Leaning into Sharp Points

February 15, 2012
Exhausted caregivers who read this inspirational guide will feel reinvigorated. Goldberg, a professor emeritus at San Francisco State and a long-time hospice volunteer, views the relationship between caregivers and their sick loved ones as mutually rewarding, although he recognizes that compassionate care for someone with a chronic or terminal illness is tough. Take breaks, and use such services as senior centers and Meals on Wheels, he suggests. No guilt allowed. Honesty is the best policy. Goldberg calls for physicians to state whether a prognosis is stable, progressive, or terminal. And he movingly and eloquently describes how caregivers can prepare themselves and their loved ones for death. Just as a midwife gently helps a newborn into the world, you can gently aid your loved one's passage at the other end of the continuum, he writes. Throw a celebration-of-life goodbye party, or grant a last wish. A useful appendix lists relevant national and international organizations, support groups, and governmental agencies, and provides information about where to find end-of-life forms.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)