursing directors, activities directors, and everyone else who’ll be responsible for caregiving. Fact sheets and checklists help to organize and prioritize the vast amount of information presented here. But equally important is the manual’s calm, even tone—the life changes outlined here are very emotionally charged and can be frightening, especially to those facing them firsthand. Yet even when he’s writing about the fine details of contracts and other legal arrangements, Goldsmith is never pessimistic or fearmongering. The assumption at all times is that nursing homes are an inevitable fact of life for most people and should therefore be dealt with plainly and openly. Scores of readers likely considered this book’s first edition intensely, almost uniquely useful. Those readers and many more should find this invaluable second edition equally so.
An indispensable examination of nursing home realities.Pub Date: April 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-9840-0553-3
Page Count: 252
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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