Caregiver's Handbook: A Complete Guide to Home Health Care

An extremely useful reference for safely caring for the sick or the elderly. Practical suggestions for everything from eyedrops to incontinence, including excellent illustrations of techniques and equipment. I've recommended it to several people.

If someone close to you has become sick, disabled or aging is taking its toll, then the Visiting Nurse Association of America offers their advice on how to be a more effective caregiver. They realize that you also need support when providing care to others.

The first chapter explains how you can become a caregiver, the benefits of home care, how your relationship will change, how you should take time for yourself, how to understand how you are feeling and asks: "Are you coping?"

Home Hygiene, healthy eating, bed comfort, maintaining mobility, personal care, wound care, facing death, emergency care and communication is discussed in detail.

There are step-by-step photographs to show you how to change someone's position in bed or how to use a hair washing tray for those who are flat on their backs in bed. Since you will need to order supplies for home care, a complete section of useful addresses also includes Web site information.

There were a few items I had never thought of. If you are pushing someone in a wheelchair, you might want to lower the chair backwards down a stair as the occupant could fall out of the chair and even if you had tilted the chair backwards, it could become unstable. They also show how you can adapt a bathroom for someone who would otherwise need help and installing various items can help you save time.

There is a chart which explains the stages of grief. First you will go through denial, then anger and finally acceptance. Allowing yourself to go through these stages can be very healing and during the unsettling time of a death, you will take these steps, even as a caregiver. There are many sidebars with "case studies" which show how the advice can be used in real life.

A patients bill of rights is included. A glossary of medical conditions helps to explain a few main illnesses. Through reading this book you will gain more information on caregiving skills and how to administer emergency and calming care.

If you feel a bit of anxiety about caregiving, this book will give you many answers to your questions and put your mind at ease.

~The Rebecca Review

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The Most Complete Food Counter: Third Edition

It's just absolutely a great resource and very, very helpful and informative. It's easy to use, and all the nutritional information anyone would ever want to know about practically any of thousands of food items, even by brand, etc., can quickly be found.. Fantastic job, ladies!

A dietitian/nutritionists best friend

A great tool for nutrition breakdown.

I will keep it close-by my desk at all times.

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I was recently diagnosed with Coronary Artery Disease and had 2 stents placed in an artery. The RN at Cardiac Rehabilitation recommended this book at our first meeting. Since I am now on a low fat diet for life, I can't tell you how helpful this book has been at providing me with quick, first hand info. when preparing my grocery list or a meal. What I specifically like is the authors not only give you pertinent info. on packaged, processed foods by brand, but also on franchise restaurants and natural foods such as a simple potato, banana, etc. Also, it can be a fun read you can get lost in and consequently make you more aware of bad foods you have been eating or feeding your family. Sometimes when looking up one food I come across something I had no idea was so high or so low in fat, calories, etc. and then I move on from there out of curiosity. I highly recommend this book for everyone. You'll be amazed at what you've been eating.

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The Resistance Band Workout Book

I didn't buy this through Amazon. But I thought it was a great book. Many more uses for the band than most books. It discusses stretching, rest periods for the muscles, etc. It is divided into groups of exercises for each of the major muscle groups. Off-hand, I can recall it has exercises for arms, shoulders, chest, trunk and abs, legs, hips, thighs and buttocks. That's great for targetting. The only reason I didn't give it five stars is because the workouts in the back don't refer to the page the exercise is on so I constantly have to go back to look for them and then do them. I still haven't found one of them yet, lol. But all in all, it did have more excersises for the bands for each muscle group than any of the other books I have so far.

I would've given this 3 1/2 stars although that is not an option (so i rounded up). First let me state that I think this is a great book. The writers provide excellent information and pictures so that a user can do the exercises with ease. They also provide good information to help the user to try to create a program that will help them fulfill their needs.

There were a couple of things that I think the author could've improved upon. First, as another reviewer mentioned, they do not tell you the page numbers of the exercises in the end of the book (program section). When creating your program, it takes 3x as long to look up each individual exercise. Second, I did not like that they did not include what muscle (s) or groups were being worked out in each exercise. Granted the writers put the exercises under vague headings like Chest, arm, legs, etc. but they do not tell you specifics like biceps, traps, rear delts... like every other exercise book does. Lastly, I think the writers should have had several sample exercise plans that each cater to one's specific goals.

If they revise this book and incorporate some of these suggestions, then this book would definitely be 5 stars.

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The Resistance Band Workout Book advocates workout routines using the resistance band and reinforces theory with almost a hundred exercises using this accessory. The blend of general workouts and sports-specific, goal-oriented exercises comes with illustrations and makes for an excellent primer.

Diane C. Donovan

California Bookwatch

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It's a cool book. I has a great description and it's easy to follow. I especially like how they broke down the planes (i.e. horizontal, sagital, and frontal) altough this may not seem important to novice exercisers. It definately gives you exercises for the total body.

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I bought this book for my dad. Its pretty helpful, though I think the pictures could be a bit more detailed. But my dad loves the book. It has a good selection of resistance band exercises!

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A Woman's Decision: Breast Care, Treatment & Reconstruction (Quality Medical Home Health Library)

There are many, many books out there dealing with breast cancer and treatment but this was the only one I could find that really helps a woman decide what course to take if she thinks she wants to have reconstructive surgery. I found it so helpful I recommended it to my doctor.Making a decision to have reconstructive surgery is hard enough, but then you have to decide what type you would like to have, what your choices are depending on your type of cancer and treatment, and, when to have the surgery.Especially helpful are the black and white photos of the results of each type of operation as well as touching and honest real life descriptions of experiences by women who have had these types of surgeries.Having actually gone through a mastectomy with simultaneous "tram flap" reconstuction, I can attest to the accuracy of both the medical information and the emotional descriptions contained in the book.

My plastic surgeon gave me this book to read. It was the best book on breast cancer I've found, and I've built up quite a library lately. It aided me in my treatment decision as well as my reconstruction choice. It also explained my pathology report better than any of my doctors. A great book for any breast cancer patient or her family.

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The diagnosis of Brest Cancer usually comes unexpected and is emotionally overwhelming. Decisions that will have a lifelong impact often need to be made within a short period of time. The authors explain in detail all the different screening options, the various treatment options at all stages of the desease, and, most important, surgical reconstructive procedures performed either in conjuntion with a mastectomy/lumptectomy or at a later time. Diagrams, drawings, and "before and after" pictures help to visualize the results of reconstructive surgery.

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I did not particularly care for this book too broad and not easy to read too general.

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I had a bilateral mastectomy with tram flap reconstruction in May 2002. The decisions I had to make were agonizing. This book was the best I found on the subject, and I read and re-read the case histories that were closest to my own situation. The information proved to be accurate and gave me a realistic expectation of the process and the results. I recommend this book to anyone undergoing breast surgery, with or without reconstruction, as it covers a wide array of decisions that other women have made.

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The Brain Wellness Plan: Breakthrough Medical, Nutritional, and Immune-Boosting Therapies

The generative diseases (in this case neurological diseases), from parkinson, to altzheimr, a.l.s, and others like c.f.s are coverd in that book with the latest medical, and the nutritional (plus supllements) views. The authors are both doctors. one of them is a neurologist and the other is a docter and a clinical nutritionist, that both with their simple yet complex explanations put a remarkable views of healling about the degenerative diseases and shows the benfit of the long term healling with nutrition and supllemnts. the roots of the diseases are discused very interstingly and it is a very informative book. i do have one comment about that book: that they givven amount of vitamin C in those specific diseases (degenerative neurological diseases), should be much higher, but beside of that it's the best natural book that dealing in one copy on the brain wellness plain against degenerative diseases. i know what i'm saying because i'm dealing with those diseases with my patients.

While this book may be a bit loaded with biochemistry for the tastes of the average reader, it is an excellent book if you want to understand how the brain works best and what kinds of supplements, vitamins and nutients will help keep it functioning well. It is a good review for anyone in the medical field too, especially those wanting to provide a balanced integrative health approach to their family or general practice.

The most important point is preventing degeneration of brain function over time, and while it will appear complex at first, attempting to understand and apply it could save your brain and keep you out of a long term care facility in the future.

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Dr. Lombard, a neurologist, and Carl Germano, a nutritionist,have done an excellent job at explaining how nutrition and supplementscan influence the course of common neurological and psychiatric conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. I enjoyed reading their chapter on the brain-immune connection. There's a lot of good information here. I highly recommend this book although I may not agree with all of their supplement and dosage recommendations. You may also consider reading my book Mind Boosters which provides a different emphasis and explains how to use natural supplements to improve memory, mood, productivity, vision, libido, and mental performance.

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I found the brain wellness plan to be very informative the authors have put forward a document in book form that is useful to anyone wishing to do something to slow the decline at the worst and improve one's brain at the best. I thoroughly recommend it.

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The Women's Health Big Book of 15-Minute Workouts: A Leaner, Sexier, Healthier You--In 15 Minutes a

I've had mixed reactions to Selene Yeager's books before (some I like, some are just okay). This one is just okay. Yes, there's a lot of variety, and they're definitely 15 minutes, but there's a few things I wasn't as crazy about...

1. Most (not all, but nearly all) use at least 2 pieces of equipment and often 3: dumbbells, a step, a bench, a stability ball, a pull-up bar (have one of those handy?), a resistance band, a kettlebell, a medicine ball, a foam roller, a BOSU, and and for one medicine ball workout: a partner! I'd have liked it better if there were more workouts using just one piece of equipment for the entire 15 minutes particularly since these are circuit workouts.

2. Names of routines were too cute by half, such as "Mood Lifting" and "Cowgirl." When I'm flipping through the book, I'd rather not have to use some of that 15 minutes to decipher what body parts a routine actually works. It seems they could have been categorized in way that could be accessed faster.

3. Circuits, circuits, and more circuits, and "15 minutes" is more a matter of approach. You get to 15 minutes by running through most of these routines 3 to 4 times. So I'm guessing that if I leave out a circuit, it's 10 minutes and if I add one it's 20. In that case, these aren't *necessarily* 15 minutes, depending on whether you complete the number of circuits as prescribed.

(NOTE: I would NOT recommend performing the classic kettlebell 'halo' as it's shown in this book! You could seriously strain your lower back.)

Generally, it's no worse than any other workout book, but it's not among my favorites. There's variety and most routines can be adapted to be more challenging. However, I can't past the fact that I really liked the The Women's Health Big Book of Exercises by Adam Campbell, and it's too bad more of those moves (and a little less equipment) didn't show up in this book. I think this would've been a better book.

This big book shows dozens of quick workouts. Many of the workouts are basically about 15 minutes of circuit training. These exercises are designed to get a lean, fit and toned body as pictured by the lady on the cover, as opposed to buiding up.

Here's how the workouts go. In general, a few specific exercises are performed intensely and then repeated in a cycle or circuit. The key to getting the workout down to 15 minutes is that there is minimal rest between the exercises. The rest between the circuits is minimal too.

In terms of layout, color photos are large and clear, illustrating the exercises well.

I liked the range of workouts, including bodyweight exercises with no equipment required. Some workouts use dumbbells. If you are at a gym or have workout equipment, you may make use of the workouts that use a barbell, a step, a large (Swiss) ball, a medicine ball, tubing, a bench and a few other tools.

There are 77 workouts.

(71) 15-minute workouts

(2) 1-minute workouts

(1) 4-minute workout

(3) 5-minute workouts

Here is a list of some of the 15-minute workouts. Exercises are listed for a few workouts.

High school reunion workout 1: Here are the exercises for this workout.

-Test the water squat and biceps curl

-Take a walk

-Rotational lunge and shoulder press

-Warrior 3 triceps extension

-Plank with front raise

-Sumo squat side knee raise and side crunch

-Lying 1-2 punch

High school reunion workout 2

Bikini workout 1

Get my body back workout 1

Stress Busting workout 1

-Runner's lunge to knee skip

-Plie jumping jacks

-quarter-turn squat jump

-donkey kick

Mood-lifting workout

Tighter tush workout

I need some lift in my Levis workout

So long, saddlebags workout

Jiggle free triceps workout

Pushup bra workout

Belly blast workout

Pear body workout

Hourglass body workout

-Tai chi lunge

-Side planks with moving knee

-Lateral stepups

-Glute bridge with triceps extension

Kettlebell workout 1

Exercise band workout 1

Exercise band workout 2

-Squat

-Standing incline fly

-Resisted supine crunch

-Rubber band sidesteps

Medicine ball workout 2

Hotel room workout 2

Cowgirl workout

Post partum workout

Age eraser workout

Golf workout

-Windmill

-Leaning hamstring curl

-Lawn mower

-Low cross chop

Tennis workout

Triathlon workout

Yoga metabolism workout

Fat burning flow workout

Ballet workout

Pilates workout

Perfect posture workout

~~~

Besides this book, there is a men's version. It offers more use of different tools or equipment. If you liked this book, I suggest you get the men's version.

Another fine book is, "You Are Your Own Gym: The Bible of Bodyweight Exercises" by Mark Lauren and Joshua Clark. This is excellent for exercises which do not require equipment. All you need is your own bodyweight.

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This book is a great resource for quick and easy workouts when you just can't get to the gym. The only real negative is that you have to own about $500 in home gym equipment to do the workouts (i.e. Bosu, step, yoga ball, mat, kettle bells...etc) for this reason I wouldn't recommend the book for someone new to working out. Also it does require some knowledge of proper form (although the book does describe how each exercise should be done properly). All in all for me and my fitness level it was an excellent find.

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I love this book! I use it every single day! The excersises in this book keep you entertained and challenged all at the same time. I have been obsessed with Women's Health ever since I first pick up the magazine. Many other books will require alot of equipment and even recommend machines (which I do not have at home.) I have a gym membership so access to the equipment is easy. However, if you do not have a membership to a local gym, in the back of the book are excersises for specific pieces of equipment (ex. Medicine Ball, Kettlebell.)

This book alone has helped me changed my mind set of eating habits, work out schedules and so much more. It's like having a personal trainer with me everyday!! Just be sure to pay attention to your form or the excersizes will obviously not be as affective.

The only downfall to the book, is that because it is so big, it is not as easy to carry around the gym as the magazine. But I guess thats why they call it "The Women's Health BIG Book of 15 Minute Workouts."

All in all, I LOVE this book!!! I recommend it to anyone and everyone!

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Great investment...I started this yesterday (Total Body Workout) + 1 mile on treadmill feel greater results than I did with 10 mi on bicycle + 2 miles on treadmill, and it took about 20% of the time! Not only does it cover total body, but target areas (tummy, arms, butt, etc.), and meal suggestions. Educational, too. I *highly* recommend this to anyone ditch the gym and save your money; buy this instead and do it all at home or on the road!

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