for senior living, wellness, palliative care, end-of-life planning
Books
Anatomy of the Spirit – the Seven Stages of Power and Healing; What Makes Us Healthy – Understanding Mystical Law and Your Parallel Reality; Why People Don’t Heal and How They Can by Caroline Myss, PhD – each book is based on energy medicine and how your inner attitudes and spirit can affect your health and healing. Hearing CM in person or on her tapes is impressive.
At Home with Dying – a Zen Hospice Approach by journalist and former Zen Hospice worker Merrill Collett. A practical, valuable companion no matter what your belief system is.
Being Mortal – Medicine and What Matters at the End-of-Life by Atul Gawande – an East Indian surgeon practicing in Boston, and staff writer for the New Yorker, comes to terms with end-of-life challenges of modern medicine through his father’s painful demise. Advocating for end-of-life planning and death with dignity.
Buddhist Care for the Dying and Bereaved, a compilation of essays from Asia and the U.S. which can be read on-line at http://www.wisdompubs.org. You may make a donation if the content has assisted you in some way.
Conquering Concussion by Mary Lee Estes, PhD, and C.M. Shiflett – based on effective, non-invasive ways to help heal brain trauma. See also Stephen Larsen PhD’s excellent The Healing Power of Neurofeedback.
Healing and Recovery by David R. Hawkins, MD, PhD “The book reveals why the body may not respond to traditional medical approaches, and provides specific instructions and guidelines that can result in healing from disease. Our society lives with constant stress, anxiety, fear, pain, suffering, depression, and worry. Alcoholism, drug addiction, obesity, sexual problems and cancer are constantly in the news. This timely book provides information about how to address life’s challenges without necessarily resorting to drugs, surgery or counseling, and explains the importance of including spiritual practices in one’s healing and recovery.” Review is from http://www.veritaspub.com Read also his excellent Power v. Force.
Lessons from the Dying by Rodney Smith, former palliative care and hospice administrator. Smith’s book could also be called Lessons for the Living.
Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia, MD, and Bill Gifford. I am a fan of this book, functional medicine, and any physician or naturopath who devotes him or herself to understanding root cause of illness. This book, sprinkled with honest examples from Attia’s own health challenges, is devoted to how to take care of your body and mind at any age so that you might avoid chronic disease, disabilities, and other health challenges as you age, if possible. This is about choices – diet, environment, lifestyle, and if your are fortunate, an abundance of funds to locate the most appropriate providers to guide you to your best health.
Prescription for Nutritional Healing by Balch and Balch, an excellent day-to-day handbook for almost anything that ails you. Also published in Spanish.
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Los Angeles-based mortician Caitlin Doughty. A call to return to the “old ways”, natural ways, with dignified, sacred rituals honoring those who have passed. Caitlin has written other fine books and is a leader in the movement to talk about death.
The Conversation – A Revolutionary Plan for End-of-Life Care by Harvard Medical School physician and researcher Angelo E. Volandes, also the co-founder of Advance Care Planning Decisions, a non-profit. Book based on seven stories of patients.
The Craft of Compassion at the Bedside of the Ill by Michael Ortiz Hill, hospice nurse, rescue worker, Buddhist practitioner, and an initiated medicine man with the tribal people of Zimbabwe.
***The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully by Zen Hospice founder Frank Ostaseski. I don’t know anyone who has read this book, been in Frank’s company, or watched him on You Tube videos who does not instantly relate to his warm, connecting way. I am sad that Zen Hospice, a model center for compassionate care in San Francisco, closed. I was fortunate enough to visit twice. I highly recommend Frank O’s wise book. At Lake Chapala Mexico, the meditation book club I attended had chosen this as one of their books. The Spanish language version continues to sell well in Mexico and Spain!
The Healing Power of the Breath by Richard Brown, MD and Patricia Gerbarg MD, integrative psychiatrists who use proven ancient and modern mind-body healing techniques to relieve trauma and stress in the body at any age. See www.breath-body-mind.com
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi – an East Indian MD, neuroscientist, and accomplished communicator writes about his eminent death from cancer at age 37. Compelling, poetic, and another plea for choosing to live your life to the fullest your last days. Breathtaking read.
Organizations et altri
AARP www.aarp.org up-to-date U.S. legislative policy news for older adults
Advanced Care Planning Decisions Dr. Angelo Volandes’ web site gives you step by step guidance on this subject. https://www.acpdecisions.org/ Note: The National Institute on Aging, several faith-based organizations, and other sites also provide similar information.
Agewave.com Ken Dychtwald offers statistics on U.S. healthcare spending, aging trends, senior savings, number of people currently residing in assisted living homes, and more.
Aging2.0 www.Aging2.0.com Global network of innovators created by Google to research and advance the future of aging
***Aging with Dignity www.AgingwithDignity.org Florida-based non-profit which created the Five Wishes living will/end-of-life plan, legal in most states and available in 24 languages. I created mine in 2005 when we were using them for preliminary admissions at assisted living homes for those without Advanced Healthcare Directives. Easy, inexpensive.
Alzheimer’s & Dementia Weekly Excellent free newsletter with articles and videos sharing the latest advances related to Alzheimer’s and dementia care for patients, families, caregivers, and volunteers www.alzheimersweekly.com
American Geriatrics Society http://www.AmericanGeriatrics.org a national not-for-profit advocating for programs in patient care, education, research, and public policy since 1942.
American Society on Aging www.asaging.org San Francisco-based non-profit which educates its members on issues of aging and other subjects
Argentum, formerly the Assisted Living Federation of America, www.alfa.org A trade association serving professional senior living operators throughout the U.S.
Center to Advance Palliative Care and National Palliative Care Research Center at Icahn School of Medicine in New York, http://www.capc.org
Center for Healthy Aging, University of California, San Diego A think tank and umbrella organization for all university age-related programs, also part of the Stein Institute for Research on Aging. See www.aging.ucsd.edu .
Center for the Future of Aging. http://www.milkeninstitute.org/centers/the-center-for-the-future-of-aging articles, statistics
Co-Housing.org/aging “Aging better together”, a concept for aging in place created by boomers.
Compassion and Choices – Colorado-based non-profit focused on free will at end-of-life, choosing your end-of-life when possible, including assistance. www.compassionandchoices.org
End of Life University – hospice physician Karen Wyatt MD’s gentle, mindful, spiritual and practical education about death and dying via podcasts and You Tube video interviews with authors, clinicians, end-of-life doulas, and others dedicated to peaceful transitions. See http://www.eoluniversity.com and https://www.youtube.com/@Eoluniversity/videos .
Environments for Aging www.environmentsforaging.com
Final Fling “Final Fling is for people who like to be in control of life and death decisions.” http://www.FinalFling.com
Foundation for Senior Services www.foundationforseniorservices.com
*Geripal (Geriatrics and Palliative care) “is a forum for discourse, recent news and research, and freethinking commentary,” based at the University of San Francisco. http://www.geripal.org . Geripal was acquired by Pallimed in April 2016. I am a huge fan of principals Alex Smith and Eric Widera, MDs and professors of geriatrics and palliative care. I watch them weekly on You Tube or listen to or read their podcasts via their newsletter. Highly recommended if you care about older adults and a supportive end-of-life.
**Geritech Excellent blog by SFO gerontologist Leslie Kernisan who is dedicated to finding the best technological and digital health assistance for aging. Go to www.geritech.org to sign up for her free blog or to buy her new book.
Gerontological Society of America www.geron.org
Help Age International/Global Age Watch www.helpage.org London-based non-profit with worldwide rescue for elders caught in natural disasters and war
HospiceDiary.com nurse consultant Amy Getter’s well-written blog with thoughts on patient, family, and healthcare provider issues
International Association for the Study of Pain www.iasp.org
Medicare Rights Center http://www.medicarerights.org/
National Aging in Place Council offers practical advice on its web site on this important subject at www.AgeinPlace.org
National Association of Home Care & Hospice www.nahc.org Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group
National Council on Aging http://www.ncoa.org/
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization www.nhpco.org Dedicated to making hospice and palliative care an integral part of the U.S. system. On-line courses, annual conference.
Palliative Care and Research Society http://www.pcrs.org.uk/ UK-based organization which promotes research into all aspects of palliative care and facilitates its dissemination
Respecting Choices is an internationally recognized, Wisconsin based organization that teaches evidence-based Advanced Care Planning (ACP) with the goal of person-centered care. http://www.respectingchoices.org.
SCAN Foundation is a well-managed not-for-profit providing a Medicare Advantage Plan in southern California, Arizona, Nevada, and fast expanding. Its services are highly rated every year. www.scanhealthplan.com
Senior Living Foresight https://www.seniorlivingforesight.net/ daily articles by prolific assisted living and senior housing thought leader Steve Moran.
Social Security Works is a non-profit focusing on the protection of the economic security of disadvantaged and at-risk populations, and to maintain social security “as a vehicle of social justice.” Their web site has many informative articles about the current state of social security. www.socialsecurityworks.org
Stanford Center on Longevity www.longevity3.stanford.edu and www.aging.stanford.edu studies in ethnogeriatrics
*The Conversation Project Ellen Goodman’s remarkable project has started conversations across the world since 2010 about what constitutes a good death, especially if you (or a loved one) are in long-term care or hospice. Once we commit to sharing our wishes on paper and with our loved ones, physicians, and friends, we save time, energy, and stress for ourselves and everyone else. See the starter kit and Ellen’s fine team at www.theconversationproject.org
The Green House Project. “The new standard in long-term and post-acute care, with national brand power, higher measurable quality outcomes, consumer demand, and caregiver satisfaction.” Dr. Bill Thomas’ effective concept incorporating home-like atmospheres, gardens to work in, animals, etc. www.thegreenhouseproject.org
USC Edward Roybal Institute on Aging www.roybal.usc.edu
Movies
Departures (Okuribito) from Japanese director Yojin Takita. I have viewed this film which won the 2008 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film more than a half-dozen times. A beautifully moving, sacred work honoring both life and death.
End Game (Netflix 2018) documenting the value of palliative care by following two of my pc heroes Dr. Steven Pantillat of USCF and Dr. BJ Miller of UCSF and Zen Hospice with their patients.
Wellness Shepherd 