When the Time Comes

Families with Aging Parents Share Their Struggles and Solutions

By Paula Span (Hardcover Book, 2009)

What will you do when you get the call that a loved one has had a heart attack or a stroke? Or when you realize that a family member is too frail to live alone, but too healthy for a nursing home?

Journalist Paula Span shares the resonant narratives of several families who faced these questions. Each family contemplates the alternatives in elder care (from assisted living to multigenerational living to home care, nursing care, and at the end, hospice care) and chooses the right path for its needs. Span writes about the families' emotional challenges, their practical discoveries, and the good news that some of them find a situation that has worked for them and their loved ones. And many find joy in the duty of caring for an older loved one.

There are 45 million Americans caring for family members currently, and as the 77 million boomers continue to age, this number will only go up. Paula Span's stories are revealing and informative. They give a sense of all the emotional and practical factors that go into the major decisions about caregiving, so that readers will be better able to figure out what to do when the time comes for them and their loved ones.

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- Format: Hardcover Book
- Price: $23.99 US/$26.99 CAN
- ISBN-13: 9780446581134
- On Sale Date: 06/10/2009
- Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
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Formats Available: Hardcover Book, Electronic Book
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Paula Span spent nearly 20 years at the Washington Post, first as the New York-based correspondent for the Style section, then as a staff writer for the Washington Post Magazine. She has also written for the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Boston Globe, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York magazine, Glamour, Ms., Esquire, Parenting, People, and others. She is currently a contributing writer for the Washington Post Magazine and teaches journalism at Columbia University.

"Paula Span's When the Time Comes offers a realistic look at the challenges of caring for an aging parent that is both hopeful and practical." (professor of psychiatry, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, co-author, THE 36-HOUR DAY).