Choices

About the Book

COMMON SENSE STRATEGIES FOR RETIREMENT AND BEYOND

Staying Healthy Physically, Emotionally and Financially

This book shows how it is possible to change the way we look at the aging process by planning ahead rather than allowing chronic illness, financial reverses or incapacity to make choices for us. There are many books written about how to be a caregiver for the elderly and this will help that person but it is also for the person who is middle aged and thinking about aging. I have illustrated the fact that although aging is inevitable we can create a roadmap for planning how to welcome growing older knowing that we understand the process. It is with that knowledge that we can make provisions for some of what life has in store for us. I have divided the book into sections and provided resources and strategies to be used as needed but also to help the reader learn how to search for solutions on his or her own. There is a lot of help out there in the public sector but most of us need help finding out how to access it. Anecdotes and interviews with real people help to define what I am writing about. Most of the research I have done and the subjects I have chosen reflect the issues I have faced while caring for elderly relatives and have surfaced while consulting with friends as they searched for solutions to their own problems.

Most of the resources in the book are found on the Internet because I feel that all of us have access to it with our own computers, through friends or at a library. It has opened up a wealth of information on health issues but I have made the reader aware that every Web site must be evaluated for accuracy, relevancy and timeliness and how to do that.

Retirement is an elusive concept for many in this economic climate because there are people working well beyond what used to be considered retirement age. I talk about planning ahead, how relationships are affected and the possibility of career change.

Nutrition is so important to maintaining good health that I have shown how each one of us is a physiologically unique human being who must evaluate many different theories on diet, medications, food supplements, and over-the-counter remedies before deciding what is the best choice for us. Medication taken improperly or in combination with other drugs can cause a serious reaction thus I have shown how to avoid such an event. There is an explanation of why exercise is the best anti-aging medicine there is and how to evaluate the foods we buy by understanding what the labels are telling us. There is also an attempt to make each of us aware of warning signs for serious and chronic illness.

Complementary, alternative or integrative medicine is becoming more mainstream but many of us do not fully understand how it can relate to our particular health needs. I give a summary of some therapies in the hope that it will become clearer to the reader.

Being admitted to a hospital for an operation or serious illness is a frightening and possibly dangerous event. We should all have an advocate to help us survive the event. I have provided information on how others have successfully performed that service for loved ones so that we can each do our job better and given information on how each of us can help the staff help us.

Recovery, healing and care-giving is talked about and different options explained. There is information on the different types of care available when coming home from the hospital, if home care is needed for chronic illness or Alzheimer’s disease, and how to select a nursing home. There is a description of what we can expect each of these types of care to deliver and how to avoid problems of inappropriate care. . I have described different types of living accommodations such as Lifetime Care Communities, Assisted Living Residences, nursing homes and others.

Knowing how to move with grace from com

About the Author

Leslie Baldwin has moved over twenty times in her thirty two years as a Navy wife thus learning how to adapt to the challenges found in forming a new community for her family. She has been personally involved in caring for elderly relatives and has consulted on family issues for most of those years. She has received awards and citations from the Navy and Defense Department for her contribution to designing and implementing programs to benefit military families and has lectured and conducted seminars throughout the country. She and her husband have two children and two grandchildren.